Lafayette Towers today

**southen** · March-06-13, 12:19 AM

Originally Posted by Spartan

I don't live there, but checked it out when I was looking at places last year and it seemed nice. It was probably one of my favorite buildings overall, the only thing that really kept me away was the location [[there's not much around there, and I wanted to be downtown). Would be a little better if you have a family or work outside the city, and don't mind driving in when you want to go.

really? it's a five minute walk if that to get to downtown. you're making it seem like suburbia.

**Jason** · March-06-13, 12:49 AM

It's a little farther than that.

I think it's close enough that if you worked downtown you could walk to a People Mover station, but it's not so close that you could make spontaneous trips downtown.

**stasu1213** · March-06-13, 07:58 AM

The towers are within a 10 to 15 minute walk to greektown. It is better located than the Pavillion. I had checked out the Pavilion. It is a nicer building with more updates than the Towers have. The only drawback is the parking. The is no parking structure and each space is $30 per month. The one bedrooms and studios are more expensive than the Towers but smaller in size. The two bedrooms in the towers have two bathrooms. The two bedrooms in the Pavilion have only one. I don't know how Mr Jackson will be as an owner. The towers still lack decent 24 hour security. That is one thing that he should had taken care of firrst. The security guards are force to wear blazers but they are still providing lousy protection. Nothing major had happened yet in the Towers beside the repairing of broken water lines.

**southen** · March-06-13, 11:17 AM

Originally Posted by Jason

It's a little farther than that.

I think it's close enough that if you worked downtown you could walk to a People Mover station, but it's not so close that you could make spontaneous trips downtown.

i live two blocks away from the pavillion and make spontaneous trips downtown all of the time. if we are all clamoring for a walkable urban city we need to stop complaining about 5-10 minute walks.

**Spartan** · March-06-13, 12:22 PM

Originally Posted by southen

really? it's a five minute walk if that to get to downtown. you're making it seem like suburbia.

It's about a ten-minute walk to get to anything worth walking to. At least 15-20 to the main core areas [[Greektown, CBD, Entertainment, etc). It's a mile just to get into the city. I'm not saying it's in the middle of nowhere, but when there are similar buildings a 5-minute walk from all these things at a similar price, it doesn't have much of a selling point.

If it were a more pleasant walk, it probably wouldn't be so bad. But you're crossing 375 and a bunch of abandoned properties, just to get to Ford Field. I likely wouldn't have been walking back at 2 a.m. after a night at the bars very often.

**downtownguy** · March-06-13, 12:47 PM

Originally Posted by Spartan

It's about a ten-minute walk to get to anything worth walking to. At least 15-20 to the main core areas [[Greektown, CBD, Entertainment, etc). It's a mile just to get into the city. I'm not saying it's in the middle of nowhere, but when there are similar buildings a 5-minute walk from all these things at a similar price, it doesn't have much of a selling point.

If it were a more pleasant walk, it probably wouldn't be so bad. But you're crossing 375 and a bunch of abandoned properties, just to get to Ford Field. I likely wouldn't have been walking back at 2 a.m. after a night at the bars very often.

How old are you Spartan? 90?? I lived in Lafayette Park for 16 years and never felt walking to downtown was a problem. The several years I had tickets at the CoPa I always walked to games and often stopped for a cold beverage on the way home. That said, you'd be crazy to be walking home from any bar at 2am unless you live next door. For the price of a beer, you can take a cab home.

According to Google maps, walking distances:
Greektown/Monroe Street - .5 mile [[Greektown People Mover add .1 mile)
Ford Field - .6 mile [[what bunch of abandoned properties do you refer to? Parking lots?)
Campus Martius - .8 mile
Lafayette Coney - 1.1 mile
Ren Cen - .9 mile
Riverwalk/Rivard Pavilion - .7 mile
Lafayette Foods - .5 mile

Get out and walk. It's good for you.

**Spartan** · March-06-13, 05:10 PM

Originally Posted by downtownguy

How old are you Spartan? 90?? I lived in Lafayette Park for 16 years and never felt walking to downtown was a problem. The several years I had tickets at the CoPa I always walked to games and often stopped for a cold beverage on the way home. That said, you'd be crazy to be walking home from any bar at 2am unless you live next door. For the price of a beer, you can take a cab home.

According to Google maps, walking distances:
Greektown/Monroe Street - .5 mile [[Greektown People Mover add .1 mile)
Ford Field - .6 mile [[what bunch of abandoned properties do you refer to? Parking lots?)
Campus Martius - .8 mile
Lafayette Coney - 1.1 mile
Ren Cen - .9 mile
Riverwalk/Rivard Pavilion - .7 mile
Lafayette Foods - .5 mile

Get out and walk. It's good for you.

Like I said, it's not far, but it's further than other similar properties. If you lived somewhere like Millender, those places are a few blocks away. Personally, I wanted to be able to walk to work and home from the bar at night. I wouldn't do either of those things if I had lived in Pavilion. I'm sure it's a great place to live, and it's not that far from downtown, but there's literally nothing around it [[yes, a half mile is a long way to walk to get to anything). It's not a bad location, it's just not a great one.

For reference, if you lived at Lofts of Merchants Row [[yes, I realize this isn't the same category), a half mile or so is the longest walk you'd ever have. At Pavilion, that's the shortest walk you could have.

**southen** · March-06-13, 06:16 PM

personally I don't think millender and the pavillion are that comparable or in the same category but ok. also if a half mile is viewed as a long way to walk then you need to get out and walk more. only in detroit...

