DETROIT | Development & Construction: Motown Lowdown

[animatedmartian]

Originally Posted by jonathan.jam

As for the Globe Building: I'm glad that the state is reactivating this property, but is anyone else the least bit saddened that, from the outside, the building doesn't even look historic? It would have been nice to see a few more original elements, like the brick, used in the new facade.

Eh, I personally wasn't too attached to it. I actually even prefer the newness over the any historical qualities and I get the sense I'm a minority in that opinion.


Via Detroiturbex

[LMich]

Originally Posted by jonathan.jam

I too am really excited for Cass Plaza renovation. If they can take what is there now and make it look like the rendering shown, the developers will have proven that almost anything we consider "too far gone" or "not worth it anymore" can be saved. The Whitney is starting to look really great too; I can't wait to see the outside of the building fully restored!

As for the Globe Building: I'm glad that the state is reactivating this property, but is anyone else the least bit saddened that, from the outside, the building doesn't even look historic? It would have been nice to see a few more original elements, like the brick, used in the new facade.

I was convinced "too far gone" was bunk when I saw what they did with the Book Cadillac. Even as I knew it could be saved, I couldn't have even imagined how well they went about restoring the exterior.

I was thinking the exact same thing about the Globe. It was disappointed to see what they did to the exterior. At least from that perspective, they could have just demolished the whole thing, and built a Disney-fied replacement, because that's exactly what it looks like. But, then they couldn't have gotten all of the credits and grants that subsidized the reconstruction. lol It is certainly neither a restoration or even renovation considering how much of it was taken apart. The liberties they took with the part with the name on it and the roof are particularly egregious.

[LMich]

I'm interested to see how this turns out, but I'm just glad to see the new administration take something other than a "demolish first/demolish all" stance, and actually try to market these properties before sending them to the landfills. With even the city proper housing market showing real signs of recovery, this position only makes sense.

People stand in line to board a bus before touring one of twelve homes being auctioned off in the East English Village neighborhood Sunday. (Joshua Lott / Getty Images)

1,050 take tour of Detroit homes for sale

By The Detroit News

April 28, 2014

Detroit — More than 1,000 people got a closer look at vacant houses up for auction on Detroit’s east side.

A four-hour tour of 12 homes was held Sunday.

Families and individuals from Detroit and other communities joined the tour, according to a statement Sunday by the city.

The 1,050 potential bidders were shuttled by six tour buses to the homes, the city said, citing Bill Barlage, president of the host East English Village Neighborhood Association, which hosted the event.

Details of the homes are listed on the Detroit Land Bank website. The city wants to sell the houses to people willing to quickly fix them up.

More than 3,000 people have registered to bid, according to the city. One house per day will be auctioned off by the land bank beginning May 5, city officials said.

It’s part of the city’s effort to eradicate blight while stabilizing neighborhoods.

Mayor Mike Duggan, Council President Brenda Jones and Councilman Andre Spivey were among those at the site Sunday.

Instead of letting the houses sit vacant, officials are “taking them from the owners who abandoned them and auctioning them” online, Duggan told WXYZ-TV (Channel 7).

Just this many new eyes and showing people the possibilities will increase the prospects of these properties.

[LMich]

Lots of news...

Site prep is going on at the new Meijer site in Old Redford in northwest Detroit:

Meijer to break ground on Northwest Detroit store May 15

By David Muller | MLive.com

April 28, 2014

DETROIT, MI - Grand Rapids-based retailer Meijer is breaking ground on a second Detroit location at the corner of Grand River and McNichols roads on May 15, a district representative for Mayor Mike Duggan's office has confirmed.

Reggie Reg Davis, a neighborhood liaison for District 1, said the store is expected to open in the summer of 2015. Company representatives were not immediately available for comment Monday.

Meijer, which has 204 locations including 104 in Michigan, opened its first Detroit store at the Gateway Marketplace at Woodward and 8 Mile last summer. In October, Meijer Co-Chairman Hank Meijer said the company’s sales at the 190,000-square-foot supercenter had been “very encouraging, and in line with our hopes for the store.” He also reiterated plans for the second store within two years.

A large field at the intersection of Grand River and McNichols has already been cleared, and a sign advertised Meijer as "coming soon." The area has far less commerce than that of the intersection of 8 Mile and Woodward, which is just south of Ferndale and north of Highland Park.

...

