Gratiot - Lafayette Park/Eastern Market development

[bassab]

If built, a significant project along Gratiot.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...ntial-units-to

[Honky Tonk]

If built, a significant project along Gratiot.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...ntial-units-to

Great news! The hipsters will be able to go down into the lobby and buy their candles and religious goods. It'll be a "win-win" for everybody!

[southen]

That stretch of Gratiot is loaded with potential. I am happy to see that there will be new construction along those surface lots. Hopefully the development will add so much value that the logistics company there will decide to sell and you could really link Lafayette Park to Eastern Market with residential.

[Mackinaw]

Finally-- the areas immediately adjacent to Eastern Market warrant much higher density. Walkable access to Eastern Market and downtown makes for a very special, high quality arrangement.

The candles better stay! [[I've noticed the work proceeding slowly in that building at the corner of Russell St.-- a very solid looking, visually appealing one). The old cobblestone alley behind Gratiot is another neat historic element. Too bad all of pre-1900 Detroit in that area, save for St. Joseph Church, one building across from it, and those cobbles has been ripped out. Nonethless, tons of potential and a pretty great current reality for the Gratiot-Russel corner.

[bust]

I've been waiting for this area to take off. With the market, flexible loft spaces, studios and galleries, proximity to downtown, historic architecture, already existing restaurant and entertainment options, light industry, and relative density, this area provides a great opportunity for a dense, diverse, walkable neighborhood where people can live, work, shop, dine, and recreate all in close proximity like no other in Detroit. Of course there needs to be more of all of that before it reaches critical mass, but that will only be more likely once it's better integrated with Lafayette Park and the riverfront via the Dequindre Cut. And there are plenty of indications it's headed in that direction. If development follows the right path this can become one of Detroit's best places to live. There's also great opportunity for tourism. Of course I'd like it to remain a real neighborhood and wouldn't want it to go the way of t-shirt and trinket shops, but we're still a long way from that. It would be great to see more of the historic architecture and brick streets restored, better transit integration with downtown, and new development that favors density over parking lots. Fingers crossed.

And before anyone says I'm cheerleading, I'm excited about this mostly because I recognize there are so few places like this in Detroit left.

Now just don't go ruin it with a stadium.

[renf]

These new residential/commercial developments along Gratiot near the Eastern Market may mean that someone will renovate the nearby Hunt Street police station. These are interesting developments suggesting there is continued demand for residential and commercial space near downtown.