"downtown" Delray being demolished

[DetroitZack]

Wow! In the past month 5 buildings demolished in "downtown" Delray. 4 of them this past week if I'm not mistaken. Not much is left of this once commercial district. Pictures coming this weekend hopefully. I have pictures of all the buildings when they were still standing too.

[Bham1982]

Delray is amazing. It is so isolated and backwoods looking. Driving down Jefferson is almost apocalyptic.

Delray residents may have a case for "most abused Detroit neighborhood". Their air gets poisoned by polluters, the city doesn't do a damn thing in terms of services, and now everyone wants to ram a giant bridge down their throats.

[thatguy123]

oh no! What will Lamasa Pace do?

http://youtu.be/WB318e_dhtk

http://youtu.be/rdUjVZFF8Zo

[lpg]

Took a ride down Jefferson today. There were 3 or 4 large excavators on each side around West End. Where one of the buildings stood there was some guys out there reclaiming the brick and loading them into a truck. From a booming area to a place that looks like a war was fought there. Sad.

[Scottathew]

Matty Maroun is buying all the properties because MDOT is going to want them soon for the NITC.

[mikefmich]

I was up there and drove down Jefferson last fall. It had been awhile, and I was dumbfounded.

Then again...why should I be anymore.

[Hamtragedy]

I was up there and drove down Jefferson last fall. It had been awhile, and I was dumbfounded.

Then again...why should I be anymore.

My sentiments exactly.

[erikd]

Took a ride down Jefferson today. There were 3 or 4 large excavators on each side around West End. Where one of the buildings stood there was some guys out there reclaiming the brick and loading them into a truck. From a booming area to a place that looks like a war was fought there. Sad.

Delray, and the immediate surrounding area, is perhaps the most misunderstood and incorrectly maligned place in the city of Detroit.

People take the amenities of modern life for granted, without ever thinking about the incredible amount of heavy industry and amazing infrastructure systems required to make it all possible.

The relatively small residential and commercial section of Delray is now mostly vacant and run-down, but the crucial surrounding heavy industry is still running, and in many cases, expanding. Zug Island is still used by US Steel to manufacture iron for use in cars and buildings. The DWSD sewage treatment plant in Delray is the largest single-site wastewater treatment plant in the country, serving over 3 million people. The nearby Marathon refinery is the only oil refinery in the state of Michigan, and it is currently undergoing a $2.2 billion expansion project. The Detroit salt mine, Detroit produce terminal, numerous cement silos, and many shipping yards also operate in the immediate area.

The downside of heavy industry is that it is dirty, causes a lot of pollution, and is considered unsightly by most people. Therefore, it is not desirable to have a small residential neighborhood surrounded by this type of heavy industry. On the upside, this makes it a perfect spot to locate a large bridge designed to handle heavy freight traffic.

I am very sympathetic to the remaining residents of Delray, and I strongly advocate a program that will fully pay for the relocation of remaining residents and commercial businesses to more suitable neighborhoods, while also clearing land needed for further industrial usage.

I hear many people complaining about the negative effects of heavy industry in Delray, but I don't hear them offering any solutions or alternatives. If there is anybody out there who would like to have the oil refinery, sewage treatment plant, and steel mill moved out of Delray and into their neighborhood, please speak up. If there is anybody out there who thinks that we should just stop treating sewage, stop producing steel, stop producing gasoline, and stop producing cement, please speak up.

As a final point, to specifically address the posters who say that Delray 'looks like a war was fought there", "is backwards looking", and "is almost apocalyptic", the reality of Delray is the complete opposite of those scenarios. In places where a war was actually fought, most of this type of heavy industry and infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, resulting in actual apocalyptic and backwards situations for hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people.

When I go down Jefferson in Delray, I look at the amazing wonders like the wastewater treatment plant, and think about how lucky we are to have this fantastic facility, which allows a region filled with millions of people to have a clean and safe water system. I think about the hundreds of millions of people who have died from waterborne diseases, such as cholera and dysentery, because they didn't have a facility like this. When I look at the vacant buildings and lots down the street from this magnificent facility, I don't think that it is sad or terrible, but rather very understandable and sensible. Why would anybody want to live down the street from a massive sewage treatment plant? It smells like shit, because it is actually shit.

Clearing out the residential area around the sewage treatment plant and other heavy industry is not sad or pathetic, it is practical.

[stromberg2]

Well said, Ericd, very well thought out. That makes a ton of sense.

Stromberg2

[kryptonite]

Delray was a village independent of Detroit that was once known as 'Belgrade'. I believe the old town existed prior to the heavy industrial development that took place in the early 1900's.

I love Delray and am there from time to time. Litlle is left. Something about Delray mystifies people, possibly because you are in such an old working class area and yet very close to a waterfront. I can recall Delray in the early 1970's when there were still many functioning [[although not booming) businesses and even some operating Hungarian businesses. It was more like an old suburb of Detroit than part of the city proper. I had relatives that lived there until the 1960's.

But after the 1960's environmental issues became more important. And in modern times heavy industry and residential development do not mix. From what I have read most of Delray is considered brownfield property and new residential development, if allowed, would require environmental cleanup.