Toyota is expanding its North American tech center in suburban Ann Arbor:

Toyota to shift North American HQ to Texas, add jobs in Michigan

By Dave Shepardson | The Detroit News

April 28, 2014

Toyota Motor Corp. said it will move its North American headquarters from California to Texas — and shift about 250 jobs to its Washtenaw County technical center near Ann Arbor.

The Japanese automaker said it will move its headquarters from Torrance, Calif., over the next three years to a single, state-of-the-art campus in Plano, Texas. Toyota’s North American finance arm also plans to move its headquarters to this new shared campus. Altogether, these moves will affect about 4,000 employees.

Toyota also disclosed it will expand its Toyota Technical Center in York Township near Ann Arbor to accommodate the relocation of direct procurement from Erlanger, Ky. The automaker said the expansion is part of an increased investment in engineering capabilities and will accommodate growth in product development.

Toyota said it plans to build a new facility on its Michigan campus — subject to final approval of state and local incentives — to accommodate the 250 workers.

Toyota’s tech center employs 1,153 people in Michigan. In 2012, it announced it would add 100 jobs over five years. The company does much of the research and development for U.S. models in the state.

Established in 1977 and headquartered in Michigan, the Toyota Technical Center has research and development facilities in Ann Arbor, Saline, Plymouth and Livonia. In addition, the tech center has research facilities in California and operates the Toyota Arizona Proving Ground near Phoenix.

...

The Live Midtown program is so popular they are expanding it to include Boston-Edison, stretching this for the first time outside the greater downtown area:

The Boston-Edison neighborhood in Detroit. / REGINA H. BOONE | Detroit Free Press

Demand for Detroit housing leads to expanded cash incentive program

By JC Reindl | The Detroit Free Press

April 28, 2014

Strong demand among professional-class workers to live in or around downtown Detroit has led to an expansion in the boundaries of a program offering cash incentives for certain employees to move to the city.

Midtown Detroit announced Monday that the boundaries for the Live Midtown program are now extended to the historic Boston-Edison district. The expansion applies only to a purchase incentive — $20,000 toward the purchase of a primary residence.

The boundaries for the rent incentive — $2,500 toward rent for a first year in Detroit and $1,000 for a second — will stay within Midtown and downtown.

The expanded incentives are available only to employees of Henry Ford Health System, Wayne State University and Detroit Medical Center, whose institutions provide funding for the program.

Since their launch in 2011, the Live Midtown and Live Downtown programs have given incentives to about 2,600 people to live in downtown or Midtown.

...

[animatedmartian]

Opening of Woodward Garden Apartments marks final phase of major overhaul of Midtown Detroit block
By David Muller. May 01, 2014.



A project 10 years in the making, on Thursday local officials marked the opening of the Woodward Garden Apartments at 3909 Woodward Ave.

The apartments inside are airy and some have partial views of the downtown Detroit skyline. The ground level commercial space has already been spoken for by at least three major tenants. including Flagstar Bank, the University if Michigan and Anytime Fitness.

While the commercial space on the ground floor still needs to be built out, the apartments are pretty much ready to go, and more than a dozen people are already living there, according to Benny Sasser, Jr, a property manager with the development. Of the 61 total units, 45 apartments have already been leased. The units range in size from 550-square-foot studios to 1,200-square-foot, two-bed, two-bath units, and vary in price from $550 to $1,800 a month.

The opening of the Woodward Garden Apartments marks the beginning of the end for a four-phase project that began transforming the Woodward Avenue block between Selden and Alexandrine with the arrival of Great Lakes Coffee, and then later Midtown Detroit Inc. and the Kresge Foundation's office space, and then the Garden Theatre and Midtown Grille.

“The Woodward Gardens Block Develop Project is a great project that symbolizes all of
us working together as a team, supporting each other and advocating for funding,” Sue
Mosey, president of Midtown Detroit, Inc., said in a statement.

The $12.6 million apartment development was led by George Stewart, Michael Byrd and William Mosely. It includes mixed-income housing, and the project received a critical $8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

[LMich]

Some views from the inside from the Detroit News' story on this, yesterday:


Developer Michael Byrd, left, with Cullen Dubose and developer George Stewart tour Woodward Garden Apartments on Thursday. (Daniel Mears / The Detroit News)


A view of Woodward Ave. from one of the apartments. (Daniel Mears / The Detroit News)

[mousquet]

^ Those glass bays are nice and generous and make me envious. Damn harsh French environmental and energy consumption regulations, we really don't get enough of those bays over here these days... They've been ing us with their crazy regulations.
That said, beware of energy bills. As winter seems no joke over there. Eh? Although power must still be cheaper in the US anyway.

