If You Were Calling The Shots... [Downtown Redevelopment]

All of this recent redevelopment downtown has seemingly started to create a positive stir in the metro area, so I wanted to propose a question to some of you who live and work in downtown. If there was one building or site in downtown that you could choose to redevelop because of its ability to infuse life, money, etc into the area, what would it be? By this I mean not the building or site you'd like to see redeveloped because of its beauty or personal connection to you, but rather the one that would have the most positive impact on the general downtown population. Obviously the GCP area is primed to become a economic and residential juggernaut in the next 2-3 years. What other areas would benefit the most from one rehab or development?

I would like to see some creative and dense contemporary infill combined with restoration.
All close to street, filling in lost communicative gaps between downtown districts, perhaps best would be anywhere leading out to Gratiot ending in Eastern Market area.

Has anyone moved into 1001 Woodward yet? That's like the last empty spot surrounding Campus Martius, correct?

I think doing something with the Book Tower would help out a lot to breathe some life into Washington Blvd. The stretch of Wash Blvd between Michigan and GCP should be amongst the highest prioritized of areas to be redeveloped, IMO.

I don't think there's any particular "magic bullet" building/site that, if redeveloped, would be a game-changer, but in order of impact on downtown, here's my picks:

[[1) Book Building/Tower- Would anchor Washington Blvd and probably have some positive effects radiating out to Capitol Park and Grand Circus Park.

[[2) Former Hudson's Site- Would solidify lower Woodward Avenue.

[[3) The area behind Foxtown- Self-explanatory

[[4) Stott Tower- Would breath new life into Capitol Park

[[5) United Artists or David Whitney- Would help complete GCP.

This conversation becomes much more interesting if you apply it to Midtown. Think about all of the potential in Brush Park or Cass Park.

I neither work or live downtown. However, for greatest impact on the continued renaissance of downtown Detroit, i believe redeveloping the Book Tower or Stott Building would take precedence. Was going to say put something on the Hudsons Block or the former Statler site, but downtown does not need any more buildings, we need to fill up what we have first!

Woodward Ave. between I-75 and MLK [[not downtown but part of the urban core)

I would raise taxes!

Any and all buildings in the Capitol Park area.

Stromberg2

I'd get rid of the fist. That hulking limb was a mistake from the get go. They should've had a statue of Joe Louis' whole body in a boxing pose. I'd also take down that twisted tower and the circle sculpture that are in front of Hart Plaza. Not that removing these will improve development, but it would sure make Jefferson look less cluttered.

I do not live in downtown or work there but it is reaching a stall point.

My choice would be the University Club.

The goal would be to create a self supporting group of citizens and business owners from the city and suburbs that would share a common interest and discuss solutions while enjoying a cocktail or working out in the facilities.

There would be weekly or monthly meetings with representatives of varies city/county/suburb divisions ie code enforcement,police chief,zoning etc in order to gain input in regards to the city ,standard of living and security issues including addressing barriers between the city,county and suburbs and outside investment which is needed to move forward.

A non politically motivated group that would have the power through unity and numbers to motivate those politically inclined.

Representatives from the SBA and city could be invited to help potential small business owners weed through the mountains of red tape and confusion and have mentors already in house.

Business building joint ventures could be formed from across the country where each business purchases a section of a large building so the costs are spread across several owners verses one owner,or five small business that at this point wishes to expand or relocate and they are in 5 different states and do not know each other this could be their common ground meeting point and the club could help on weeding through city red tape, the outsider dislike aspect,and even helping with their employment requirements kinda like their transition support team.

Neighborhood associations or those wishing to form one would also have a common ground place to meet in order to share ideas and meet with city and state,fed officials to learn about block grants and clean city funds neighborhood watch programs etc, to help in their goals to provide a safe and clean neighborhood environment.

So basically you are attacking the problem from all aspects as all aspects are interconnected and providing a neutral meeting point in a quasi relaxed environment. Instead of fighting small battles across a large area group together and win the war.

Pretty much of what I posted is actually the job of the city and its employ but one could argue at this point they do need a bit of help.

No time? 700,000 people in the city even more in the surrounding even if 10,000 spent one hour a month that equals 10,000 combined man/woman hours,just think of the possibilities. Not to even mention a cool place just to come to and hang out or work out and clear ones mind in-between.

Or maybe I am drinking to much expresso.

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Originally Posted by BrushStart

I don't think there's any particular "magic bullet" building/site that, if redeveloped, would be a game-changer, but in order of impact on downtown, here's my picks:

[[1) Book Building/Tower- Would anchor Washington Blvd and probably have some positive effects radiating out to Capitol Park and Grand Circus Park.

[[2) Former Hudson's Site- Would solidify lower Woodward Avenue.

[[3) The area behind Foxtown- Self-explanatory

[[4) Stott Tower- Would breath new life into Capitol Park

[[5) United Artists or David Whitney- Would help complete GCP.

This conversation becomes much more interesting if you apply it to Midtown. Think about all of the potential in Brush Park or Cass Park.

