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  1. #1

    Default Controversy erupts over apartments plan near Detroit's Boston-Edison neighborhood

    Adam Noel, 40, co-owner of Timeless Properties Detroit, wants to transform the building at 9851 Hamilton Ave. into 49 market-rate apartments with a ground-floor café and other commercial space. The building dates to 1920 when it opened as a local church's community center, and more recently it operated as Catholic Social Services of Wayne County [[complete with a "Madonna Room.") Although just outside the boundaries of Boston-Edison, the building and its surface parking lots abut a row of stately Boston-Edison homes. And on the opposite side of Hamilton Avenue, the building faces the grand Motown Mansion, once owned by Berry Gordy.

    But the building's other neighboring properties — further outside Boston-Edison — are significantly less grand. They include a couple vacant and boarded-up houses. So 9851 Hamilton straddles the edge of a prominent upper-middle-class neighborhood and another still showing signs of distress.



    Among Boston-Edison residents, the redevelopment proposal is now a major controversy. That came as a surprise to Noel, who says he never anticipated so much pushback against a plan to bring an empty building back to life.

    Some neighbors have said they would prefer the Hamilton building stay empty, or maybe become a community center again — not an apartment complex buzzing with vehicle traffic and packed with renters and perhaps some Airbnb occupants.
    https://www.freep.com/story/money/bu...t/77936686007/

  2. #2

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    It’s a handsome building and worthy of renovation.

    It sounds like a responsible developer is involved and this would help stabilize Glynn Court [[I like the stretches that have the grassy medians, which could be spruced up a bit). I understand the NIMBY concerns of the adjacent B-E residents, but I think that this project and improving Glynn ultimately is more positive than negative for B-E.

    The building is smaller than the Parkhurst which abuts Indian Village.

  3. #3

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    Based on the article I'm on the side of the developer here. Why "some neighbors" would prefer an empty building with all the potential mischief that might entail does not seem reasonable. Neither the parking issue as the streets are practically devoid of buildings and the mansions of the historic districts have plenty of off street parking for their use. The "transient" issue seems spurious as well when on considers all of the apartment buildings that used to be in the neighborhood.

  4. #4

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    B-E residents sound backwards reading this article. Preferring empty structures over potential parking issues instead of trying to increase the neighborhood's viability? Please explain it to me.

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by expatriate View Post
    Based on the article I'm on the side of the developer here. Why "some neighbors" would prefer an empty building with all the potential mischief that might entail does not seem reasonable. Neither the parking issue as the streets are practically devoid of buildings and the mansions of the historic districts have plenty of off street parking for their use. The "transient" issue seems spurious as well when on considers all of the apartment buildings that used to be in the neighborhood.
    I agree with you. The arguments don't make much sense. And even if they did, the idea that you can't do development on Hamilton, a major commercial thoroughfare, because it's too near houses in Boston-Edison, is just nuts. And in this case, it isn't even a new building, but an existing one.

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by Genesyxx View Post
    ... Please explain it to me.
    There's tons of urban wasteland outside Detroit's Green Zone. Build there first.
    https://youtu.be/u2qdMxzJsXY?t=131
    Last edited by Henry Whalley; February-02-25 at 05:09 AM.

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by Henry Whalley View Post
    There's tons of urban wasteland outside Detroit's Green Zone. Build there first.
    That's just not how it works. Redevelopment mostly happens adjacent to existing development. And if Hamilton isn't a wasteland, and stretches of it certainly are, it certainly has a lot of development opportunities.
    Last edited by mwilbert; February-01-25 at 10:06 PM.

  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by Henry Whalley View Post
    There's tons of urban wasteland outside Detroit's Green Zone. Build there first.
    https://youtu.be/u2qdMxzJsXY?t=131
    They aren't building they are renovating an empty building.

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by Trumpeteer View Post
    They aren't building they are renovating an empty building.
    OK. After rereading the story, I can understand both sides. As a compromise, perhaps the building could have condominiums. That would reduce certain incentives, but also minimize transients.

  10. #10

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    I think if they scrap the cafe idea and just focus on apartments or condos, that would probably quiet the neighbors.

  11. #11

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    Sounds a lot like NIMBY-ism from Boston-Edison residents, if I'm reading this article correctly.

  12. #12

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    The condo market is pretty weak right now according to the business press and a cafe/coffee shop actually brings some vitality to a neighborhood. These "3rd places" are popular gathering spots for residents like in Indian Village and The Congregation on Rosa Parks.

  13. #13

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    Freep article behind a paywall.

    Is the the building announced last week where the governor was going to give away $1.27 million of tax money to the developer to rehab 10 apartments plus some retail on the first floor that will never be occupied?

    The developer will do it for less than that, and essentially get paid to have a free building?

  14. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rocket View Post
    Freep article behind a paywall.

    Is the the building announced last week where the governor was going to give away $1.27 million of tax money to the developer to rehab 10 apartments plus some retail on the first floor that will never be occupied?

    The developer will do it for less than that, and essentially get paid to have a free building?
    Take a look at the first post again. There are 49 units, not 10. The linked article is not paywalled. There’s no public money involved.

  15. #15

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    The building that was being talked about by Whitmer last week is in the North End, on Oakland, not adjacent to Boston-Edison on Hamilton.

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