The Ashton Detroit Luxury Condos Development

[rbdetsport]

Wow.. Things are really heating up Downtown! New condo construction!

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/bus...roit/89964122/

One thing that really stands out to me is how far west this is and how close to the Greyhound station it is. If financing was able to come by for this development, who knows what we could see closer to the core if condo development begins to heat up. The proximity to the Greyhound station is interesting to me just due to the fact that generally in major cities around the country, these stations are in deadzones. Or create deadzones, depending upon how you look at it.

[mikeg19]

Nice to see development on the west end. Also good to see that he has a proven track record in downtown developments.

[southen]

For me, given the part of town that this will inhabit, it points to bigger things in the more popular parts of downtown and the riverfront. Hopefully Hudson's will be announced soon and then you will see things begin to snowball with people wanting to meet the residential demand.

[emu steve]

Curious whom are the target audience for this luxury condo building?

[hybridy]

well i'm so glad we're ignoring the street level and keeping everyone up in their ivory tower...the lack of detail doesn't inspire much hope for this one.

http://www.ashtondetroit.com/

[Atticus]

well i'm so glad we're ignoring the street level and keeping everyone up in their ivory tower...the lack of detail doesn't inspire much hope for this one.

http://www.ashtondetroit.com/

My reaction as well. Nice project, and great for the city BUT one big problem....

And yes, I know it says first floor retail, but it sure looks pretty disappointing for the ground floor usage in the rendering. Ground level parking included it appears.

Hopefully those signing off on the permits take note of this and require better street level uses. Detroit shouldn't have to settle for bad planning.

[Hypestyles]

I want one of these. Somebody front me the money.

[401don]

I want one of these. Somebody front me the money.

Why? If I were living downtown this would be near the bottom of my list of preferred locations. By the way, does anybody know if condos above a parking deck is a way to get around the ground floor retail rules?

[Jason]

Nice to see them just finding a lot to buy and building on it. I'm also assuming based on the rendering that whatever they're doing with the art deco building it won't be affecting the exterior on 3rd, but the article says ground floor retail which I'm assuming is there, so maybe they'll be modifying the facade after all.

I agree that having something better at ground level on the new portion would be better but then again on literally the entire stretch of 3rd street downtown there's not a single building with an engaging ground floor except for maybe a tiny bar and possibly the church. Most of the buildings are parking garages and utilitarian buildings. The west side of downtown has a weird assortment of buildings.

One thing that's for sure is that the building is very shiny.

[Atticus]

Nice to see them just finding a lot to buy and building on it. I'm also assuming based on the rendering that whatever they're doing with the art deco building it won't be affecting the exterior on 3rd, but the article says ground floor retail which I'm assuming is there, so maybe they'll be modifying the facade after all.

I agree that having something better at ground level on the new portion would be better but then again on literally the entire stretch of 3rd street downtown there's not a single building with an engaging ground floor except for maybe a tiny bar and possibly the church. Most of the buildings are parking garages and utilitarian buildings. The west side of downtown has a weird assortment of buildings.

One thing that's for sure is that the building is very shiny.

I agree there is not much street level activity on that side of downtown, and off the go, whatever ground floor retail is included is probably going to have a tough go to make any profit.

That being said, you have to start somewhere. If the downtown boom continues, eventually it is going to spread to west downtown. And if you let this development get away without it, you start a bad precedent with the next development who could then also argue why they should provide unprofitable ground floor retail when there is still little other retail nearby.

Even if it is just vacant storefronts [[ala Book Cadillac Garage) that sits for years, that is okay because eventually the street activity will get to a point where it is profitable when other developments follow. But again, you have to start somewhere... and starting with a ground floor garage is not going to cut it.

[casscorridor]

Maybe this is just an early rendering. Let's hope at least. I thought ground floor parking garages were banned in the central business district.

[Gistok]

Maybe this is just an early rendering. Let's hope at least. I thought ground floor parking garages were banned in the central business district.