Now, hopefully the streetcar running along the corridor allows to add a couple of more floors to the next Midtown developments.

[Docta_Love]

Effort underway to restore historic Ford Model T plant in Highland Park

JACK LESSENBERRY
Michigan Public Radio
WED APRIL 30, 2014

http://michiganradio.org/post/effort...-park-michigan

It looks like a museum and potentially more may soon become a reality for the long underutilized historic site.

- One of the most significant sites in the history of Detroit – and the modern world – has also been one of the most sadly neglected. Not only that, it isn’t even in Detroit. Every day, thousands of commuters drive by an old red-brick building on Woodward Avenue in the little enclave city of Highland Park.

-You can tell this building used to be something grand, by the beautiful Pewabic tiles ringing its roof. But the plate-glass windows are regularly broken, and weeds and small trees mostly obscure a fading historical marker. But now that is all about to change. Last week, the non-profit Woodward Avenue Action Association announced it had bought the old administration building and the executive garage behind it. This was, in part, a case of some of today’s world’s newest technology coming to the aid of history. Harriet Saperstein, chair of the Action Association, told me that a significant chunk of the money was raised by crowdsourcing on the Internet. More than 700 individual donors chipped in. While most of the slightly more than half a million needed came from traditional grants, she feels that crowdsourcing gave a lot of people a sense of sharing in a momentous event. Not only that, she told me, these contributions will help them make the case to people with real money, “the foundation, corporation and governmental sectors,” who they will need to secure the millions needed to turn this into something wonderful. For they intend to build not just a museum of automotive history, although that will be part of it. This is to be an Automobile Heritage and Welcome Center meant both to remind us of what is worth preserving about our past and help revitalize this area.

- She hopes this building is fully open to the public in five years, with everything from tours led by holograms of Henry Ford to an advanced industrial technology learning center.

[animatedmartian]

Another 1960s suburb hoping to create a downtown. Anchored by a car dealership?

Plans fall into place for Warren's dream of downtown
By Christina Hall. May 5, 2014.



Yellow and black “for sale” signs dot city-owned parcels around Warren city hall.

In the next few months, Mayor Jim Fouts would like to reveal specific plans for some of those parcels in the city’s downtown — details he hopes will describe a five-star hotel, fashionable movie theater, high-class restaurant, nightclub and grocery store.

Nearby on Van Dyke, entrepreneur Greg Jackson plans to build a Prestige Cadillac dealership. And less than a half-mile south of city hall — a seven-minute walk — nearly two dozen shops are planned for the buildings to be redeveloped at the Tech Plaza shopping center at the corner of 12 Mile.

After roughly a decade of failed attempts, Fouts believes plans finally are falling into place to develop a bustling downtown in Michigan’s third-largest city.

“The dream of a downtown is moving along — viable downtown development, a destination for people to go,” Fouts said.

The city’s downtown is mapped out as a half-circle bounded by Van Dyke between 12 Mile and old 13 Mile and around the civic center on Kennedy Circle. The city’s Downtown Development Authority area is larger on the map, stretching south of 12 Mile, north up to 14 Mile and west to Mound.

....



This time, Fouts hopes, will be different.

He said there has been talk of developing downtown for more than a decade. Some of the prior plans for commercial and residential development, didn’t happen in part because of the economy.

But with the economy improving and some of the city’s big, bread-and-butter businesses, such as General Motors and Chrysler, doing better, now may be the time for the downtown to take shape, bringing in more revenue for the city.

Fouts said Jackson’s new dealership near city hall is “an important step to the development of our downtown” across from the General Motors Tech Center. The mayor said it would be a foothold in downtown and could encourage other businesses to move there.

He said Jackson could become “the Dan Gilbert of Warren” and hopes Jackson will help the city build a pedestrian bridge, similar to the enclosed one connecting the north and south sides of Somerset Collection in Troy, to link the GM Tech Center to downtown Warren.

There are about 18,000 to 20,000 people at the GM Tech Center in addition to many visitors, with all the suppliers frequently there for meetings, said Adam Denison of GM communications.

He said in an e-mail that the company couldn’t comment on whether employees would be interested in a pedestrian bridge because “we have not done any surveys with employees along these lines.”

A pedestrian bridge would allow employees and visitors at the GM Tech Center to safely cross Van Dyke, a heavily traveled, seven-lane thoroughfare.

...

I find this to be a little bit better than Southfield's plan for a downtown although I still don't find it perfect. I don't really see it being that big of a draw other than for local Warren residents mainly due to the lack of any major transit. Van Dyke is more like a highway than it is a surface road and it gets a lot of road traffic during the weekday and I don't see it working too well for Warren.

