Downtown Detroit in 1990 -- its Bottom-most Point?

[Lowell]

“Empty hulks scar Detroit: Crain’s survey shows 46 vacant buildings, 7.2 million square feet”
Crain's Detroit Business May 21, 1990

I stumbled across this fascinating read today. It provides a snapshot of Downtown Detroit reeling under a wave of abandonment, frustrated renovation projects, pessimism and seemingly hopeless continual decline.

Even the handful of new developments such as Trappers Alley, Madden Building, Hines Buildings and River Place were viewed as threats to the remaining buildings' occupancies.

The majority of buildings identified by Crain’s were offices before a gradual, 40-year exodus of jobs from downtown left them bare. But renovating them for office space makes little economic sense today, said Parker, owner of RFP Associates, a commercial real estate brokerage situated downtown in the Michigan Building on Bagley. New downtown office towers such as the Madden Building and the one under construction by Houston developer Gerald Hines are already making leasing tough for such downtown office stalwarts as the First National Building on Woodward, Parker said.

Compare the above with this 360 degree article by Kirk Pinho in today's Crain's.



Only scraps remain...

Two and a half years ago, Crain's detailed the remaining vacant eyesores in the central business district, with nine highlighted based on interviews with brokers, developers, architects and other real estate experts. In those 30 months, two-thirds of them have been purchased and viable redevelopment plans have been revealed, leaving a handful of large buildings left to renovate and bring back online.