Buzz

Grad student debates options for Detroit's redevelopment

Planetizen Tuesday, March 18, 2008

A University of Michigan graduate student in urban planning, Joseph Ciadella, crafts a cogent op-ed piece about Detroit corporate development strategy as opposed to smaller, organic strategies.

Excerpt:

"Sustainability, local economy, and community are three pillars of the path not-yet taken in Detroit. A path that moves beyond downtown development, beyond 'cool cities.' The Imagination Economy can be an authentic expression of who we are," writes Jackie Victor, co-founder of Avalon Bakery, highlighting not only her business model, but also broader themes of local reliance and self-determination. These themes are not present on the same level in city redevelopment policies, given the uneven focus on downtown, which, much like suburban sprawl, ignores, displaces, and perpetuates racial and class divisions in society that have been a part of Detroit�s (and other cities) history for years.

Read the entire piece here.

Columbus Dispatch encourages readers to experience Detroit's renaissance

The Columbus Dispatch Tuesday, March 11, 2008

A Columbus Dispatch writer finds plenty to admire in Detroit. A recent visit included visits to the DIA, Historical Museum and Science Center.

Excerpt:

One final stop, not within the Cultural Center but certainly within the heart of pop-music lovers, is the Motown Historical Museum. The museum is in the W. Grand Boulevard house where Barry Gordy Jr. founded the Motown record label. This was also where Gordy set up his studio and where dozens of hit singles were recorded in the 1960s.

Visitors can see the original control-room equipment and stand in "Studio A," where stars such as Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and Gladys Knight recorded their early hits.

Leaving the museum, whistling You Can't Hurry Love, I found it hard not to feel optimistic and upbeat, even in Detroit.

Read the entire article here.

MSHDA funds to target blight in Hamtramck, Detroit and Highland Park

Crain's Detroit Business Tuesday, March 11, 2008

The cities of Detroit, Highland Park and Hamtramck may be receiving funds from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority targeted at specific blighted properties.

Excerpt:

Detroit�s targeted share is $2 million for 729 properties, while Highland Park and Pontiac each could receive $400,000 for 100 properties in each of their cities. Hamtramck�s targeted share is $52,000 for 13 properties.

In a news release, Gov. Jennifer Granholm said that �by providing resources to eliminate blight, we will help make neighborhoods safer for citizens and more inviting for businesses and economic investments."

Read the entire article here.

Crossroads opens new $2.3M W. Grand facility

Crain's Detroit Business Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Crossroads has opened a new facility on W. Grand Blvd. just west of the Lodge Freeway that triples the size of the service provider's facility.

Excerpt:

The additional space will better serve the 800 to 1,000 people who come to the soup kitchen each week for Sunday dinner, said Development Officer Yolanda Turner. Crossroads funded its new 14,000-square-foot location through a $2.3 million campaign completed last year, Turner said.

Read the entire article here.

Privately-funded plans floated for Woodward light rail

Crain's Detroit Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Plans for a privately-funded $103 million light-rail commuter loop along 3.4 miles of Woodward Avenue, from Hart Plaza to Grand Boulevard, are emerging from total secrecy to, um, partial secrecy.

Excerpt:

Michael Solaka, president of the New Center Council, said the system's design is key to the project's success.

"If designed properly, it will completely transform the pedestrian experience throughout the downtown, which I think is the single biggest cultural experience we are trying to work on," he said. "If you do mass transit, regardless of what style, if it's designed properly at street level it will increase pedestrian activity between the stops and at the merchants at the stops."

And if the line is successful, it could be the catalyst to getting consensus on a regional system.

"If it creates commerce from the river through Midtown to New Center, I believe that other communities both in the city and outside the community might see that a regional thinking on this isn't so bad," Solaka said. "But you've got to start somewhere."

Read the entire article here.

Curbside recycling pilot program to debut in Rosedale Park

Detroit News Tuesday, January 29, 2008

The success of the first year of Recycle Here!'s drop-off operation has spawned a curbside pick-up pilot program in Rosedale Park.

Excerpt:

We've really found ourselves in a perfect storm," said Matt Naimi, director of operations for Recyclean, one of the three companies behind Recycle Here!

The high price of gasoline, coupled with concerns about global warming and the environment, has caused more people to think about lifestyle changes, he said.

"Everything has been coming together, even in Detroit," Naimi said.

With its industrial past, Detroit has never tried to brag that it's a "green city," recycling advocates say, but change is coming.

Read the entire article here.

Feds invest $282,000 into Woodward creative corridor

Detroit News Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Detroit Renaissance has received a $282,000 federal grant to help develop creative businesses along the Woodward corridor.

Excerpt:

The money will be used to attract creative businesses and is part of the larger Road to Renaissance initiative, officials with the nonprofit Detroit Renaissance said in a press release. The initiative still is in the planning stages.

Read the entire article here.

Design*Sponge offers savvy, comprehensive guide to Detroit design

Design*Sponge Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Design*Sponge invited local blogger Sweet Juniper to write an entry on Detroit for its city design guide series. The result is super-thorough and manages to be egalitarian while separating the wheat from the chaff.

