Pontiac/Auburn Hills/Troy, MI

robk1982 · #1 Posted **Mar 15, 2008, 4:55 AM**

I had some time to waste today, so here's a small thread dedicated to the high-rises in the neighboring cities of Pontiac, Auburn Hills, and Troy, Michigan.

Downtown Pontiac

The other Chrysler Building and tech center (the pyramids)

I had to

Troy

OhioGuy · #2 Posted **Mar 15, 2008, 5:10 AM**

LOL. Big Beaver Road. I always had a good laugh at that one when I'd "get off" there... or rather exit there to head to my friend's apartment.

I'm not sure what the name is of Pontiac's tallest, but it's definitely a beautiful building.

daniel_t · #3 Posted **Mar 15, 2008, 5:42 AM**

pretty cool shots. I want to move to Detroit to attend Wayne state and it's always nice to see the suburbs and outer workings of Detroit. Nice and sorta built up. Thanks for sharing and i'd love to see more of metro Detroit.

Daniel

jodelli · #4 Posted **Mar 15, 2008, 7:22 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by OhioGuy

LOL. Big Beaver Road. I always had a good laugh at that one when I'd "get off" there... or rather exit there to head to my friend's apartment.

I'm not sure what the name is of Pontiac's tallest, but it's definitely a beautiful building.

Emporis says it's the Oakland Town Centre.

jodelli

ady26 · #5 Posted **Mar 15, 2008, 8:13 AM**

Big urban area!

Michi · #6 Posted **Mar 15, 2008, 6:53 PM**

More like big, suburban piece of crap. Sorry, Oakland County is one of the ugliest communities in these here United States. There obviously nice urbane establishments like the potential in Pontiac, Birmingham, and Royal Oak, but the county neglects urban, only until the recent discussion of environmental, social, and quality of life arguments being made toward livable urbanity. Up until that point, Oakland County has been a Livingston/Genesee County wanna-be...aiming for the exurban woods. It's like a 10 year cycle of a throw-away society and the reason why the county looks like a pile of crap even though it is one of the most wealthiest in the country.

I do give Troy credit for wanting to keep up with its economic purpose, but it was deliberately built as an exclusionary suburb. To try and change that is going to be a mountain climb, and that is what they want to do. It's similar to diverting money into blighted urban areas to make them competitive again...an attitude suburban America has always been adamantly against, so we'll see how successful Troy (the corporate epicenter of Michigan) is in its attempt.

DetroitSky · #7 Posted **Mar 15, 2008, 9:44 PM**

I was in Troy today. I wonder if I saw you.

illmatic774 · #8 Posted **Mar 15, 2008, 10:22 PM**

I loathe Troy and Auburn Hills, but those are not the only two culprits in the region, by far.

Evergrey · #9 Posted **Mar 16, 2008, 4:25 PM**

interesting to see these areas

cabasse · #10 Posted **Mar 16, 2008, 4:46 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by OhioGuy

LOL. Big Beaver Road. I always had a good laugh at that one when I'd "get off" there... or rather exit there to head to my friend's apartment.

I'm not sure what the name is of Pontiac's tallest, but it's definitely a beautiful building.

i have to wonder if it was just coincidence that this became exit 69.

source: damagenoted.com

Chelsea Spy · #11 Posted **Mar 16, 2008, 6:32 PM**

a potentially nice looking town centre, but those out of town office parks are just

PDXOR · #12 Posted **Mar 16, 2008, 7:13 PM**

Suburban sprawl has killed Detroit. Oakland County has taken all of the big business and money out of the city and Macomb County has taken all of the blue collar middle class. The only thing left of economic importance in the city is a small core in downtown Detroit.
I dream of what Detroit could have been had it not been for this wasteful sprawl.

* yes, I was raised in the Detroit area and have seen for myself far more then your small photo essay can show.

exit rant ....

Michi · #13 Posted **Mar 16, 2008, 8:58 PM**

^No worries. Everyone's fed up with it. We can't afford ourselves anymore. Take a look at the state economy. Cheapening by the day for the market-rate folks hanging onto their jobs, becoming very expensive for the poor and those loosing their jobs...which are many by the day.

No accountability for anything or anyone. Metro Detroit will continue to falter for years to come if it keeps to its status quo, which doesn't show much signs of changing anytime soon. Because once the economy picks up again, the sucking sounds will just get louder and louder.

ChrisLA · #14 Posted **Mar 17, 2008, 7:57 AM**

The majority of photos I've seen on this forum of Michigan cities looks like they are stuck in time. I really wanted to see more of Auburn Hills since that is where most of the operations is for the company I work at.

direfloyd · #15 Posted **Mar 17, 2008, 1:17 PM**

Chalk me up as not a fan, but I’m not of places like Livonia either in Wayne County... great Michigan pictures though! I love Detroit but I think any city in top 20 population in US with unofficial designations of areas of "Prairie" where homes used to be has other problems than burbs. I’m thinking of the present, no hindsight, it is what it is now. Given I know Detroit’s budget is negative, but I don’t see them putting any money into Poletown for example… only money into downtown to attract those evil burb people. I don’t consider myself in a burb since I live in an 1830 founded Village proper, but as a person who visits Detroit regularly for work and pleasure and spends money, I’m not inclined to visit lately with all the negative thoughts about anyone outside the city.

xzmattzx · #16 Posted **Mar 17, 2008, 3:07 PM**

Which pictures are Auburn Hills? I didn't see any captions for it.

themapman · #17 Posted **Mar 17, 2008, 4:36 PM**

^^Auburn Hills is basically the Chrysler stuff in those photos, that's it.

Come on now, The Real OC isn't *that* bad....there are a lot of nice downtown areas that are relatively preserved - Royal Oak, Birmingham, Troy, Farmington, Sylvan Lake/Keego Harbor, Pontiac, Clarkston, Franklin, Bloomfield Hills, etc - and much of the sprawl has more character than other places I've been. Of course the newest stuff is the worst (Novi, Wixom, Waterford, etc).

LivingIn622 · #18 Posted **Mar 17, 2008, 10:08 PM**

I like Michigan sprawl. Not the fact of taking jobs away from downtown Detroit, but the way the setup is and the architecture along with the small downtowns. Phoenix sprawl and southern sprawl is really ugly though. i like the pictures. Did you get any of downtown birmingham.

Michi · #19 Posted **Mar 17, 2008, 10:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisLA

The majority of photos I've seen on this forum of Michigan cities looks like they are stuck in time. I really wanted to see more of Auburn Hills since that is where most of the operations is for the company I work at.

There isn't more of Auburn Hills to see. All the offices are "private", all the roads are "private" and all the residences are "private". The only thing you can see of Auburn Hills is the Chrysler Building from the junky-looking road network.

By the way, Chris, I thought you worked at Comerica? I don't recall any of Comerica being out in AH.

(The former headquarters...that hurts)

Michi · #20 Posted **Mar 17, 2008, 10:56 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by themapman

there are a lot of nice downtown areas that are relatively preserved - Royal Oak, Birmingham, Troy, Farmington, Sylvan Lake/Keego Harbor, Pontiac, Clarkston, Franklin, Bloomfield Hills, etc.

I know what you're getting at, but to me, I'd say Royal Oak, Birmingham and Pontiac are all borderline "hip" places to be. If I was a 20-something moving to the Detroit area and wanted to live in the hip, urban, cool place, what are my options. Downtown, which doesn't appeal to that many yet. And the 3 burbs I mentioned, which aren't by any means urban. They're traditional towns, but urban is stretching it.

Most of the other suburbs you mentioned are just places to put your house, most easily accessible by car.