Share your dream project

[Downtown Dave]

This site is full of great thinkers. Here's a theoretical question about "doing."

If you had unlimited resources [[time, money, connections), what "dream project" would you tackle to help build Detroit? I'll start with this example:

I'd interest House of Blues in coming to Detroit by restoring the National Theater on Monroe as a concert venue, and building out bar/dining and kitchen space on the open lot next door. I'd involve the public with a "put your name in lights campaign" to relight the National's spectacular façade by buying a light bulb/fixture - thus helping with overall restore costs. [[By my count there are 381 fixtures/opportunities awaiting donors.) By doing so, Detroit gets another downtown attraction, and Detroit reclaims an amazing building.

[[And I noticed just this week that tax delinquency notices have been posted on the National and the adjacent lot. Owners: better get your act together.)

OK – your turn...

[dtowncitylover]

I would buy 1520 Woodward and set up my own small department store. Then it would grow [[for some odd reason in a barren Detroit haha) and it would be the next J.L. Hudson, of course without the bitter end.

[Augustiner]

I would build and operate a comprehensive rapid transit network, including subways under all the major transit corridors in the city proper, expanded bus service on feeder routes, commuter rail into the suburbs along select corridors, improved connections to Windsor [[maybe a subway line under the river) for cross-border commuters, and a terminal for high-speed rail service to Chicago and Toledo. If my infinite money hadn't run out yet by then, I'd add bike lanes and frequently-spaced bike racks to every major street in the city.

[DetroitPlanner]

Restore Boblo to what it was complete with the Journey to Mars ride.

[hybridy]

the wife and i would purchase a small warehouse close to downtown - open up a live/work architecture collective w/a few partners and work on projects in line with resettling the city along intermodal transit routes...

top of list to-dos/impossible dreams:

-encourage historic preservation reuse through pro-bono efforts provided by local universities enabling young graduate to gain experience and have a stake in city's change -with the hope some stay based on change they enabled
-create inexpensive mass-customized modular housing units to repopulate new dense neighborhood centers
-create large-scale landscape urbanist interventions to reactivate devistated neighborhood incorporating existing building infrastructure if accessible
-activate commuter rail/light rail/bike-walking trail connecting mexicantown/new center/downtown-eventually to pontiac/ann arbor ...tie into existing rail right-of-ways, midtown loop, dequinre cut, woodward, riverwalk on macro/mezzo/micro levels - like the works project i envision new dense neighborhoods surrounded by greenbelts - buffered from sprawl, but connected to intact walkable districts
-daylight or naturalize river beds of rouge river, clinton river, bloody run other metro waterways
-livernois reactivated as a botique shopping district anchored by completly restored plamer woods/university district/udm & marygrove/upscale palmer woods historic district..ie streets of buckhead - based on the assumption suburban malls have since been abandoned - or unique offerings
-redevelop riverfront from belle isle to ambassador bridge with parkland/mixed-use live/work/retail strolling district

[EastSider]

A cheesecake factory/espn zone mashup on one corner of the Monroe Block, with the rest of that empty plot used as an urban ski hill.

[dtowncitylover]

There's also swaths of land along Mack, Forest, and Warren and the streets in their environs on the East Side I would love to buy and build apartment buildings or terraced housing.

[Mind field]

Buy the Broderick tower and complete a first class renovation into for sale condos or rental units, or some mixture of the two.

[woodwardboy]

Buy the Detroit water and sewage system. Then abandon all lines north of 15 mile, west of Farmington Rd, and east of Gratiot.

[windsor_shane]

i know this was kinda mentioned.. but i hate the disconnect between windsor and detroit downtowns..

i think a totally feasible and doable project is a pedestrian ferry.. you would put 1 or 2 boarder person for canada and the us on the boat who would check passports as the boat is moving..

it would be quick and people could just walk from windsor or detroit to the other downtown..

im thinking .50 or .75c per trip

[Mackinaw]

Here's one among many: develop housing over retail along Adams St. where there are current parking lots beyond the southern gates of Comerica Park. This will be Detroit's 'Wrigleyville,' with housing units and rooftops that have a view of the view of play. This would come along with general infill on top of the parking lots between Madison and Gratiot in and east of Harmonie Park.

[BrushStart]

I would renovate the storefronts around Capitol Park and create a very cozy enclave with little shops, bars, restaurants, and coffee places that have sidewalk patios where people sit on Sunday mornings to read the paper and relax. If I really had unlimited resources, I'd also renovate Book tower and turn each floor into an expansive apartment with an open floor plan with views of the city in every direction- my residence would of course be the penthouse!

[Ray1936]

I would pick up the tab for refurbishing the old MGM Casino for the DPD and DFD headquarters. I'd damn well provide for free parking for employees and visitors, also. [[No, no valet service. I ain't goin' that far.)

[canuck]

I would set-up a large network of gardens with specific themes all across Detroit's vacant parcels
of land. I would like to propose a major concert series over three days appealing to the metro region populace with a new take on Motown music and the influence on the world it has had for a half century. I would enlist a hometown musician by the name of Gregory Charles who is a dynamo and can bring musicians together for such a coup. This would be a big street happening downtown Detroit, and the scenography would also be quite spectacular...I'm thinking about it.

[NorthofNormal]

The GAR building has been my "when I win the lottery" dream project for decades. I'd either do something that would lift up a bit of Detroit...or dig a moat right through Cass and Grand River and make it my misanthropic dream castle.

[EastSider]

Buy the Detroit water and sewage system. Then abandon all lines north of 15 mile, west of Farmington Rd, and east of Gratiot.

