Looking for eerie/ironic suburban communities & forgotten retail stores to photograph

[amaninachair]

Hello,

I am a local photographer who is working on a body of work focusing on the suburbs/metro detroit/pontiac/port huron area. I'm looking for any suburb communities that have some eerie or ironic qualities to them, perhaps situated on a large landfill, or rows of homes wrapped in Tyvek, a half finished community that has been neglected. I live in the city so my knowledge of the suburbs is a bit limited, but I was wondering if anyone might know what would fit this criteria. I am also interested in any forgotten big box retail stores, like the K-Mart on Livernois in Troy. If anyone has any suggestions, I would very much appreciate it. Thank you.

[Shollin]

Hello,

I am a local photographer who is working on a body of work focusing on the suburbs/metro detroit/pontiac/port huron area. I'm looking for any suburb communities that have some eerie or ironic qualities to them, perhaps situated on a large landfill, or rows of homes wrapped in Tyvek, a half finished community that has been neglected. I live in the city so my knowledge of the suburbs is a bit limited, but I was wondering if anyone might know what would fit this criteria. I am also interested in any forgotten big box retail stores, like the K-Mart on Livernois in Troy. If anyone has any suggestions, I would very much appreciate it. Thank you.

Tech Plaza at 12 and Van Dyke in Warren.

[gazhekwe]

Bloomfield Park, Telegraph north of Square Lake. When Bloomfield wouldn't go for it, the property was annexed by Pontiac. Construction was well under way when real estate crashed in late 2008 and no leases were forthcoming. Construction ceased and the place is was never completed.

[hybridy]

not exactly what you're asking for but highland park has a bunch of crappy suburban looking stuff that was shoddily built and many never got certification for occupancy...south of mcnichols and east of woodward

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=103+St...IkwVF6CQiEGkeA

northern macomb county is full of this stuff...heres a few examples. though this may be built out more since google drove by.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=macomb...,,0,-2.15&z=17

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=macomb...4,,0,4.97&z=17

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=macomb...,95.45,,0,4.92

[amaninachair]

I appreciate the suggestions so far. Thank you. Keep them coming!

Hybridy, while that scene you posted does look quite interesting, the series is conceptually tied together by it's investigation of the suburb as a false antidote to the tensions leading to the "decline of Detroit", and of many urban areas.

[Danny]

Go down to 12 Mile Rd and Van Dyke at the Tech Center Strip. Where there was a Wal-Mart anchor store now its a total blight!

[Detroit Stylin]

Wow at all that sub "urban" blight....I wonder if the people who llive out that way blame Detroit for all that madness?

[313WX]

Wow at all that sub "urban" blight....I wonder if the people who llive out that way blame Detroit for all that madness?

They probably do.

[Shollin]

Wow at all that sub "urban" blight....I wonder if the people who llive out that way blame Detroit for all that madness?

I live out that way and I would rather have blighted store fronts than having my home robbed and car stolen and listening to gunshots at night.

[Shollin]

Go down to 12 Mile Rd and Van Dyke at the Tech Center Strip. Where there was a Wal-Mart anchor store now its a total blight!

Before Walmart it was a Kmart and there was also a JCPenny and Sears Hardware and Value City furniture. To be fair Walmart just moved to 14 Mile to open up a Supercenter.

[gazhekwe]

Here is a thread about a House candidate filming himself at a beautiful empty strip mall in Oakland County.

http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...ght=bentivolio

[Detroit Stylin]

Here is a thread about a House candidate filming himself at a beautiful empty strip mall in Oakland County.

http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...ght=bentivolio

Oh you mean that "Beautiful....beautiful strip mall......." -that looks like just about every other strip mall in North America?

[Detroit Stylin]

I live out that way and I would rather have blighted store fronts than having my home robbed and car stolen and listening to gunshots at night.

Hurt Pride? Funny I dont remember anyone referencing gunshots....now BLIGHT on the other hand....funny how the "problems" of the city you claim you were running away from move in right next door to you...

[amaninachair]

Thanks for posting this. This is a really weird video. How can you purport that the construction and architecture of that strip mall is anything beyond functional? So weird.

[Shollin]

Hurt Pride? Funny I dont remember anyone referencing gunshots....now BLIGHT on the other hand....funny how the "problems" of the city you claim you were running away from move in right next door to you...

They haven't. Since moving to Sterling Heights my house hasn't been burglarized. My car hasn't been broken into. I haven't heard a gunshot. These are all things I experienced in the city. I don't care about blight. Sterling Heights has more of it than Harper Woods. I never ran away from blight.

[Bham1982]

Van Dyke in Sterling Heights seems to have a huge amount of vacant strip mall space.

And the stuff that is occupied seems to be heavily weighted towards the "cash for gold/payday loans/99 cent dream" variety.

Plymouth Rd. in Livonia is very similar, though they have some nice streetscape improvements.

Sterling Heights, as a community, though, is probably as safe as ever.

[Rolfsy]

Not as eerie as those Macomb shots, but check out the 'mixed use' development at Mound and 12 Mile. The strip mall side alongside Mound is doing okay, but the residential side has stalled pretty bad. There's been at least one house with stuff flapping in the breeze for probably a year or more now.

[gazhekwe]

Yes,that 'beautiful' should have been in quotes, it's Bentivolio's vision.

[amaninachair]

Thanks everyone. I will be heading to many of these locations today, and I will keep you updated on the status of the project. Please keep the suggestions coming!

[Jimaz]

This arrested development in Utica hasn't changed since before 2009 despite all the other improvements in the area. E. g. the plot across the street with the tent has been transformed into the beautiful Monument Park along the Clinton River.

Note the odd entryways into the second floor. Rumor [[false?) is that the developer vanished without a trace.

[Bham1982]

What about that weird, half-built "Downtown Shelby Township" at Van Dyke and 24 Mile?

Who ever thought that would work? I don't get those exurban, pseudo-downtown areas. I thought the point of living out there was to get away from density.

[Lowell]

The peripheries of major shopping centers may offer what you are looking for. These are from Westland.

- http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...1334#post61334

- http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...1626#post61626

Bloomfield Plaza is by far the most dramatic and ironic, the MCD of suburban ruins.

- http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...-they-thinking

Almost as dramatic but less forlorn following demolition of never-used properties is Novi's Fountainwalk where the fountain is gone.

- http://www.detroityes.com/webisodes/...nities/002.htm

[Bham1982]

Bloomfield Plaza is by far the most dramatic and ironic, the MCD of suburban ruins.

- http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...-they-thinking

Bloomfield Park is definitely the most dramatic example. Probably the dumbest project imaginable. NYC-style density in Pontiac, and with Bloomfield prices. Soon to be a vacant lot.

Bloomfield Plaza is a different complex at Maple/Telegraph. It appears to be very succesful. Probably about as nice as one can make a strip mall.

[FlyingJ]

Before Walmart it was a Kmart and there was also a JCPenny and Sears Hardware and Value City furniture.

how bout a legendary future White House candidate filming himself at that beautiful empty strip mall in Warren?
http://books.google.com/books?id=CkNb6j5oNfoC&pg=PA126
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=74228

[adamjab19]

In downtown Utica there was a row of tall townhomes things built next to the Clinton River there that are only partially finished.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=utica+...57.92,,0,-1.66