Arrivals & Departures in West Dearborn

[jackie5275]

Departing-Pizza Papalis, moving to Taylor by Southland Mall
Departing-Rio Wraps, ditto
Departing-Paid parking in west Dearborn, a failed experiment
Arriving-Harbor Freight Tools, where ValuLand, & Michael's once stood, next to ACE Hardware

I am most excited about free parking returning.

[Honky Tonk]

Departing-Pizza Papalis, moving to Taylor by Southland Mall
Departing-Rio Wraps, ditto
Departing-Paid parking in west Dearborn, a failed experiment
Arriving-Harbor Freight Tools, where ValuLand, & Michael's once stood, next to ACE Hardware

I am most excited about free parking returning.

Harbor Freight!!! OH NO!!!! [[there goes my paycheck) As far as paid parking, that was Dearborn's sharp stick in the eye.

[masterblaster]

How come there are so many vacancies in downtown west Dearborn? Was it because of the paid parking? Why did that downtown never take off and become somewhat like a Ferndale?

[Bham1982]

How come there are so many vacancies in downtown west Dearborn? Was it because of the paid parking? Why did that downtown never take off and become somewhat like a Ferndale?

Wouldn't it be better to ask why you would expect West Dearborn to become a Ferndale? Ferndale is a big outlier in Metro Detroit.

[mtburb]

Wouldn't it be better to ask why you would expect West Dearborn to become a Ferndale? Ferndale is a big outlier in Metro Detroit.

Actually, right now, Westborn is more comparable to Wyandotte than to Ferndale.

[AGinthe313]

On the topic of West Dearborn...is the hotel project on Michigan Ave still moving forward? I'm referring to the one on the site of the old Vic Tanny building in the downtown area.

[jackie5275]

On the topic of West Dearborn...is the hotel project on Michigan Ave still moving forward? I'm referring to the one on the site of the old Vic Tanny building in the downtown area.

As far as I know it is. I've seen work being done on the site recently.

[jackie5275]

How come there are so many vacancies in downtown west Dearborn? Was it because of the paid parking? Why did that downtown never take off and become somewhat like a Ferndale?

The paid parking was a factor, however, from what I hear lease rates around there are much higher than they need to be.

[swingline]

Traffic volume and the configuration of Michigan in the downtown section of West Dearborn are big obstacles to a sustainable revitalization there. Michigan Ave. in Dearborn is a state trunk line and a significant commuting corridor. The resulting high traffic volume makes curb lane parking impossible in West Dearborn's downtown. The ROW is only wide enough for two travel lanes. No stopping or standing is enforced making it impossible to access the front doors of buildings for several blocks. Most of the business attempt to use their rear door as main entrance. This is ungainly and certainly a deal killer for national retailers. Placemaking is impossible in this kind of built environment.

W. Nine Mile Road in Ferndale has a similarly sized ROW but isn't burdened with West Dearborn's traffic volume and mandated trunk line level of services minimums. That's how W. Nine Mile was able to be reconfigured to add curb lane parking [[Remember how run down the store fronts were in the 80-90's when both lanes were used for travel like in West Dearborn?). W. Nine Mile traffic got calmed, pedestrians appeared, front doors started being used again, landlord investments mushroomed and tens of millions of dollars of assessed value got added to Ferndale's tax rolls. Placemaking success.

Not sure how you get this to happen in West Dearborn.

P.S. As an obvious aside, prior to its boneheaded decision to block off Kercheval Ave., Grosse Pointe Park already had [[for free) every "walkability" amenity that Ferndale paid several million dollars to achieve. Guess who has more economic activity per square foot.

[Hypestyles]

when is the paid parking scheduled to end? So the city owned these meters? they didn't sell them to a private company?

[Smirnoff]

Assume the paid parking/meters killed business & customers, especially those wanting to shop at different W. Dbrn. stores that were too long to walk from where they parked & didn't want to pay multiple times for parking......geez, didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one???

[preserve]

Poor Ferndale, business along 9 Mile is also suffering due to the parking problem. Good bye to Buffalo Wild Wings and Twisted Shamrock. Marios is gone.

[Bham1982]

Assume the paid parking/meters killed business & customers, especially those wanting to shop at different W. Dbrn. stores that were too long to walk from where they parked & didn't want to pay multiple times for parking......geez, didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one???

It's a little more complicated than than. The West Dearborn district was struggling back when parking was free.

The issues are multiple, but this area is essentially less than ideal for "downtown" type retail. Michigan Ave. is basically a highway, Dearborn doesn't have gays and hipsters like Ferndale, "regular" whites, who would be more prone to patronize W. Dearborn's chains, are being replaced by Arabs, and suburban Wayne, for the most part, is a regional economic underperformer.

And Dearborn has two downtowns. It's hard to reconcile that fact. Tough to get even one vibrant, much less two.