Excerpt:

The importance of the automobile in Detroit�s history and decline cannot be understated, and it plays an equally important role in the area�s tradition of design. Automobile design is often ignored by mid-century enthusiasts who might prefer a Saarinen womb chair to a sweet 1957 Lincoln Premiere Two-Door Hardtop, though the origins of both can be traced here to the Detroit area. Not only is Detroit home to a large population of artists attracted to the affordable standard of living, available space, and inspirational post-industrial cityscape, but also many professional designers who work primarily in the automotive field.

Read the entire post here.

Mayor to unveil economic stimulus plan

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, January 22, 2008

In a speech to the Detroit Economic Club, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick announced that he will unveil an economic stimulus plan that will include investments in new police and fire facilities, public works and neighborhood preservation among others.

Excerpt:

He said the city had more to do to complete its revitalization and couldn't rely on anyone else.

"We are the cavalry," he said.

Read the entire article here.

$5.2M program aims to increase home ownership

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, January 22, 2008

The National Faith Home Buyers and Blight Busters have launched "Now's the Time to Buy Detroit," a $5.2 million fund intended to encourage home ownership in the city.

Excerpt:

National Development Services Inc., a Detroit-based investment firm, has pledged $3.1 million while the Brewer Group, another investment firm based in New York, has pledged $2.1 million to the project. Movie actor Morris Chestnut, who has starred in dozens of movies including "Boyz n the Hood," "G.I. Jane," and "The Best Man," flew in to help promote the program and pledge an undisclosed amount of money.

"This is a phenomenal opportunity to give back to the people who have given so much to me," he said. "You�re not just placing people in homes, but educating people to help them stay in the homes."

Read the entire article here.

Architect Caradonna's design to join others in Detroit's illustrious skyline

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Columnist John Gallagher puts the striking design for Cadillac Centre into context, citing the contributions that world-famous architects have had on Detroit's landscape since the mid-19th Century.

Excerpt:

My view is that Detroit has been reinventing itself from the beginning. When Lloyd settled here in the mid-19th Century, Detroit was a provincial town evolving into a Midwest city. When Kahn served as Henry Ford's architect in the early 20th Century, Detroit was flexing its automotive muscles and required new thinking for a new age.

When Eero Saarinen designed the great GM Tech Center, which became the world's first modern office park, Detroit was bursting with post-World War II energy and creativity.

And when Austrian-born Victor Gruen designed Northland Center, the first modern shopping mall, in Southfield in 1954, metro Detroit was just beginning its explosive suburban expansion.

Read the entire article here.

Detroit residential sales continue uptick

Crain's Detroit Business Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Detroit residential home sales in November showed a four percent increase in comparison with 2006's numbers. This is significant considering the decrease in sales everywhere else in Metro Detroit.

Excerpt:

The increase is attributable to a combination of demand from young, urban pioneers and out-of-town investors, said Darralyn Bowers, president of Southfield-based ERA Bowers and Associates, which does a majority of its sales in Detroit.

She said data indicates a high level of cash buyers, meaning a lot of the sales are by people investing in residential real estate.

"We may not appreciate what an opportunity Detroit property is right now, but some people are," she said. "When this passes, we�ll see tremendous fortunes made."

Read the entire article here.

Detroit ranks 64 on list of world's most livable cities

Business Week Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Using data from 39 quality-of-life issues from 215 cities around the world, an international consulting company has ranked Detroit 64 on its list of the 100 most livable cities.

Detroit topped Prague (74), Dubai (80) and Shanghai (100).

Read the entire list here.

New book of noir stories focuses on dark side of Detroit

Detroit News Thursday, November 01, 2007

From Rivertown to the Grosse Pointe border, short stories examining the grittier side of Detroit get the spotlight in a new collection entitled Detroit Noir. Celebrated authors like Loren D. Estleman and Joyce Carol Oates contributed to the book.

Excerpt:

Detroit's long history -- from Prohibition days, to Motown, to the current revitalization of downtown -- figures prominently in the collection of stories.

Estleman is based in Ann Arbor but says he walks the same mean streets as his detective [Amos] Walker, "only in the daytime." For him, Detroit is the ultimate noir backdrop.

"For one thing, it's an old city, so it has the chops, the personality," Estleman says. "And also it's a city that for better or worse has its share of violence. In the War of 1812, a lot of the battles were fought right here in the waterway. It was the northern point of the Underground Railroad during the Civil War, so there's insight into clandestine activities. There's Prohibition, and the insurrection or rebellion in 1967. So it has that kind of sinister background, and yet also a very strong backbone.

"People who live in Detroit are genuinely interested in keeping their city alive," he says. "It has a shabby nobility that has always drawn me in."

Read the entire article here.

CCS contemplates expansion to Argonaut Building

Detroit Free Press Thursday, October 11, 2007

The Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority approved a $10 million tax credit for the redevelopment of the Argonaut Building to add to the potential that the College for Creative Studies might expand into that building. The $140 million plans include using the building for a new graduate school and 250 units of student housing.

Excerpt:

CCS President Richard Rogers said the school, located just east of the Detroit Institute of Arts, is desperately short of space and parking. But whether it decides to go ahead with an expansion into the Argonaut Building will take a few more months of analysis.

"Conceptually everybody is very excited about it," he said Thursday. "But we have to look at the realities of it and decide whether it�s practical for us to do it. I hope we can pull it off."

Read the entire article here.

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