I need to find a location for a hip retail store in Detroit... can someone give me some ideas about what parts of town are developing? I'm going to be there on Wednesday and need to know which direction to point the steering wheel.
Is there a specific urban neighborhood that's on the come up? Are there any outlying neighborhoods that are actually cool?
Why?? By "cool" or "on the up" do you mean the least black neighborhood? Detroit does not need to be developed, people live there, it's their home. They don't need architects coming into Detroit to tell them how to live a more hip lifestyle. Go there with an open mind, not a set of pre-convceived notions of what a city should be and you will learn, otherwise you will see Detroit as a place that needs to be fixed.
JG - that's a good point and I appreciate the comment... I actually know nearly nothing about Detroit, so when I said "on the come up" I just meant a place that might be developing commercially/residentially. I would be just as interested in a primarily black neighborhood as I would a white, hispanic or mixed one. In fact, my last project was in a very mixed neighborhood and it's been a great success...
if you want to see sprawl receding into detroit, check out the jeffries projects near wayne st. university - off m10, trumbell and martin luther king. if you want to see gentrification, go to riverplace lofts off jefferson avenue. If you want to see old gentrification, go to lafeyette park apartments also off jefferson avenue. Lafeyette was started by mies van der rohe. you should also check out eastern market on saturday. Do not miss the Indian village and it's surrounding area. Indian village is a prominent neighborhood where rich people live. Indian village is submerged within the rest of a typical slumlike suburban neighborhood which makes it very interesting in context. Also, check out the packard plant. You won't miss the train station when you drive through either. . .
You probably won't "experience" these communities if you're just driving by - you'll take everything for granted if you drive by. . . so i suggest that you don't drive, but walk and talk.
JG, detroit does need to be developed and it definitely is a place that needs to be fixed.
Its one of the most blighted cities in the world.
It has about a 60% occupancy rate throughout the entire city, with thousands of the empty buildings burnt out.
Even though downtown is supposedly coming back, the office vacancies increased for the forth year in a row.
Running the redundant people mover costs the city millions of dollars
a year.
It finishes as the most (or second or third most) crime ridden city in the nation every year, for years.
There's not enough retail to support people living downtown. There's not enough people living down to justify retail.
The city is broke. On the rare occasion development happens, they can't afford their share of infrastructural costs. They can't even afford to fix the dangerously damaged streets and sidewalks. When they cut through a brick pavered sidewalk to lay a new utility, they backfill it with asphalt.
Racial tension and segregation still exists. The inner city has the highest content of blacks in the nation. Livonia, a suburb, has the hightest content of whites in the nation.
on my way, I would suggest the woodward corridor around wayne state and the DIA.
Maybe this is what you are looking for: 6 Salon It’s in Royal Oak but it’s about the only thing worth seeing other than the Alias Wavefront store that Van Tine/Guthrie did a few years ago there. I’m sure that R.O. is considered by many to be the ‘next’ urban area of Detroit, but in reality it’s only a few blocks filled with cheesy bars and restaurants. And it is about a thirty-minute drive outside of downtown Detroit. So to say its in Detroit is a bit misleading, but because of the sprawl, even Ann Arbor could be considered a distant suburb. And while you’re out there you could go through Birmingham, which is very similar but more affluent. Drive a bit farther north and check out Cranbrook. Very beautiful and there is some nice architecture there (Steven Holl, Williams/Tsien and Saarinen among others). Check out a similar thread here: Cranbrook on Archinect
But if you’re going for an impression of Detroit, don’t waste too much time in the suburbs. Oslo looks nice from the outside (it’s a new sushi bar on Woodward) just north of the Compuware headquarters. Also Panacea (it may be not be open any longer – I heard that the ownership has changed) won an AIA Michigan design award and was designed by McIntosh/Poris. In the same building there is a decent restaurant as well in the basement. The downtown YMCA is coming along quickly and is interesting, and you can drive towards Grosse Point on Jefferson to see the Andrew Zago pavilion which was on the cover of Architecture magazine a year or two ago. Don’t miss the train station either, which has seen much press and discussion as well: Detroit Central Depot on Archinect
Detroit is an extremely interesting city – as seen from the various comments, which both adore and berate the ‘motor city’. A relic of the industrial revolution it is testament to a ‘one-dimensional’ economy and what happens when it becomes outsourced to other areas. I hope that it doesn’t change too much because it is amazing to see a thirty-story office building completely abandon with trees growing on the roof.
My apologies if the links don't work out – it’s a pain to get the text just right.
Jan 10, 05 7:51 pm ·
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where in detroit
I need to find a location for a hip retail store in Detroit... can someone give me some ideas about what parts of town are developing? I'm going to be there on Wednesday and need to know which direction to point the steering wheel.
Is there a specific urban neighborhood that's on the come up? Are there any outlying neighborhoods that are actually cool?
