I'm of the view that we are strong working together as a metropolitan region and celebrating each other's successes. Just like I think Oakland County benefits from a strong city center and should support things like mass transit, I also believe Detroit benefits from strong neighboring communities, particularly the inner-ring suburbs.

And when we talk about suburbs, not all are the same. Certain areas are aligning themselves around higher density development, walkability, connectivity, quality architecture and design and traditional neighborhood structures with city centers. Royal Oak certainly checks those boxes and I think is experiencing the right kind of growth, that is, healthy, sustainable growth that benefits the region and its residents.


https://www.freep.com/story/news/loc...all/575607002/


"After years of being a mostly one- and two-story “old-fashioned” downtown, with a 1950s feel like countless others nationwide, this one is gorging on new investment. And it’s growing like a weed, from short to mid-rise.....

The initial goal of 180,000 square feet of new office space is just a memory.
“Right now, we’re looking at hitting 300,000 square feet, and I’m not counting a couple of projects that we think are coming,” Fenton said.
It turned out that, once the Great Recession ended, developers fell in love with Royal Oak’s central location, amid two freeways, coupled with its already walkable downtown. It didn’t hurt that Oakland County as a whole has boomed ever since bottoming out in 2010, according to a University of Michigan study released last week.

The builders pounced on Royal Oak. First came the residential breed, who quickly snatched up every available lot for new housing starts. In 2013-15, the city had a run of residential construction virtually unmatched by any other metro Detroit community on a new-housing-per-capita basis.
Then came the officer species. And suddenly, the downtown skyline started looking like, well, someplace else.....


The list of new downtown buildings includes:

  • Hyatt Place, a six-story hotel to be open by September on North Main, at the site of a former car dealership;
  • Etkin Building, a soon-to-open mid-rise office tower that rose a former city-owned parking lot, behind traditional storefronts on South Main – and fully leased before completion, city officials said.
  • Kinetic Creations headquarters, a new midrise office building under contructions, three blocks east and four blocks south of the city’s downtown epicenter, 11 Mile and Main.

In addition, Royal Oak has massive swaths of construction under way outside its downtown, near 13 Mile and Woodward. One facet is a new shopping center at the southeast corner, to be called the Woodward Corners by Beaumont because the property is owned by adjoining Beaumont Hospital. Another is just east of the northeast corner, a 10-acre housing development swaddled in a 40-acre park on the site of a former city golf course."