I miss Delray, but I don't see any resolution to the decline. A new bridge may breathe some new life into the area and Fort Wayne is an awesome place that I think has tourist potential. but I think for the most part it is unlikely that we will see new residential areas anytime in the near future.

[rencense]

Its funny to think how things would be different in delray if there were a bunch of nimbys throwing a fit over any industrial coming to the area long ago. Granted in the early days it was desired to be close to employment. Delray shows you what can happen if there isn't a huge nimby backlash against stuff like an enormous sewage treatment plant.

I know many delray residents are fiercely proud of their area and I don't blame them. People that chose to remain there are certainly the resilient type that are willing to keep going long after most would have given up.

That said, I think delray is one of the poster children of detroit neighborhoods that will probably need to be phased out. I'm not going to get upset about buildings coming down [[even if they're cool looking) since there's basically no chance they'll be reused. The pollution alone is reason enough to keep clearing the area out slowly. I remember hearing a startling statistic of how many kids had asthma and other breathing problems. I know the city has basically been trying to phase residential out of delray for decades now

[Danny]

Good riddance to that area. Most of those buildings are too dangerous for anyone to scav and squat. Overproduction of steel and coke plants plus extra stink from a toilet factory took its toll at Downtown DelRey. No place to shop there. Not even the Mexicans/Hispanics don't want to set up shop in that area. Just tear the entire Delray community down and make more stink factories and cloak Southwest Detroit will a ozone of green smog!

[Hypestyles]

... with the understanding that eminent domain is not an option.. how can the city formally reassess the viability of having residential housing that close to heavy-industrial [[marathon, us steel) and fumes-heavy [[sewage treatment) operations?

[HistoryNotHisStory]

Wow! In the past month 5 buildings demolished in "downtown" Delray. 4 of them this past week if I'm not mistaken. Not much is left of this once commercial district. Pictures coming this weekend hopefully. I have pictures of all the buildings when they were still standing too.

Wow! Delray has a downtown? That area should have been bulldozed and steamrolled years ago.

[kryptonite]

There was a downtown Delray in the late 1800s/early 1900s. The downtown would have been from about Jefferson & Dearborn east to West End. As the area grew in the late 1890s and began attracting immigrants from Hungary the area became a strong Hungarian enclave. The Hungarians opened many businesses and churches in Delray. Following the end of WWI and WWII more Hungarians and Poles emigrated to Delray. Delray also attracted Italians, Roma and Armenians and became as ethincally diverse as probably any American urban neighborhood. After the 1950s Delray began to deteriorate and the younger generation started to move to the suburbs for more space to raise families. But 'downtown' Delray continued to be active and very ethnic until about 1975. The last remaining Hungarian businesses closed in the 1990s. The only Hungarian church still active is Holy Cross Catholic Church on South St. which is still a thriving church with a Hungarian speaking population. In the last 10-15 years the church has undertaken many restoration projects and is in beautiful condition.

[GUSHI]

Thats good to hear that HOly Cross is thriving. I give props to the Hungarian community still attending and go to church there. It breaks my heart to see so many beautiful churchs that have closed or that are struggling to stay open. SIMPLY PUT THEY DONT BUILT THEM LIKE THAT ANY MORE.

[lpg]

My dad was born in Delray in 1910. All his following brothers and sisters were born there. He worked at Michigan Malleable Iron Company on Crossley. His brothers worked at the Solvay, Revere Copper and Brass. He moved out in 1947, but continued to work there until 1955 when the company started to fail. I can remember going with him in the 50's to shop along Jefferson. Fox Furniture and Fox Hardware were among the places I remember going in. You could hardly find a parking space along Jefferson. I stood up at my sister's wedding at Holy Cross. I used to deliver parts to Crown Plating. Dirty yes, but thriving for a long time.

[detroitsgwenivere]

All of the planners on this forum are most likely in agreement that the Delray area is no longer considered viable for maintaining a residental zone.

Most of the folks i've talked to in Delray didn't seem to have a problem with being paid to relocate their households. But they have a serious problem with selling their properties at the current value. State eminent domain laws say that the residents are entitled to at least one and a half times the market value of the property. But that area has the highest density of properties worth less than 20,000 in the entire state. That's not enough cash for people who have to start all over again somewhere else, especially those who are retired or depend on assistance.

Then there is the issue of location. Are these people going to be offered accessibility to homes with the same proximity to the riverfront and their places of employment? Most likely not.

These properties' value will only increase when the physical plans of this bridge and it's surrounding developments are released, which may not happen for another two years. But the pressure is on them to sell right now.

I can only pray that these folks are given proper representation and access to legal council so that they aren't totally screwed over by the powers that be. Lord knows they've already had to deal with the horrors that come with being completely abandoned by the city you live in, the gangs, criminals, scrappers, and serial arsonists. The illegal dumping and health impacting pollution are enough to make most people leave. I wouldn't wish all of that shit on anyone.

[Maof]

http://www.old-delray.com/BusinessList.htm

mom and step dad would frequent al's lounge for the hungarian cooking.