Detroit's Midtown district is on a roll

**Boy Named Sue** · January-25-10, 11:47 AM

From today's detroit news:

http://www.detnews.com/article/20100...t-is-on-a-roll

**Detroitnerd** · January-25-10, 11:51 AM

Tear all that schitt down and run a freeway through it! Nobody wants small development! Detroit is old! We need that money out in Troy!

**Danny** · January-25-10, 12:18 PM

Midtown is growing and the WSU police is kicking the DEAD [[C) KRAK HEADS, squatters, schizos and a man with a dirty dress out. Buildings are being fixed and ghettohoods and in the process of gentrification. Apts are being turned from cheap drug shacks into yuppified high rent luxury condos. And new mom and pop retail are popping up everywhere. Folks down there love thr atmosphere and the excitement of Midtown, its a community on the grow than SW Detroit.

**kryptonite** · January-25-10, 01:10 PM

I drove down Cass Ave. Saturday night and continue to be amazed at the changes going on in the Cass Corridor. it's nice to see so much positive development happening after decades of deterioration.

**cman710** · January-25-10, 01:19 PM

It was refreshing to read this article. We can see how important the area's anchor institutions have become. It is great to see development and positive news somewhere, despite the awful economy.

**Detroitnerd** · January-25-10, 01:21 PM

Originally Posted by kryptonite

I drove down Cass Ave. Saturday night and continue to be amazed at the changes going on in the Cass Corridor. it's nice to see so much positive development happening after decades of deterioration.

Don't you understand? That development there isn't really happening. It's because Detroit is not what businessmen want! They want lots of parking! Big freeways! Huge parcels! Detroit is all burned down and the taxes have chased away all the business! Crime! Scary! How many times do we have to tell you: Detroit is hopeless!

**Gsgeorge** · January-25-10, 01:32 PM

Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

Don't you understand? That development there isn't really happening. It's because Detroit is not what businessmen want! They want lots of parking! Big freeways! Huge parcels! Detroit is all burned down and the taxes have chased away all the business! Crime! Scary! How many times do we have to tell you: Detroit is hopeless!

We get it, dude.

"Midtown" is the heart of Detroit's resurgence. Despite the efforts downtown, Midtown has proven to be more livable than the cold streets of the CBD. I am looking forward to Slow's carry-out location at Alexandrine & Cass, the renovation of Chinatown, and the restoration of Sugar Hill Arts District & the opening of the Garden Block. Bravo!

**texorama** · January-25-10, 01:41 PM

I have to think that somewhere in the metro area, yea, perhaps even in Troy, there are some Chinese developers with fond memories of that old corner who would kick in for a small redevelopment effort.

**kryptonite** · January-25-10, 03:16 PM

Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

Don't you understand? That development there isn't really happening. It's because Detroit is not what businessmen want! They want lots of parking! Big freeways! Huge parcels! Detroit is all burned down and the taxes have chased away all the business! Crime! Scary! How many times do we have to tell you: Detroit is hopeless!

Au contraire, Saturday three of us did quite a bit of driving around Midtown, along Brush, Piquette, John R, Woodward, etc. We visited Sweetest Heart of Mary for mass, Z's for dinner, then drove around WSU and along Cass Ave.

My college background was urban planning. I have noticed a definite trend. There are many new businesses and many new housing units. Redevelopment is going on basically from the Lodge to I-75 from Downtown to New Center. Many buildings that were dark a few years ago are now lit up at night. there are definitely areas that are still in terrible shape but it appears obvious to me that the downward spiral is over, the area is improving noticeably. People, businesses, housing are all starting to return to the corridor.

**Detroitnerd** · January-25-10, 03:31 PM

Originally Posted by kryptonite

Au contraire, Saturday three of us did quite a bit of driving around Midtown, along Brush, Piquette, John R, Woodward, etc. We visited Sweetest Heart of Mary for mass, Z's for dinner, then drove around WSU and along Cass Ave.

My college background was urban planning. I have noticed a definite trend. There are many new businesses and many new housing units. Redevelopment is going on basically from the Lodge to I-75 from Downtown to New Center. Many buildings that were dark a few years ago are now lit up at night. there are definitely areas that are still in terrible shape but it appears obvious to me that the downward spiral is over, the area is improving noticeably. People, businesses, housing are all starting to return to the corridor.

Grrrr! *head explodes*

Bearinabox · January-25-10, 03:47 PM

Originally Posted by kryptonite

My college background was urban planning.

Really? I had you pegged for a Sarcasm Recognition major...

**iheartthed** · January-25-10, 03:59 PM

Originally Posted by Bearinabox

Really? I had you pegged for a Sarcasm Recognition major...

SarcMark FTW.

Bearinabox · January-25-10, 04:03 PM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

SarcMark FTW.

It's sorely needed around here.