[ypsifly]

Paid parking is done for now. Meters are being removed and the pay booths are now empty with the gates up. I was a manger at Papalis when they put the meters in and saw the resulting decline of dine in business. The other factor is the landlords wanting way too much for rent. The owner of the now former Papalis building raised the rent from approximately $7k to $13k a month! I have spoken with other business owners in the neighborhood and this seems to be the trend.

In addition to Harbor Freight, there is a gourmet hot dog place getting ready to open on Monroe south of MI ave. As for Papalis opening in Taylor, the deal is still in the early stages with nothing signed in ink just yet, but it sounds like they are moving forward with it. From what I was told, it will be a franchise operation. The Westborn location was corporate owned.

[G-DDT]

Cops coming out in full force on every bar night to round up folks casually leaving Howell's [[R.I.P.), Bailey's, Post Bar, and Double Olive, sort of killed the nightlife enthusiasm. I saw it happen many nights. There was never any melees to begin with, just cops filling quotas and harassing folks.

Hotel? Is that what is being built around where the old cinemaplex was? You can see it right down from Telegraph Rd. Heh. not far from the crummy Red Roof Inn, and if one goes down Michigan into Inkster, there are a lot of seedy No-tel-Mo-tels.

One thing Dearborn needs is to bring back a variety of merchants [[all the Hallmark card shops-and there were at least three in the area-closed up). Good to see Stormy, Green Brain, and Rodegher's still around. I love diversity, but when one has a cigar and Hookah [[or agilee, or whatever one wants to call it) spot a half a block away, why build another? Then again, why have two Kroger's next to each other.

I love ethnic food, but too many specialty novelty places like frozen yogurt and sushi gets stale. Another M.S.G.-free Asian food place would be great [[miss Dragon Palace greatly). That Buddy's there is the worst. Northwestern and Conant far surpass it. Ideally, places like that and Pizza Papalis are keen on getting local kids their first jobs there. The problem is, though, the kids in Dearborn are jaded, misery-loving types [[Hmmm...where do they get it from?....) who have no respect for their jobs and do a half-witted/half-hearted attempt at it. I can tell you some horror stories I've heard about the many local pizzerias staffed only by kids late at night. Hire more outsiders desperate to get and keep jobs, and the food quality might just improve.

[Zacha341]

Do you mean Maria's? Yeah I wonder what will replace it. They were there for some time. Chosen Books is gone too, though they may have relocated.

Poor Ferndale, business along 9 Mile is also suffering due to the parking problem. Good bye to Buffalo Wild Wings and Twisted Shamrock. Marios is gone.

[Zacha341]

Good bye also [[though less mourning I am sure) to that Family Dollar next to the hardware on Michigan. I knew they would be toast after the murder of the young store managers a few years ago.

Departing-Pizza Papalis, moving to Taylor by Southland Mall
Departing-Rio Wraps, ditto
Departing-Paid parking in west Dearborn, a failed experiment
Arriving-Harbor Freight Tools, where ValuLand, & Michael's once stood, next to ACE Hardware

I am most excited about free parking returning.

[G-DDT]

Good bye also [[though less mourning I am sure) to that Family Dollar next to the hardware on Michigan. I knew they would be toast after the murder of the young store managers a few years ago.

Which brings up a past, morbid speculation I've once had: Is there not one inch of terrain on this Earth that has not tasted spilt blood, and if so, is it just uninhabitable?

[Now&then]

Also miss Dragon Palace. They had great Moo Shu Pork with hoisin sauce, but my son liked the General Tso's chicken and the Hunan version. My son also misses Fitness U.S.A., which was near the "Farmer" Kroger on the North side of Michigan Ave. I, personally, miss Little Professor Bookstore. They had a huge magazine selection, and I mean large! They had all I needed in steady rotation for my craft needs.

[DetroitHabitater]

I also heard a Noodle Company was coming to west dearborn, but I forget the location.

[jackie5275]

Hotel? Is that what is being built around where the old cinemaplex was? You can see it right down from Telegraph Rd. Heh. not far from the crummy Red Roof Inn, and if one goes down Michigan into Inkster, there are a lot of seedy No-tel-Mo-tels.

Yes, there are a couple of hotels being built on Mich Ave west of Telegraph, but the one being discussed earlier in this topic is the one being built farther east along Mich Ave where Vic Tanny used to be.

[G-DDT]

Also miss Dragon Palace. They had great Moo Shu Pork with hoisin sauce, but my son liked the General Tso's chicken and the Hunan version. My son also misses Fitness U.S.A., which was near the "Farmer" Kroger on the North side of Michigan Ave. I, personally, miss Little Professor Bookstore. They had a huge magazine selection, and I mean large! They had all I needed in steady rotation for my craft needs.

I also miss Little Professor's [[stray bookmarks of their's still turn up in used books I come across); they were one of the few stores that would carry the Fortean Times. I recently found out Tony Fera, one of the founders, passed away last November, and services were held at Divine Child.