Why are you hating on us Detroiters who live east of Gratiot?

[Gsgeorge]

Why are you hating on us Detroiters who live east of Gratiot?

They don't call it gra-SHIT for nothing!

Couldn't resist that one....

[woodwardboy]

They don't call it gra-SHIT for nothing!

Couldn't resist that one....

well said

[reddog289]

I would get rid of the half standing, burned out houses,buildings and all the trash around the area. I would hire more police, fire, and DPW workers to maintain and protect the remainder of the city. Large parcels of land would be farmed or at least mowed, also patrolled by the police or maybe the sherriffs dept.
I hate to say it but I would get rid of such long standing eyesores like the Packard Plant and even the MCS. Two big reasons of something that was bungled by the powers that be I would build another bridge to Canada, Eventough I don't go there, If I did it would be better then being stuck over the river or under it.Easier access to Downtown and other areas would be on the list.
I know this wouldn't happen cause this ain't utopia, But if people didn't have to always say "Well it's Detroit" and leave at like that. The City would look better and the people might come back wanting houses and neighborhoods within the city limits.
But too I would need to have my own house in order first.

[reddog289]

And I would also make parking around juvy court better.

[exmotowner]

I have two projects. One would be the MCS. I would love to have the money and resorses to restore it and turn it into a casino! That would be awesome. The second one would be to restore the vanity ballroom and turn it into a gay bar. [[yes Im gay). That would make one HELL of a bar.

[DetroitPlanner]

i know this was kinda mentioned.. but i hate the disconnect between windsor and detroit downtowns..

i think a totally feasible and doable project is a pedestrian ferry.. you would put 1 or 2 boarder person for canada and the us on the boat who would check passports as the boat is moving..

it would be quick and people could just walk from windsor or detroit to the other downtown..

POOF! Your wish has been granted!
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/discretionary/fbawrd10.cfm

[davewindsor]

If I were Bill Gates...

I'd bring an amusement park back to downtown like a comeback of the old Electric Park on all that vacant land now east of Ren Centre or turning Belle Isle into Boblo II Amusement Park.

And in the middle of the park, I'd put the tallest Ferris wheel in North America so people would remember the city by it. It's hard not to think of London and remember an image of the London Eye, Europe's tallest ferris wheel. I remember decades ago, I was visiting Niagara Falls and everytime I thought of the falls I'd also think of that huge ferris wheel there. It might be better for visitors to associate recreational and touristy symbols that stand out as something different with the city instead of the murder rate. Toronto has the CN Tower, New York has the Statute of Liberty, Seattle has the Space Needle, Paris has the Effiel Tower, what symbol does Detroit have that that stands out and says, "You really want to visit this city?"

[DetroitHabitater]

Restoring the street wall downtown and digging out a PATH like toronto

[Don K]

I would build and operate a comprehensive rapid transit network, including subways under all the major transit corridors in the city proper, expanded bus service on feeder routes, commuter rail into the suburbs along select corridors, improved connections to Windsor [[maybe a subway line under the river) for cross-border commuters, and a terminal for high-speed rail service to Chicago and Toledo. If my infinite money hadn't run out yet by then, I'd add bike lanes and frequently-spaced bike racks to every major street in the city.

I've got unlimited funding? How about:

- HSR/regional rail center on the site of the existing Amtrak New Center station
- Transit center under Campus Martius

HSR to Chicago targeting two hour travel time from New Center to Chicago Union Station [[cruising speed of 175-180 mph). Keep the existing extension through Birmingham to Pontiac, and extend to Flint via Holly and on to Saginaw, Bay City, and Midland. Not true HSR on the extension, but cruising speed around 80-100 mph. Would require something be done about the at-grade running through Detroit, Ferndale, and Royal Oak.

Rail at 80-100 mph via the CSX right-of-way through Plymouth and Lansing to Grand Rapids.

Regional rail:
- The CN ROW out Groesbeck through Mount Clemens to Port Huron
- The old Conrail ROW between Van Dyke and Mound to Utica
- CN ROW through Ferndale, Royal Oak and Birmingham to Pontiac
- CSX ROW through Plymouth to Howell
- Former Michigan Central/Conrail ROW through Dearborn and Wayne to Ann Arbor, with a rail spur to the airport
- Via Downriver and Monroe to Toledo
- Using the CSX ROW, a link from the airport to Plymouth, Northville, and Wixom
All regional rail links to be electrified [[this is important later)

Urban transit [[all subways at least in the downtown area)
- East Jefferson/Lake Shore to the Pointes
- Gratiot to Eastpointe/Warren
- Van Dyke or Mound to the GM Tech Center
- Woodward to Ferndale
- The Lodge to Northland
- Grand River to 8 Mile/Inkster
- The Jeffries to Inkster
- Michigan Ave to Dearborn
- West Jefferson to Southfield Road in Ecorse
- Southfield Road/Freeway from Birmingham through Dearborn to Ecorse [[Ford is where it is, they're not going anywhere other than Dearborn, so we might as well deal with it and make Dearborn easy to get to)
Where appropriate [[the Gratiot, Van Dyke/Mound, Woodward, Jeffries, Michigan, W Jefferson, and Southfield lines) all lines to terminate at stops of the regional rail system to allow across-the-platform transfers from one system to the other and even allow trains to run through to downtown from the regional rail to the subway [[hey, they do it in Tokyo)

Buses to handle crosstown traffic as well as act as feeders from the neighborhoods to subway stations [[again, see how Tokyo does it)

Well, there's my wish list. How much have I spent - $100 billion? Well I can dream, can't I?