How a decade of demolitions have altered Detroit

[Bigdd]

.............., but every single one of those downtown and midtown demolitions would have been much better renovated instead.

Some of them perhaps.

I sure would like to see that vintage architecture around still. A well-maintained brick house from the 20's makes me smile.

BUT,.. you end up spending pretty much new house money to renovate many of them,.. and end up with old house floor plans. Houses too close to each-other,... no attached garages, etc.

Remember,.. those houses were built when people primarily wanted to live as close as possible to the trolley, as cars were somewhat rare still,...

Now people who are looking to spend $300k+ expect an attached garage [[which increases safety,.. makes it easier to unload your car after a trip to Costco,... and decreases your auto insurance).

When you renovate those old houses,.. you have to do everything. The bathrooms need to be bigger,.. closets need to be bigger,.. most didn't have any insulation,.. and none had A/C. So you need to convert from radiators to forced air. Move all the walls,.. often give up a bedroom to get the bedroom, closet and bathroom size to modern expectations. So now you're trying to sell a 2 bedroom house for 3 bedroom money.

It's a big job. You end up with just the brick shell of the original house. And even that needs to be completely tuck-pointed.

And the walls aren't thick enough to get modern levels of insulation in them. R-13 with fiberglass in the walls,.. unless you totally gut the house and do spray-in, in which case you can at least get to R-22.

Really in the less desirable neighborhoods,.. you want to renovate every-other house,.. and include the empty lot next door as a fenced yard. And in the more desirable neighborhoods,.. you ball down 5 houses and build 3,... with more space in-between them. [[8' between houses means fire spreads super quick.)

Then as you get close to a main road like Woodward, Grand River etc,.. you have low-rise townhouses and apt buildings,.. in case mass transit ever takes off.