Why is new housing in Detroit rarely multi-family residential?

[casscorridor]

I think I am finding Nemo.

You got it Planner, that is Nemo's in the picture. Across the street is the new Italian Pizza Place. The opposite side of Michigan is now totally destroyed.

[iheartthed]

Finally, here is one I will let you all guess, whoever wins is my honorary Detroiter of the Day!!!:

Attachment 12983


To conclude, Detroit was a very dense and urban city, but over the years it has been disintegrated, decentralized and suburbanized.

That block between 8th and Trumbull seems to be the only intact block of buildings left from that photo... Oh boy, did they fuck that city up. What were they thinking...

[Jimaz]

...Finally, here is one I will let you all guess, whoever wins is my honorary Detroiter of the Day!!!:
...

I have no idea where that was but that center billboard on the right intrigued me. Research shows it's an ad for Semet-Solvay Coke, the kind of coke used as fuel in furnaces back then. They had a coke plant in Detroit.

[DetroitPlanner]

That block between 8th and Trumbull seems to be the only intact block of buildings left from that photo... Oh boy, did they fuck that city up. What were they thinking...

Who are they? The landlords? The bums when it was skid row? The Irish? The Maltese? The Mexicans? The Yuppies? This was not ever urban renewaled

[antongast]

Who are they? The landlords? The bums when it was skid row? The Irish? The Maltese? The Mexicans? The Yuppies? This was not ever urban renewaled

The traffic engineers who decided Michigan Avenue needed to be sixty gazillion lanes wide.

[ismoakrack]

but don't let's ignore the density the core always had. And can have again ...


I think the zeitgeist in Detroit is finally shifting in the right direction, meaning people in charge are in the early stages of realizing that walkable density is the only solution to making greater downtown vibrant again.

So, now that it's the 21st century, and most building being constructed in this area are taller than the ones that were there before, I think in 20-30 years greater downtown will be even more dense than it was in the photos above. The only caveats are that most buildings are not built abutting each other, which is a waste of space, and let's not forgot the city's ludicrous parking requirements [[which hopefully will be mitigated in the coming years).

For example, Studio One apartments, The Auburn, and planned developments such as the Metamorphosis, phase two of Studio One, the building planned at John R and Palmer etc... These in conjunction with high rises that were built since the fifties, such as Detroit City Apts, Millender Center, the few senior high rises in Midtown, that funky round one just south of Warren...

Couple all of this with the fact that many loft conversions from Willy's to Woodward Lofts to Merchants Row were not residential before. The end result will ultimately be the existence of many more residential units than pre-urban renewal. Which will drive demand for more and more....Exciting times!

[Gsgeorge]

A well-written article on Detroit's latest trend, building suburbs in the city....

http://radial-logic.com/2011/06/14/suburbs-in-the-city/

[Bham1982]

There actually are significant corridors of multifamily outside the Boulevard ring, and some are intact.

Basically follow the old Jewish neighborhood migration patterns, and you'll find concentrations of multifamily. Dexter, Davison, Linwood are good examples, though most buildings are gone.

The outer parts of the city have a decent amount of postwar apartment complexes, mostly intact. Greenfield on the West Side is nearly a non-stop apartment corridor from Grand River to 8 Mile.

[iheartthed]

The traffic engineers who decided Michigan Avenue needed to be sixty gazillion lanes wide.

And demolished every building on the south side of Michigan Ave to do it.

http://g.co/maps/cmjst

Same intersection. A lot more road. A lot fewer buildings.

[EastsideAl]

Other than the widening of Michigan Ave. there were a few other factors in the destruction of the buildings along Michigan.

Michigan Ave. directly west of downtown was Detroit's "skid row" and it was lined by aging buildings occupied by bars, pool halls, pawn shops, etc., with small rooms for a semi-transient population of mostly single male alcoholics above. In the post-war period, there was a big movement in the city on the part of urban planners, social reformers and activists, and the public in general, to clear out this "distressed" area, and its inhabitants [[along with the nearby "slums" of old Chinatown and southern Corktown). This was during the time when Detroit, like most other major cities in the country, was embarked on a program of "modernization" through "urban renewal."

The building of the Lodge Freeway provided the perfect catalyst, and blocks and blocks of buildings were cleared in that area for the freeway, a new light industrial park, and a planned complex of new governmental and trade-related office buildings [[most of which were never built). Michigan was widened to ease traffic congestion for traffic entering and leaving downtown [[which was an actual problem in those days). And the skid row alcoholics? They were duly studied and photographed as part of the social reform effort, then mostly just relocated to the Cass Corridor, hastening that area's decline.