**Detroitnerd** · January-25-10, 04:06 PM

Sorry, gang. I thought it was just so obvious I neglected to add the usual warning.

SATIRE ALERT

SATIRE ALERT

**kryptonite** · January-25-10, 04:06 PM

Uh oh, I didn't mean to sound like I was qualifying myself as an expert, but the urban planning background explains my interest in the Midtown area as well as Downtown. Personally I am quite happy to see all the development going on in the corridor.

Route29 · January-25-10, 04:11 PM

Midtown is definitely a vibrate, great place. I used to live there, and miss a lot of it, and it has even come a long way since I lived there.

I think the Forest Arms will be a big step forward as well - creating affordable housing for a lot of people in the heart of the district.

So Midtown really is on a roll - two things we must take from this:

The importance of an urban environment and how successful it can be. Even in this economy, in DETROIT, there is a pocket of prosperity, growth, diversity. It isn't happening in Troy. We need less that is Troyesqe, more that is Midtownesqe to turn this region and state around.

Now - how to spread this prosperity to the rest of the city. The rest of the city is suffering horribly, even the better neighborhoods. Better police protection [[provided in Midtown by WSUPD), and a vibrant, walkable environment. Detroit's other decrepit commercial strips could spur residential development, or vice versa. Strip malls don't promote growth, as we have seen in the rest of the city, and our malls are abandoned as quick as we can build them. Unique, independent businesses are needed. There is no Best Buy, Bed Bath and Beyond, or Wal-Mart in Midtown. There needn't be, and we don't need any more of that.

**RickBeall** · January-25-10, 04:19 PM

Hey DetroitNerd,
Allow with the expressway through it, lets sprinkle in a couple casinos, ideally one right next the the DIA. To be really tasteful, lets make it 3 times taller than the DIA, and surround it on at least 3 sides.

**Detroitnerd** · January-25-10, 04:30 PM

Originally Posted by RickBeall

Hey DetroitNerd,
Allow with the expressway through it, lets sprinkle in a couple casinos, ideally one right next the the DIA. To be really tasteful, lets make it 3 times taller than the DIA, and surround it on at least 3 sides.

The Biff Tannen school of urban design.

jflick3535 · January-25-10, 07:29 PM

93% occupancy really?

where did they get that number?

Is that like 90% of the book condos being sold?

oh and if you think Slattery is doing just fine with his morgue project--just check out the balconies when you drive by and look for any evidence of a tenant/owner's furniture.

Puff pieces are fine in model D but the freep, news and crains should be ashamed of themselves

Then the paper puts a picture of the Ellington lofts in the story as an example of "resurgence" of midtown but those are mostly empty as well!!

By the way--I wish the story was true but it just isn't

**6nois** · January-25-10, 08:34 PM

Jflick they said a 93% RENTAL occupancy rate, which I think is probably correct. With the credit crunch right now renting is the only option for many people, and Midtown with it high population of young college students who are largely transient are prime renters. Two years ago when I was renting in the area it was hard to find nice units because most had been taken up by people displaced when the Forest Arms burned. There is a huge difference between rental and buying. Everything you are talking about is buying which is hard right now. People can't move to midtown from other areas because 1. they can't sell their houses where they live, and 2. it is considerably harder to get financing on a development in the city than not because of red lining. But if you are renting it is a very stable area, and prices there have not dropped like they have in other areas because of the nature of the renting market.

The article may be a little overly positive but in all reality midtown has alot to be proud of right now, and in terms of new businesses and growth it is doing very well considering the economic conditions, and I expect that it will continue to be a bright spot for Detroit for some time.

**Gistok** · January-26-10, 12:26 AM

Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

Sorry, gang. I thought it was just so obvious I neglected to add the usual warning.

SATIRE ALERT

SATIRE ALERT

Except for Newbies... I think that "Detroitnerd" is sufficient warning that you're going to muck up another serious thread...

**Quonset Hut** · January-26-10, 01:29 AM

Maybe there is the "93%" rented for apartments/houses ready to rent, but down the block are big apartment buildings where you can see the sky through the windows because they are burned out. I drove most of the streets this summer from John R to the Lodge, north of MLK to Warren. There are signs of development. But a lot of the residential stock is boarded up, and who knows if if there is enough not stolen out of them to make it financially viable to refurbish.

**Detroitnerd** · January-26-10, 10:05 AM

Originally Posted by Gistok

Except for Newbies... I think that "Detroitnerd" is sufficient warning that you're going to muck up another serious thread...

Awww. I prefer to think of it as "injecting a dram of levity."

**Pam** · January-26-10, 01:40 PM

Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

Awww. I prefer to think of it as "injecting a dram of levity."

Some of us don't mind. I loled.

**kryptonite** · January-26-10, 01:53 PM

As far as Midtown development goes, has anyone been in the CCS building on Milwaukee? how did the rehab into residential turn out? Are there also classrooms in the building now or offices?