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I think I'd have to agree with your first two selections the most as well. The Book tower/building would really complete Washington and hopefully that would translate into something with the Statler site, which would really tie together GCP assuming the Whitney gets done. Also the Hudson's site is something you'd think would become a very hot site. Anything there would really tie the Woodward corridor together.

uhh. I dont kno. Perhaps some type of shelter. Something reasonably nice a studio apartment privacy, kitchen, bathroom. A work for shelter type deal just south of the freeway and just north of downtown. People could stay so long as they worked 40 hours a week maintaining the area. sweeping broken glass, cutting weeds, picking up trash in the downtown thru midtown areas. Maybe painting, mowing, snow removal. Who knows. Mandatory drug testing but other benefits. Perhaps education in a trade or better social services. 3 square a day in an environment that isn't the soup kitchen or jail. Pay them a little. I tend to think a little self determination goes a long way. Allow a guy to start living a little better and keep him on track and maybe they will pull themselves the rest of the way up. If they start failing drug tests give someone else a shot. There are plenty of folks down there who are probably fed up with living on the street but are stuck.
Some of you will probably scoff at the idea but i'm always trying to think of ways to connect midtown with downtown. Im sure there are more than a few people living around south Cass that would jump at the opportunity. Take people with nothing to lose, give them a shot and see what

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Originally Posted by Autoracks

uhh. I dont kno. Perhaps some type of shelter. Something reasonably nice a studio apartment privacy, kitchen, bathroom. A work for shelter type deal just south of the freeway and just north of downtown. People could stay so long as they worked 40 hours a week maintaining the area. sweeping broken glass, cutting weeds, picking up trash in the downtown thru midtown areas. Maybe painting, mowing, snow removal. Who knows. Mandatory drug testing but other benefits. Perhaps education in a trade or better social services. 3 square a day in an environment that isn't the soup kitchen or jail. Pay them a little. I tend to think a little self determination goes a long way. Allow a guy to start living a little better and keep him on track and maybe they will pull themselves the rest of the way up. If they start failing drug tests give someone else a shot. There are plenty of folks down there who are probably fed up with living on the street but are stuck.
Some of you will probably scoff at the idea but i'm always trying to think of ways to connect midtown with downtown. Im sure there are more than a few people living around south Cass that would jump at the opportunity. Take people with nothing to lose, give them a shot and see what

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Thats what they are kinda doing with the Bell? building, labeling something low income or to that regards anything related brings lots of fed dollars and tax exemptions,you could probably take the Wulitzer building and make it either assisted living or senior living facility or strictly "section 8" and fund it that way with yearly grants to cover the losses.

Unless somebody has millions sitting around and can afford to buy at the point where the losses can be used as a write off, most other projects getting off of the ground are in that realm.

But the odds of those happening in the CBD will probably not go down very well which is why the Bell is out a bit away.

You know, one areas that doesn't get much thought these days is Rivertown, or at least what used to be Rivertown. If that area was redeveloped or simply restored to what it was, I think it would have a big impact on downtown considering what the Riverwalk has become in recent years. What a shame what happened to that little neighborhood... I'm too young to ever have really experienced it, but I think it could have been one of the city's neatest attractions, perhaps something similar to New Orleans.

If they would have taken the after the fact $43,000,000 sham in Ann Arbor and picked 4 surrounding neighborhoods and invested $10,000,000 each in stabilization downtown would not be an issue because the trickle down would have created the demand. Not to deviate from the OP :o

If i was calling the shots i would figure out a way to connect eastern market, cork town, midtown thru just north of the bvrd and downtown with highly available light rail. Figure out a way to take the bite out of south cass. Thats the major stumbling block. There needs to be a strategy. Their whole relocation program cant work. What happens when people refuse to move? They stop picking up trash? Neighborhood dumping grounds? Who can afford that plan? Shrinking the city sounds good but then so does sex in the champagne room and inheriting a bunch of money from a mystery relative. So whats the strategy? I would say strengthen the core and build from there. Downtown is the core. North thru Brush, thru the medical areas, Woodbridge, Corktown, WSU, Eastern Market just north of Grand Bvrd. Make that a realistic area for conservative young adults of all races and ethnicities. It would be great if they could stretch reasonable affluence and safety from downtown thru Boston. Detroit needs tax revenue to function. Point blank period. In order to carry the areas that need it the most the city needs to generate money from within.

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Originally Posted by BrushStart

You know, one areas that doesn't get much thought these days is Rivertown, or at least what used to be Rivertown. If that area was redeveloped or simply restored to what it was, I think it would have a big impact on downtown considering what the Riverwalk has become in recent years. What a shame what happened to that little neighborhood... I'm too young to ever have really experienced it, but I think it could have been one of the city's neatest attractions, perhaps something similar to New Orleans.

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If we only had some sort of huge swath of riverfront land to develop with a beautiful island sanctuary in the middle of the Detroit River where families could go. Man wouldn't that be awesome!? :)

On a serious note, I agree with you. It seemed like all anyone talked about for a few years was developing the riverfront and now you never really hear too much about it. I'm sure with the new influx of people working and living in downtown in the next couple years all those scuttled projects [[uniroyal site,atwater) will be revived or new plans will come about. At least we can hope right?

If we want to infuse life and money into Detroit [[all of it) developing one building or site at a time downtown will not do it. That approach has been going on since building the Ren-Cen and while it makes a marginal difference to downtown it does nothing for the neighborhoods. We need to reduce the murder rate to less than 10 per year and stamp out all other crimes to an insignificant level for a few years. Until that is done Detroit will never recover; it will keep losing population. Achieve it and people will start to move back and start rebuilding the City. Who want's to move to live in a reportedly crime ridden city

I would do something with Broadway. I would definitely get retail in that space in front of the Oprea House parking structure. I would put stylish womens boutiques, a sports apparel shop, and a couple of more restaurants on that strip. I would put a nice aquarium somewhere on or near the riverwalk. The type of aquarium that is in Atlanta
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if i was calling the shots i would give everybody downtown a bag of muffins