Please help me...
Also - are there any architectural landmarks I shouldn't miss?
i'd look to the suburbs but if you want a real architectural experience head downtown.
Is there a specific downtown neighborhood/area you can recommend?
Royal Oak was the place to go, back in the day...
Why?? By "cool" or "on the up" do you mean the least black neighborhood? Detroit does not need to be developed, people live there, it's their home. They don't need architects coming into Detroit to tell them how to live a more hip lifestyle. Go there with an open mind, not a set of pre-convceived notions of what a city should be and you will learn, otherwise you will see Detroit as a place that needs to be fixed.
JG - that's a good point and I appreciate the comment... I actually know nearly nothing about Detroit, so when I said "on the come up" I just meant a place that might be developing commercially/residentially. I would be just as interested in a primarily black neighborhood as I would a white, hispanic or mixed one. In fact, my last project was in a very mixed neighborhood and it's been a great success...
if you want to see sprawl receding into detroit, check out the jeffries projects near wayne st. university - off m10, trumbell and martin luther king. if you want to see gentrification, go to riverplace lofts off jefferson avenue. If you want to see old gentrification, go to lafeyette park apartments also off jefferson avenue. Lafeyette was started by mies van der rohe. you should also check out eastern market on saturday. Do not miss the Indian village and it's surrounding area. Indian village is a prominent neighborhood where rich people live. Indian village is submerged within the rest of a typical slumlike suburban neighborhood which makes it very interesting in context. Also, check out the packard plant. You won't miss the train station when you drive through either. . .
You probably won't "experience" these communities if you're just driving by - you'll take everything for granted if you drive by. . . so i suggest that you don't drive, but walk and talk.
doZer... much appreciated...
I'll definitely get out and walk.
You don't happen to know a commercial real estate agent do you?
no, but i'm sure you'll see a lot of signage of buildings there that are trying to be leased out - that's how i think you'll find an agent. . .
JG, detroit does need to be developed and it definitely is a place that needs to be fixed.
Its one of the most blighted cities in the world.
It has about a 60% occupancy rate throughout the entire city, with thousands of the empty buildings burnt out.
Even though downtown is supposedly coming back, the office vacancies increased for the forth year in a row.
Running the redundant people mover costs the city millions of dollars
a year.
It finishes as the most (or second or third most) crime ridden city in the nation every year, for years.
There's not enough retail to support people living downtown. There's not enough people living down to justify retail.
The city is broke. On the rare occasion development happens, they can't afford their share of infrastructural costs. They can't even afford to fix the dangerously damaged streets and sidewalks. When they cut through a brick pavered sidewalk to lay a new utility, they backfill it with asphalt.
Racial tension and segregation still exists. The inner city has the highest content of blacks in the nation. Livonia, a suburb, has the hightest content of whites in the nation.
on my way, I would suggest the woodward corridor around wayne state and the DIA.
for anybody curious:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4254620
i hope you're not just doing a project to bank off the super bowl.
omw:
Maybe this is what you are looking for: 6 Salon It’s in Royal Oak but it’s about the only thing worth seeing other than the Alias Wavefront store that Van Tine/Guthrie did a few years ago there. I’m sure that R.O. is considered by many to be the ‘next’ urban area of Detroit, but in reality it’s only a few blocks filled with cheesy bars and restaurants. And it is about a thirty-minute drive outside of downtown Detroit. So to say its in Detroit is a bit misleading, but because of the sprawl, even Ann Arbor could be considered a distant suburb. And while you’re out there you could go through Birmingham, which is very similar but more affluent. Drive a bit farther north and check out Cranbrook. Very beautiful and there is some nice architecture there (Steven Holl, Williams/Tsien and Saarinen among others). Check out a similar thread here: Cranbrook on Archinect
But if you’re going for an impression of Detroit, don’t waste too much time in the suburbs. Oslo looks nice from the outside (it’s a new sushi bar on Woodward) just north of the Compuware headquarters. Also Panacea (it may be not be open any longer – I heard that the ownership has changed) won an AIA Michigan design award and was designed by McIntosh/Poris. In the same building there is a decent restaurant as well in the basement. The downtown YMCA is coming along quickly and is interesting, and you can drive towards Grosse Point on Jefferson to see the Andrew Zago pavilion which was on the cover of Architecture magazine a year or two ago. Don’t miss the train station either, which has seen much press and discussion as well: Detroit Central Depot on Archinect
Detroit is an extremely interesting city – as seen from the various comments, which both adore and berate the ‘motor city’. A relic of the industrial revolution it is testament to a ‘one-dimensional’ economy and what happens when it becomes outsourced to other areas. I hope that it doesn’t change too much because it is amazing to see a thirty-story office building completely abandon with trees growing on the roof.
My apologies if the links don't work out – it’s a pain to get the text just right.
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