The law has variances that developers can ask for. Such as the entire first floor doesn't have to be all retail/commercial space. When the Detroit Opera House was built a few years back, they got a variance to have all the retail on the Broadway side in what appears to be a 2 story addition, which is all commercial space to the right [[in the middle of this image).

https://www.google.com/maps/place/15...487128!6m1!1e1

Unfortunately in the this instance the street level parking area on the back [[Centre St.) does nothing to help Harmonie Park/Paradise Valley. Centre St. is now a dead zone for pedestrians, except for the inhabitants of the former Milner Apts.

So the entire first floor of The Ashton does not necessarily have to be commercial space if some other variance is proposed by the developer and agreed to by the city.

[hybridy]

Unfortunately in the this instance the street level parking area on the back [[Centre St.) does nothing to help Harmonie Park/Paradise Valley. Centre St. is now a dead zone for pedestrians, except for the inhabitants of the former Milner Apts.

and isn't it funny how centre street is now. The Ashley is high end apts and includes Vertical Bar & Dilla's Delights...Colors is right next door. Harmonie Park is on the rise. If retail were integrated into the opera house deck on centre st there would be awesome potential for a thriving block with great trees...

[MSUguy]

Given that it's says it will include retail, what exactly are we complaing about?

[gumby]

Given that it's says it will include retail, what exactly are we complaing about?

Apparently folks that just because the picture doesn't zoom in on the retail areas it must mean they are lying about including it.

[1953]

My first thought after reading the article was, "There's one that won't get built."

[Danny]

At last Corktown is getting something that hasn't been done in 100 years. Bring young professionals living back to where it used to be a place where bums and wild animals used to live.

Now we need some retail long W. Fort St and folks will be able to shop til they drop. It least they have WCCCD to go to learn.

[ABetterDetroit]

As a fan of Detroit and owner occupied housing this is great news. I agree it should have plenty of ground floor commercial space as well as be about 7 stories higher...

[Hypestyles]

So construction will begin this year, what's up?

[renf]

Nothing better illustrates the macroeconomic and demographic trends shaping Detroit than two essays in the morning papers. The News has a front page story about a gentleman who owns a home on the West Side that the assessor thinks would sell for $5400. But he owes $6000 in back taxes so he might lose his home. The Freep has a front page story about the planned new $35 million condo building at Howard and Third – an area that some of us thought might never see major residential investments.

[emu steve]

Nothing better illustrates the macroeconomic and demographic trends shaping Detroit than two essays in the morning papers. The News has a front page story about a gentleman who owns a home on the West Side that the assessor thinks would sell for $5400. But he owes $6000 in back taxes so he might lose his home. The Freep has a front page story about the planned new $35 million condo building at Howard and Third – an area that some of us thought might never see major residential investments.

Or some might say, "The Two Detroits."

Can parts of the city grow and begin to flourish while other parts continue to languish?

Anyone with a good knowledge of Detroit can write either of these two stories.

Do they need to grow [[or decline) in tandem?

Can a city have a strong, growing downtown but have languishing neighborhoods?

[erikd]

Or some might say, "The Two Detroits."

Can parts of the city grow and begin to flourish while other parts continue to languish?

Anyone with a good knowledge of Detroit can write either of these two stories.

Do they need to grow [[or decline) in tandem?

Can a city have a strong, growing downtown but have languishing neighborhoods?

Of course the city can have some parts grow while other parts languish. That's a very common scenario.

[dtowncitylover]

Of course the city can have some parts grow while other parts languish. That's a very common scenario.

Is it though? The last question seems like the real question.

I don't know of a single city where the man-made destruction of the neighborhoods is as rampant as Detroit's. Chicago has Englewood, LA South Cental, etc but for the most part the major cities across the nation have more so-so to great neighborhoods than the burned out shells we have.

