Just north of the park, off Woodward and McNichols, construction crews are busily hammering and sawing, renovating almost a dozen apartment buildings.

"It's a time of astonishing change," says Barbara Barefield, a board member of the nonprofit People for Palmer Park.

Brad Dick, the city official in charge of the park's maintenance, says: "They're an amazing group. I would like to clone them."

That might sound like public relations on both sides, until you walk through the area and witness transformation in progress: Construction crews rebuilding 80-year-old slate roofs, friendly waves between strangers in the park, flowers planted and grass cut.

The Palmer Park rebirth is a work in progress, but it's building momentum, not losing it. "There's that 'Field of Dreams' build-it-and-they'll-come feeling here now," says Rochelle Lento, a resident of Palmer Woods and president of the nonprofit.