At least in the of Southfield, there are two freeways that pass through so that altering Evergreen or any of the side streets doesn't upset traffic flow too much. In Warren's case, Van Dyke is a major thoroughfare and altering it in anyway save for making it into freeway would pretty much just create a delay point and cause more congestion, I'd think. Although, I could see a transit line going down Van Dyke connecting to Gratiot in Detroit. However, Warren's mayor has a bit of a hostile history towards the City of Detroit and I don't see him coordinating anything with the city anytime soon.

[LMich]

Beat me to it by seconds. lol

More than the traffic patterns, my first thought is that if Fouts thinks he's going to attract a "five-star hotel" or "fashionable movie theater" anywhere in Warren, he's crazier than I thought. The "Dan Gilbert of Warren" kind of drives home the delusion.

Of course, you'd much rather this be something rather than nothing, but I hope the residents are more realistic than Fouts about what this will become. Had this been developed when it was originally planned, you may have gotten something a bit more upscale. Still, with the tech center being right across the street, there is enough there that this doesn't have to end up being Foot Lockers and Marshalls.

But, yeah, short of the pedestrian bridge and any real transit options, this will have limited success.

[LMich]

Looks like more authority is being delegated to the neighborhoods:

Romain Blanquart/Detroit Free Press

Detroit neighborhoods can pursue homeowner fees under new city law

By Joe Guillen | Detroit Free Press

May 6, 2014

Detroiters, who have had to deal with a lack of city services, now have the option to pay for enhanced security, snow removal and mosquito abatement in their neighborhood through a special assessment that would show up on their property tax bill.

Supporters of the new special assessment district ordinance passed unanimously by the City Council last week say that it can enhance quality of life services that the city can’t afford, stabilize neighborhoods and eventually increase property values. And although many residents may generally be in favor of amenities that make life easier, the devil is in the details — and the dollars. But they’re willing to listen.

A state law passed in 2011 allows Detroit to set up the process for collecting special fees specifically for snow removal, security and mosquito abatement.

...

Neighborhood leaders or organizations can propose the new fee to residents, and if a simple majority of property owners approve, all taxpayers within the neighborhood’s boundaries will have to pay the assessment, which would vary depending on the neighborhood and what services would be provided.

...

To set up such an assessment, a neighborhood organization must apply to the city’s finance department to be in charge of circulating the petition. The neighborhood group also would have to provide a cost estimate for new services based on quotes from three businesses licensed to do work in the city.

The finance department would then draw up a petition that would include the neighborhood’s boundaries, the services the new fee would provide, an estimate of how much would be collected from taxpayers and the number of years the assessment would be collected.

The city council would have final approval of individual assessment districts if at least 51% of property owners in a neighborhood sign the petition. If the assessment district is approved, the neighborhood organization could contract with the city and then hire a private company for security, snow removal or mosquito suppression as a subcontractor.

...

It sounds like this has been crafted carefully enough and with enough safeguards that neighborhoods won't be able to abuse this or enter into such an association lightly.

[LMich]

Microsoft sticks its foot in the door, downtown:

Microsoft to join Detroit's M@dison Block

By Michael Martinez | The Detroit News

May 6, 2014

Microsoft Corp. will lease space in downtown Detroit’s M@dison Building, becoming the latest national company to invest in the city’s growing tech community.

The Seattle-based tech giant will employa rotating team of technical and business experts from its Microsoft Ventures program to work with entrepreneurs and startup tech companies in the city. The program is meant to connect startup tech companies with Microsoft resources to help grow their business.

It’s joining Detroit’s M@dison Block — a high-tech business corridor bordering Woodward Avenue to the west, Broadway Street to the east, Witherell Street to the north, and John R. Street to the south. M@dison Block businesses includes app-maker Detroit Labs and training company Grand Circus, among others.

...

[animatedmartian]

Patterson Terrance could be at risk for demolition.


http://detroit.curbed.com/archives/2...erson.php#more

The confusion comes from the fact that 3 different entities own parts of the building. The green section is owned by a buyer who plans to renovate his portion of the building, however the red section is owned by the City of Detroit and has the entire building on the demo list.

Though what's preventing it from getting demo'd is that the city doesn't have the funds for it and the Historic District Commission would have to ok it. Though I get the feeling that seeing someone take an interest to renovate the property would be what saves Patternson from demolition. I'm optimistic, but stranger things have happened.

