everything happening around brush park but nothing in brush park....

[jaytheory]

Can anyone give me a reason why Brushpark hasnt seen any renos or new buildings in quite some time.

Brewster are coming down, M1 is going in, red wings is going in

375 might go away, seems like a circle of progress around BP but nothing happening.


and second does anyone know of any historic reasons that brush park has seen more wrecking balls than shovels over time.

Being one of the older neighborhoods, in a great location with some new housing, and a pretty upwardly mobile [[but small population) it seems ripe for apartments and restaurants along john r and brush

[drjeff]

I agree. If I had a bunch of money to invest I'd buy property in Brush Park. It's an ideal location.

[dtowncitylover]

I think it has to do with the fact these things haven't happened yet.

While Brush Park is certainly within Midtown, I could see it being a catalyst for any new major housing/apartment/condo building. Look to it to see if the all the new development does spill into the neighborhoods. I could see very much the blocks between Brush and Woodward south of Erskine having a very urban [[think UWS Manhattan/Brooklyn/Lakeview) feel if done right.

Unfortunately, we live in Detroit.

[Wheels]

Charles Pugh invested heavily in Brush Park. Ask him how that is working out.

[CrashDummy]

Charles Pugh invested heavily in Brush Park. Ask him how that is working out.

No, he didn't. You see, to invest he would have actually had to pay money. A subtle, but important detail overlooked by so many.

[Bham1982]

What am I missing here? The entire southern third of Brush Park was razed for those suburban townhouses. Most of the rest was razed too. Quite a bit has happened there.

And "great location"? "Upwardly mobile population"? Try no population, and no-mans land. Probably waiting for DMC to buy the rest.

[Hans57]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe much of the land is owned by Crosswinds, the developer of the town homes. Maybe they don't see the potential or are waiting for those projects to break ground. In any scenario, that's where I'd invest if I had the means and the land was available. It's surrounded by a triangle of burgeoning nodes: Eastern Market, Midtown, and Downtown; it will be the supreme location for city living.

[Bham1982]

In any scenario, that's where I'd invest if I had the means and the land was available. It's surrounded by a triangle of burgeoning nodes: Eastern Market, Midtown, and Downtown; it will be the supreme location for city living.

Ask the buyers at Crosswinds how their Brush Park investment is working out.

[Khorasaurus]

Ask the buyers at Crosswinds how their Brush Park investment is working out.

It's going to work out pretty darn well when a new arena goes in across the street.

[innercitydoc]

Brewster are coming down, M1 is going in, red wings is going in

Don't forget about Whole Foods

[EastsideAl]

does anyone know of any historic reasons that brush park has seen more wrecking balls than shovels over time.

It was historically on the "wrong" side of Woodward. And those buildings were oooold.

[Gistok]

Ask the buyers at Crosswinds how their Brush Park investment is working out.

Everyone's property took a dive after the mortgage meltdown, and Detroit worst than most...

[Mackinaw]

My theory: tearing everything down, whether through government action or otherwise, is no way to spur redevelopment. An urban prairie is scary in so many ways, and rightfully so. Where do you begin any sort of organic redevelopment on an empty block? The answer is: you don't. Thus we wait for big developers to buy the whole block and building something monolithic or repetitive. The not-so-hot commodity of empty land just became even more abundant with the Brewster teardown. Lest we forget that Brewster was the site of one of the original desecrations of the urban fabric back in the Roosevelt years. That poor neighborhood has been stuck in the same rut of poor planning and lack of concentrated population for decades. I swear that, ceteris paribus, it would be bustling and outshining even the rest of midtown if all of its pre-decay buildings still existed [[even in a decayed state). If you go through heavily blighted/abandoned parts of cities like Baltimore you see that most of the old buildings are still standing. If this were the case in Brush Park, you could very well have a dynamic neighborhood adjacent to downtown, and the city would be years ahead in its progress, because all of those would be fixed up by now. Extant buildings awaiting renovation are the real commodity for revitalization. We're seeing it throughout the Woodward corridor, and it makes you wish we had more buildings great and small for people to fix up.

John R has potential and I love that some stately old highrises have been nicely preserved. Kudos to those developers. Crosswinds has been sandbagging on their land holdings and I wish they'd sell. But I defer to anyone who knows more than me about Crosswinds' current level of investment.

[Gistok]

Exactly Mackinaw... if Brush Park still had the density of say Ferry Ave... then like Ferry Ave... the remaining empty land would be ripe for fill-in. However, so much of Brush Park is now sadly gone... it lasted as empty shells for decades, but not long enough, it seems.

[Bham1982]

It's going to work out pretty darn well when a new arena goes in across the street.

Can you explain why? They already have a two giant new sports venues across from their townhouses; didn't prevent the home values from cratering during the recession. Why would a third, smaller venue finally do the trick?

A sports arena has nothing to do with residential property values. The relative success of Brush Park as a residential location is separate from decisonmaking re. potential arena locations.

[Khorasaurus]

Can you explain why? They already have a two giant new sports venues across from their townhouses; didn't prevent the home values from cratering during the recession. Why would a third, smaller venue finally do the trick?

A sports arena has nothing to do with residential property values.

Right now they look across Woodward at vacant lots and vacant buildings. In 3-4 years, they will be across from an arena that has hockey and concerts 50-60 times a year.