We have a serious neighborhood question. Sure we have University District, Green Acres, Bagely, Midtown, EEV, but there's no denying that the majority of the city's neighborhoods are not relatively safe to live in or there is not even a neighborhood in which to live; just burned out houses and empty fields.

We do have a growing downtown which is getting stronger every day, but there is a need for neighborhoods too. We can't rely on suburbanites and the piittance of downtown/midtown residents forever.

[mwilbert]

Is it though? The last question seems like the real question.

I don't know of a single city where the man-made destruction of the neighborhoods is as rampant as Detroit's. Chicago has Englewood, LA South Cental, etc but for the most part the major cities across the nation have more so-so to great neighborhoods than the burned out shells we have.

We have a serious neighborhood question. Sure we have University District, Green Acres, Bagely, Midtown, EEV, but there's no denying that the majority of the city's neighborhoods are not relatively safe to live in or there is not even a neighborhood in which to live; just burned out houses and empty fields.

We do have a growing downtown which is getting stronger every day, but there is a need for neighborhoods too. We can't rely on suburbanites and the piittance of downtown/midtown residents forever.

You are talking about two different things here. Erikd is saying that it is common to have some parts of a city thriving and some not, which seems true to me. You are saying that there are many parts of the city that are not thriving, and that is a problem, which also seems true. But I don't see that these two ideas are contradictory.

Presumably, if greater downtown continues to thrive, we will see continue to see spillovers into the adjoining areas as we already have. But we will also see a lot a neighborhoods where the buildings continue to be razed. I don't think that having a bunch of prairie is much a problem for the growing parts of the city, and plans like Detroit Future City have come up with imaginative uses for it. I think that although the less-desirable neighborhoods do produce a drag on nearby areas, the real burden of the pre-prairie areas of the city falls on the people living there, and while that is a serious problem, it isn't going to stop the progress in the other parts of the city.

The effect of the decay of many of the peripheral neighborhoods of the city on the growing part seems to me to be relatively small and I believe that most people are able to distinguish the two, which is something I might not have been able to say twenty years ago.

[masterblaster]

Is it though? The last question seems like the real question.

I don't know of a single city where the man-made destruction of the neighborhoods is as rampant as Detroit's. Chicago has Englewood, LA South Cental, etc but for the most part the major cities across the nation have more so-so to great neighborhoods than the burned out shells we have.

We have a serious neighborhood question. Sure we have University District, Green Acres, Bagely, Midtown, EEV, but there's no denying that the majority of the city's neighborhoods are not relatively safe to live in or there is not even a neighborhood in which to live; just burned out houses and empty fields.

We do have a growing downtown which is getting stronger every day, but there is a need for neighborhoods too. We can't rely on suburbanites and the piittance of downtown/midtown residents forever.

Well you forgot the Villages area, North & South Rosedale Park and Grandmont, Boston-Edison.

Detroit is more than just those big-house fancy neighborhoods and urban prairie/burnt out neighborhoods like Poletown and Brightmoor. There is a big middle-ground.

There is my neighborhood, Warrendale, as well as other westside neighborhoods like:
-Old Redford
-The Aviation Subdivision
-Crary-St. Mary's
-neighborhoods surrounding West Outer Drive except Brightmoor
-Parkland
-The Eye
-Russell Woods-Sullivan
-Oakman Boulevard
-Fitzgerald
-Martin Park
-The neighborhoods surrounding Mumford High School
-La Salle Gardens

East Side neighborhoods like:
-Morningside
-Jefferson-Chalmers
-Conant Gardens
-Various high-rise apartments along Jefferson
-Greyhaven Island
-new suburban style neighborhoods near the east riverfront

Southwest neighborhoods like:
-Hubbard-Richard
-Hubbard Farms
-Vernor-Junction
-Vernor-Springwells


Central neighborhoods like:
-Palmer Park Apartments district
-Grixdale, google streetview here
-Woodward Village, google streetview here
-Boston-Edison
-New Center
-Atkinson Avenue