**Islandman** · March-06-13, 06:28 PM

Originally Posted by southen

personally I don't think millender and the pavillion are that comparable or in the same category but ok. also if a half mile is viewed as a long way to walk then you need to get out and walk more. only in detroit...

Amen. Even in a city like NYC you sometimes have to hoof it more than a few blocks at times to get to another portion of the subway if you're not at a junction point. There aren't shuttles in between. Anectodal, yes, but I lost 50 pounds in less than a year walking in NYC.

**Bham1982** · March-06-13, 07:06 PM

Originally Posted by Islandman

Amen. Even in a city like NYC you sometimes have to hoof it more than a few blocks at times to get to another portion of the subway if you're not at a junction point. There aren't shuttles in between. Anectodal, yes, but I lost 50 pounds in less than a year walking in NYC.

Right, but in NYC you won't be walking past a sketchy and lonely wasteland of parking lots, abandoned buildings and freeway ramps.

It isn't just the length of the walk, but the journey itself. A mile walk in Rome is a bit different than a mile walk in Commerce Township. And Lafayette Park is pretty lonely and empty at most hours [[probably not dangerous, but still unnerving when no one is around, and no street corner businesses).

**Honky Tonk** · March-06-13, 07:14 PM

Originally Posted by Islandman

Amen. Even in a city like NYC you sometimes have to hoof it more than a few blocks at times to get to another portion of the subway if you're not at a junction point. There aren't shuttles in between. Anectodal, yes, but I lost 50 pounds in less than a year walking in NYC.

You probably hit the nail on the head. Detroit is a City where excersise isn't a priority. I see people sitting in cars for a good length of time in long lines to get fast food or coffee & doughnuts. People just aren't used to walking. On the other hand, walking just isn't safe in Detroit. so it isn't encouraged.

**Spartan** · March-07-13, 01:01 AM

Originally Posted by Bham1982

Right, but in NYC you won't be walking past a sketchy and lonely wasteland of parking lots, abandoned buildings and freeway ramps.

It isn't just the length of the walk, but the journey itself. A mile walk in Rome is a bit different than a mile walk in Commerce Township. And Lafayette Park is pretty lonely and empty at most hours [[probably not dangerous, but still unnerving when no one is around, and no street corner businesses).

That's my point. A half-mile walk in itself is not a long distance to walk, but you're basically walking past nothing. At best, it's eery and at worst it can be awfully dangerous. If the area around it was built up more, I think it would be a much more desirable location, but having to walk that far to get to ANYTHING, is not good. Even if it were just more residential buildings [[i.e., non-destinations), it would make the walk ok. It's the same as if you lived in the south part of Midtown. It's a reasonable walk downtown, but all the empty space between, plus the highway, makes it much less desirable of a commute. Granted, with high occupancy downtown, there may be a point where half mile is as good as you can do, but that's just not the case right now. I have nothing against the places, but location relative to downtown is not one of the Lafayette apartments strong-points when compared to its main competitors.

**Spartan** · March-07-13, 01:03 AM

Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

You probably hit the nail on the head. Detroit is a City where excersise isn't a priority. I see people sitting in cars for a good length of time in long lines to get fast food or coffee & doughnuts. People just aren't used to walking. On the other hand, walking just isn't safe in Detroit. so it isn't encouraged.

It isn't always about safety though either. Walking [[and public transit for that matter) is just not a part of Detroit culture. Part of it is safety, part of it is the way things are built, and that suburbia is so sprawled [[and such a major part of the area). Part of it is the cars. People just don't really look at walking as a way to get places all that much around here. I don't have much else to compare it to [[never lived elsewhere), but from visiting other cities, you definitely see people walking around much more often.

**southen** · March-07-13, 10:24 AM

outside of shapiro hall what blight and desolation are you talking about when it comes to walking to downtown? when it comes to walking you dont have to walk to gratiot, you can go down rivard to lafayette and enter through greektown... i make the walk all the time and i still cant see how its particularly eery or awfully dangerous.

part of the appeal to lafayette park is the short and very walkable distances to downtown, eastern market, the dequindre cut and the riverfront. i think this conversation would be seen as laughable in other cities

**Spartan** · March-07-13, 02:02 PM

Originally Posted by southen

outside of shapiro hall what blight and desolation are you talking about when it comes to walking to downtown? when it comes to walking you dont have to walk to gratiot, you can go down rivard to lafayette and enter through greektown... i make the walk all the time and i still cant see how its particularly eery or awfully dangerous.

part of the appeal to lafayette park is the short and very walkable distances to downtown, eastern market, the dequindre cut and the riverfront. i think this conversation would be seen as laughable in other cities

Can't speak to that walk, but the immediate area around the Pavilion, and Gratiot are both very empty. If you walk over to the entertainment district, it wouldn't make much sense to go down to Greektown. It's a decent location for some people and would have been ok for what I wanted, just not great.

**detroitbob** · March-09-13, 08:05 PM

One surprising situation at the Pavilion is the lack of designated handicapped parking places. I was told that we will get you as close to the first row but this is probably the only complex I have encountered that hasn't made this provision. The Towers has the designated areas.

Based on feedback to my postings, including some pm's it's running even pros/cons between LT and the P. Any additional feelings/comments will continue to be appreciated.

**downtownguy** · March-09-13, 08:11 PM

^^That seems pretty archaic. Isn't the number of spaces available mandated by law? Do you think they're not being compliant, or they just have more demand than usual?