An arena probably isn't the best thing that could happen to their property values, but it's certainly better than what's there now.

[ndavies]

Brush park is still suffering from the Mortgage market meltdown. The FHA pulled their approval on the crosswinds condos and many other downtown projects. Their are rules a condo association must abide by to keep FHA approval. The crosswinds condos no longer conformed. Mortgage funding completely dried up. That stopped anyone from getting a mortgage on the condos. So unless you were willing to pay cash you couldn't buy a unit.

Also "Safe suburban developments" are finding it hard to get funding, Think about how hard it is to get risky Detroit developments funded. Risky Is not your definition of risky, It's the lending Banks.

[Honky Tonk]

Ask the buyers at Crosswinds how their Brush Park investment is working out.

I personally know someone that lost $65K on her investment in the Crosswinds. Visiting her on Tiger, Redwing, and Lion games days was horrible due to the congestion. Half the time, DPD cops, wouldn't let you turn off into Winder, they just wanted you to move on. She took a big hit when she moved.

[jt1]

I personally know someone that lost $65K on her investment in the Crosswinds. Visiting her on Tiger, Redwing, and Lion games days was horrible due to the congestion. Half the time, DPD cops, wouldn't let you turn off into Winder, they just wanted you to move on. She took a big hit when she moved.

When did she move? Property values have been steadily improving in the last couple years [[and all available inventory in that area is now gone). Although they are likely not up to the original prices, they are certainly trending in the right direction and, within a couple years, will likely be close to original prices.

I know people in some wealthier suburbs that are still $100K+ underwater on places they bought 10 years ago.

Also, just out of curiosity, what type of place did she buy. There were some places there for sale that were outrageious from day one right before the market collapsed. I believe prices ranged pretty drastically in Brush Park.

[Wesley Mouch]

I personally know someone that lost $65K on her investment in the Crosswinds. Visiting her on Tiger, Redwing, and Lion games days was horrible due to the congestion. Half the time, DPD cops, wouldn't let you turn off into Winder, they just wanted you to move on. She took a big hit when she moved.

That hit she took will be greatly appreciated by the new owners who bought at the right time. They took advantage of 'affordable housing'. And they have no doubt made money.

I feel for those who lost money -- but you don't buy into a real estate as a short-term play.

[jaytheory]

What am I missing here? The entire southern third of Brush Park was razed for those suburban townhouses. Most of the rest was razed too. Quite a bit has happened there.

And "great location"? "Upwardly mobile population"? Try no population, and no-mans land. Probably waiting for DMC to buy the rest.

Yes, it is a great location. it is central to everything and will be situated directly on the m1 rail.

the population is relatively upwardly mobile. condos are selling for 200k in Woodward Place and renting for 1600+

there are many professionals in the neighborhood. I would say most of the neighborhood, granted the population is small. but besides the giant mansion that need to be restored, there is not much vacant housing. vacant land there is a lot of

[jaytheory]

Can you explain why? They already have a two giant new sports venues across from their townhouses; didn't prevent the home values from cratering during the recession. Why would a third, smaller venue finally do the trick?

A sports arena has nothing to do with residential property values. The relative success of Brush Park as a residential location is separate from decisonmaking re. potential arena locations.

you are actually thinking about that wrong. The crosswind development [[which did do a few rehabs) was the first Market rate housing development in detroit since the 70s or 80s if I recall correctly, they got built out from 02-06 values skyrockets the market crashed.

I think the fact that they got built shows a lot for hat the stadiums did bring. to a place that was all but dead.

[Honky Tonk]

When did she move? Property values have been steadily improving in the last couple years [[and all available inventory in that area is now gone). Although they are likely not up to the original prices, they are certainly trending in the right direction and, within a couple years, will likely be close to original prices.

I know people in some wealthier suburbs that are still $100K+ underwater on places they bought 10 years ago.

Also, just out of curiosity, what type of place did she buy. There were some places there for sale that were outrageious from day one right before the market collapsed. I believe prices ranged pretty drastically in Brush Park.

It was a corner duplex, facing Woodward. She bought right after they opened. I don't know exactly what she paid. I just remember her telling me she was having a hard time selling it, [[found work out of State) There was some kind of "policy" that Crosswinds would buy the property back from you. [[don't remember the specifics) She tried flying back and forth, then finally gave in. I know property values have been climbing in the City, but I too am running @ a loss, and I bought in, in what I would call, a "bargain" time. Detroit seems to be running behind the rest of the area. Never did care for the Crosswinds location, though. It was like having a place @ the entrance to Comerica Park. The novelty quickly wore off.

[Detroitnerd]

The redevelopment [[or perhaps in this case "re-gentrification") of neighborhoods typically doesn't seem to happen when you introduce some magic mix of taxes, inducements, jobs and credits. It seems to start someplace historical, then expand and spill over into adjoining areas. Unfortunately, Brush Park is sort of hemmed in by monolithic developments that don't lend themselves very well to "spilling" anywhere. Least of all into a neighborhood that doesn't have much building stock to repurpose quickly for new uses, such as Cass Corridor has had.

[rex]

Not sure being that close to 3 sports arenas and 2 freeways is such a good thing. Sounds loud and annoying