Many say Detroit has reached tipping point for boom

Excerpts from the article:

Detroit's boosters, led by Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, have long maintained that Detroit is turning a corner.

Now in the afterglow of a successful Super Bowl and the good buzz created from it, there is some evidence they might be right.

The city leads southeast Michigan with the most new housing permits, and the riverfront is poised for new development from the Ambassador Bridge to Belle Isle.

And Detroit's cheerleaders say this time, it's the real thing.

"Our big test was the Super Bowl, and we passed with flying colors," Kilpatrick said Tuesday in a prepared statement.

"Our immediate focus is simple: to continue building on the progress of the past four years by improving our financial condition, improving city services, addressing cost-of-living issues and pursuing emerging industries to help strengthen our local economy."

At the same time, Kilpatrick and other city supporters say they have something to crow about, confident the city finally has reached a tipping point.

For example, they say, the city topped the chart for most new housing permits in the seven-county area last year.

And they point to the upswing downtown -- more than 30 new restaurants, almost 40 new retailers and other businesses and at least 800 housing units built or under construction.

Downtown, they say, has seen almost $1 billion in investment in the last 10 years, with more than $200 million in the Lower Woodward Corridor in the last four years alone. More than $500 million has been invested in city neighborhoods outside downtown, they say.

"It's not a temporary movement," said Colin Hubbell, a Kilpatrick supporter and a private developer who has built condo projects near Wayne State University.

Hubbell said Detroit is like Chicago was 15-20 years ago, struggling economically, but at the cusp of a boom.

To read more click here