[hudkina]

You would think the city would just hand over its section to the developer who wants to renovate...

[animatedmartian]

WSU Quietly Rolls Out Plans For $49 Million Hilberry Theatre Expansion In Midtown
May 9th, 2014



Wayne State University has posted sumptuous drawings of a $48.6 million project that will transform the busy corner of Cass and W. Forest in Midtown and breathe new life into the school's venerable Hilberry Theatre program.

The information sits on the website of WSU's College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts, drawing little media attention so far. WSU officials were not available for comment.

Known as the Hilberry Gateway Project, the complex will include:

*State-of-the-art costume and scenic studios.

*Flexible performance space for theater and dance in what is now the Hilberry Theatre.

*A new, 500-seat main theater.

*The Studio Theater.

The new theater project will sit just two blocks north of another major WSU development, announced in November: a nine-story mixed-use building that will include 248 market-rate apartments, 19,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, a hotel with up to 120 rooms and a conference center with capacity for up to 300 people.

The two developments will enhance an old but vibrant neighborhood in Detroit's burgeoning Midtown District and will be within walking district of new housing, shops and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, among other longtime attractions, such as the Detroit Institute of Arts.

...

WSU says it will launch the Gateway Project as a three-phase renovation and construction effort that combines new and existing structures. Once complete, the new complex will feature three performance venues — a main theatre, a multiform performance stage and the Studio Theatre. It will provide a home for the Hilberry Theatre company and the dance program in the Maggie Allesee Department of Theatre and Dance.

Phase one will be the construction of a new 500-seat main theatre on the corner of Cass and Forest, adjacent to the current venue. The space will feature a full-thrust stage with appropriate wing space.

http://detroit.curbed.com/archives/2...oric-house.php

WSU states that the historic Mackenzie House is in the footprint of the expansion and will be relocated to a location on Forest Avenue.

[LMich]

I like the idea of expanding the theater, but I'm not sure I like the design, which looks kind of cheap. I'm not the kind of person that demands that everything matches the original structure. But, what I do want is for the design to either be traditional or in direct contrast to the original. This in-between stuff is very hard to do right. I'd like to see something with a clean streetwall all the way across, peferably all glass along the front. The projecting pieces aren't working for me.

[animatedmartian]

Sad to report this morning that we've lost the First Unitarian Church. Arson is highly suspected as the owner had plans to demolish it but was prevented from doing so because the church had historical protections.



Pictures via DetroitUrbex: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...9112636&type=3

[LMich]

So disappointing. I'd hope they'd save the shell, but if they were fighting to get it demolished, anyway - and who knows, maybe they were even involved in the fire... - I bet those walls will be coming down one way or another.

[subterranean]

Seriously, how dumb do you have to be?

[LMich]

My dad's family's old neighborhood...

The almost 1-acre garden run by Michigan Urban Farming Initiative produced close to 12,000 pounds of organic produce for the North End community last year. The nonprofit is a finalist in a national competition. (Tyson Gersh)

Michigan Urban Farming Initiative produces food, change in North End

By Marney Rich Keenan | The Detroit News

May 14, 2014

It is the height of irony that Tyson Gersh is shy a handful of credits until he graduates from the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

At 24, the president of one the fastest-growing, most successful Detroit nonprofits that hardly anybody (over 30 years old anyway) has ever heard of, is short a French class and another class he could probably teach blindfolded.

“Yeah I know,” the collegiate rower and triathlete says, head down, in a rare display of self consciousness. “I failed ‘Urban Entrepreneurship: Doing Business in Detroit.’ ”

Judging from the speed at which Michigan Urban Farming Initiative has taken off, Gersh was likely doing business in Detroit during class time.

In March 2012, Gersh, and his co-founder, Darin McLeskey, also an accomplished twentysomething who holds a masters in civil and environmental engineering, began the multifaceted nonprofit with a purchase of a uninhabitable three-story, six-unit apartment building on 7432 Brush off East Grand Boulevard.

In the span of a little over two years, the nonprofit is transforming several city blocks in the North End community of Detroit. What began as a small experiment in urban farming aimed at tackling food insecurity has morphed into several innovative projects.

While 7432 Brush is slated to be the headquarters for the nonprofit, complete with an educational center for nutrition classes and a commercial kitchen, across the street, the once-barren, almost 1-acre lot produced close to 12,000 pounds of fresh, organic last year. The majority of the produce goes to the North End residents and vendors, most notably the nearby Firewater Bar and Grill on John R, which bought them out of collard greens last year.

...

It's an interesting read.