However, for the buildings on the blocks west of the Lodge that are pictured elsewhere on this thread, the main thing that resulted in their destruction was not urban renewal, but the proximity of Tiger Stadium.

As more and more people began driving to the games [[in part due to the building of nearby freeways, although the trend was already well underway before that) the demand for parking near the ballpark rose. With the decline in streetfront retail traffic, the aging buildings along Michigan became less valuable as stores, etc. at the same time as the land underneath them became more valuable as potential parking space. So many building owners simply found it more profitable to tear down their buildings to use the land as parking lots for baseball [[and, before 1974, football) fans.


Here are some pictures of the lost world of Michigan Ave's skid row, before and during its destruction, titled "Skid Row; Poverty" on WSU's Virtual Motor City site:

[detroitsgwenivere]

"Finally, here is one I will let you all guess, whoever wins is my honorary Detroiter of the Day!!!:"


That's the intersection of Mi ave and Church/Trumbull. But im a cheat, cuz I can see it outside my window...


Im still workin on that for you ismoacrack.

[royce]

[QUOTE=detroitsgwenivere;312653]It is true that quality apartments are harder to find the farther out you go. The weird thing is, if you venture into the near west side, along any part of Woodward, or along the Blvd/ New Center area, there are the most beautiful abandoned apartment buildings you ever saw just sitting there, waiting to be redeveloped. I assume the costs of renovation have yet to meet up with demand. To redo a costly 20-40 unit historical building means you have to have 20-40 people or couples willing to pay the higher rents, which people like myself just can't afford right now...

I agree totally, Detroitsgwenivere, about the number of beautifully abandoned apartment buildings along Woodward. It made sense to put apartments close to Woodward so that the many workers needed at the Highland Park Model T plant and retail and office workers downtown, could quickly get to their destinations by walking a few hundred feet and catching the Woodward streetcar. Giving the fact that many folks working these jobs were new residents to Detroit, it made sense to build apartments because it would be awhile before they would earn enough money to save and then buy a single family house and move out of the apartments.

With today's flucuating job market and the idea that people might have two-three careers before they retire, as a young person, it would be better to live in an apartment than trying to buy a house, despite falling home prices. Also, with many young people wanting to pursue more leisurely activities, owning and taking care of a house isn't something that many are desiring. With this shift in attitudes, it would make more sense to build more apartments or rehab the ones we have. Like Detroitsgwenivere said, if M1 Rail finally happens, those abandoned apartment buildings along Woodward would become quite valuable.

[royce]

Welcome, maverick1. One thing that hasn't been mentioned here about the housing development along Gibson Street is that it is the new style of government housing "projects" called Hope VI. The plan for Hope VI developments is that a portion of the project will be subsidized for low-income residents and seniors while the the other portion of the development will be for market rate homes and apartments.

The pictures Detroitnerd took shows townhouses that are at market rate while many of the structures closest to the Lodge Freeway are subsidized housing. They're the stacked three story units. I think these things are hideous looking. Anyway, before the real estate crash of 2007-08, the large single family homes were going for nearly $400,000. I don't know how much they are asking now. The smaller homes commanded less, but as you can see, they are cheap looking, with a half of the front built with brick and the rest with vinyl siding. I mean, really, the developers couldn't give you at least an all brick front. Anyway, near Canfield Street they built a building for condos. The Diana was the nicest of the three or four units and cost about $180,000 if I recall. Another building across from it and to the East was supposed to be built but never materialized.

Getting back to the pictures Detroitnerd took. The yards of the homes look so vast because the developers attached the garage to the back of the house and instead of fencing off the rest of the backyard, you have a community backyard between the neighbor in front and the neighbor behind. Frankly I have never understood why the backyards can't be fenced off. The same set-up exists at Jefferson Village.

Also, there was supposed to be a retail component at the corner of MLk and the Lodge service drive, but it never materialized. The land is still vacant. If someone living there needs retail, they have to walk several blocks to Grand River and Trumbull/MLk where there's Norm's Liquor store and a Family Dollar or depending on where they are in the development, two or more long blocks to the University Foods strip mall at Warren and the Lodge Freeway. Most folks probably drive.

Finally, why is it that these developments can put in medians and other small grassy areas, but they never put in a real park or playfield for the kids? Any kids living, in this development have to go outside of the development to find a spot to play basketball, football, or baseball, etc... Victoria Park on the eastside has this huge grassy area at its south end, but it has never developed it. No swings, basketball courts, tennis courts or anything has been developed. I guess the residents use it for something, but I've never seen anyone there. It makes you wonder who were these developments built for? Clearly, it doen't appear that they were built for everyone, which is kinda what at urban development should be about. Shouldn't it?