Back with another Detroit thread. A little bit more of Midtown, some more of Downtown, and some focus on the streetscape. I started off in Midtown so most of these are in near-consecutive order. The first post is all Midtown and the second post is all Downtown.
Some interesting contrasts above street level.
Street level.
This is one of the few new residential projects in Detroit.
The whole project included renovating the adjacent retail block.
A little bit of the old...
...with a little bit of the new.
Detroit School of Arts
The southern half of Midtown is still relatively lifeless. But that ought to change pretty soon.
One of the more underrepresented areas of Downtown Detroit is the Medical Center.
I was surprised to find an elementary school in the area.
Last edited by animatedmartian; Apr 17, 2013 at 4:41 AM.
Now we're Downtown. Most shots are pretty familiar, so I tried to branch of into some new areas.
Not to be overstated, but Downtown still has its dead zones. Notably on the west side past Washington Boulevard where there's still plenty of vacant lots and buildings and almost no retail or residential. But there's always optimism.
The Park Avenue corridor.
The Cass Corridor.
GAR building going through renovations.
The Grand River corridor.
New Fire and Police HQ.
Fort Street corridor. This leads to more industrial areas.
And ending this with a picture of Windsor, Canada just because.
Keep Detroit beautiful.
Last edited by animatedmartian; Apr 17, 2013 at 5:41 AM.
Thanks for this photo thread! You always hear doom and gloom about Detroit, but some of the urban landscapes here look terrific. Here's hoping the city can build on these strengths and revitalize.
a good bit looks to have changed in the 5 years since i was last there, especially in midtown. i'll have to visit again sometime to see it in person. great pics
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What's happening in the background? It looks almost like a facadectomy.
Yea the building itself was demolished in 2009 and preservationists did what they try to do best. So now it's just a facade that's been held up for a few years now with no official plans on what to do with it other than have it apart of whatever new development may occur there in the future.
Really liking the new glass on the Ponch. And as I mentioned in the other thread, I'm also happy to see some bulkier stuff happen along Woodward. I can't wait till this really starts to fill in
As for the Fine Arts Facade.
Here was the interior prior to demolition. It was in awful shape, what a risk this was getting pics. The whole center of the building creaked when you walked.
5th Floor
From the ground floor
From the 2nd Floor
The fact that the facade got saved was an act of God. There's no way that building should have been allowed to stand for so long and have work done on it with those conditions, in addition to local codes. But I'm glad it's saved and hopefully there's a future for it.
Indeed they are. 'They' being Mindfield, a Detroit design company. So far, most of the exterior is done except for the first floor windows, and then they still need to do the interior. They expect to finish by November this year with retail and a restaurant on the first two floors and the company occupying the rest of the building.
Thanks for this photo thread! You always hear doom and gloom about Detroit, but some of the urban landscapes here look terrific. Here's hoping the city can build on these strengths and revitalize.
+1. Really enjoyed that tour - Detroit looks somewhat tired but still darn impressive to my eyes.
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