Formally known as the Metropolitan Center for High Technology, it was an incubator for tech-start ups and research labs under Wayne State. As of 2013, WSU has moved those labs closer to the main campus in Midtown (most likely Tech Town). The building will know be known as "the Block at Cass Park" and will be used for general use/commercial office space with a few minor updates and offers below market rate leasing.
Orleans Landing looks really nice, and I hope to see people back on the streets. I remember Rivertown before it was basically condemned by the city, and it was a city neighborhood with one of the more unique vibes.
McCormack Baron Salaza
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Duggan targets 79 vacant homes in Marygrove area for repair
Darren A. Nichols
The Detroit News
Detroit — Owners of abandoned homes in the city’s Marygrove neighborhood will be the first to face being sued under Mayor Mike Duggan’s neighborhood rebuilding program that was announced Wednesday.
The Detroit Land Bank Authority will post notices on 79 vacant homes in a roughly 16-block area on the city’s northwest side in the area bounded by Marygrove to the north, Puritan on the south, Greenlawn to the east and Wyoming on the west.
Owners will have 72 hours to reach an agreement to fix up homes or face losing them within six months under nuisance abatement laws. Houses will then be auctioned by the Detroit Land Bank Authority, and those who buy them will be offered aid in the form of forgivable bank loans.
Duggan, who called the initiative a “bold experiment” to fix city neighborhoods, said the area will be noticeably different in 90 days.
“This is a historic change in Detroit’s strategy in fighting blight,” Duggan said. “We are getting away from this mindless process of demolishing everything that’s vacant. What’s different is we are attacking the entire neighborhood at once.”
I always thought the Puritan/Wyoming intersection would make for a great "college town"/"hipster" corridor, if the surrounding neighborhood could be turned around.
This was one of the things I liked most about Duggan's campaign from the beginning. The idea that "every neighborhood has a future." Sure, some of that was pandering, but it was a whole lot better than the "demolish everything right now!" rhetoric that had swept the city since the recession. I'm happy to see that the reconfiguring of the city has placed emphasis on both demolition and restoration of the housing stock worth salvaging.
Yeah, this area is worth saving. We have a family friend who lives just off Wyoming and the Lodge. Reinvesting in the areas around UDM and Marygrove is worth it.
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I got around to taking some photos downtown yesterday. I discovered that having lots of construction all around with a bunch of wind blowing pretty much makes the air dustier than the Saharan Desert.
Globe Building now to become Adventure and Discovery Center.
View of future Statler City Apartments.
Work on the David Whitney Building.
Repainted Claridge Apartments (on right). Looks really nice. It stands out and seems a lot more modern now.
There was some construction on Woodward. It looked like general utility work.
The new Z-lot looks alright. It kind of stands on its own but doesn't ruin the streetwall at all.
It's sort of a weird contrast to the library though.
The facade seems a little bit oversized.
The view from the top of it is pretty good though.
The Monroe Block seems pretty lonely with the parking garage gone. Really hope something good comes out of this site.
Dat facade tho.
Those apartments over the garage are really going to stick out.
The Federal Reserve Bank definitely has a more airy feel to it.
Lastly, the new Cobo atrium is reaaaaal niiiice. Very business friendly. Now if only they could do that with the rest of the front entrance.
(camera auto adjusted because it was bright outside)
Thanks for all of the pictures. All the views from the top of the Z-Lot are nice.
BTW, the construction on Woodward is both construction already planned for the road and to facilitate the Woodward Avenue streetcar. DDOT has a notice up on their site detailing which routes the streetcar construction will affect.
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Detroit News columnist Laura Berman has an interesting piece, today, about a growing urban gardening co-op that's taking the idea to the level of becoming commercially viable or at least more sophisticated than a lot of the individuals gardens you find around the city. City and state laws passed last year have allowed this to perhaps become a legitimate industry if even still a rather niche one in Detroit.
This particular garden just northeast of Hamtramck on Buffalo is part of City Commons, a 6-garden co-op:
Quote:
Emily Brent carries daughter Vivienne Bingham as she plants strawberry sprouts with fellow farmers at City Commons. (Max Ortiz / The Detroit News)
On the urban prairie, the chickens are laying, fresh compost is piled in a heap and a group of Detroit farmers is readying the land with the kind of hope and energy that spring brings.
Here on Buffalo Street, where almost an acre of land is being readied for planting, there’s even a homestead: Chris McGrane’s $1,000 house, adjacent to the farm, has been refitted with plumbing, new siding, a fence, new insulation and roof, and a wood stove that kept the house snug and warm through the winter.
This farm, and five others like it, compose City Commons, a farming cooperative started by a group of young farmers who want to make a living from farming. They’re selling weekly shares, using a model called community-supported agriculture (CSA), for their third season. For $425, share-holders get a box of produce for 20 weeks, and the experience of eating off the land.
Although urban gardens have become common in Detroit, and fresh produce stands on the city’s streets pop up mid-summer, working farms are few — in part because for-profit farming has a short legal history: A city ordinance and amended state laws were enacted only last year, too late for farmers to get fully up to speed.
...
The enterprise is plucky but not entirely bare-bones. They’ve got access to heavy equipment, and enough cash on hand to order supplies and seeds.
...
While I've always thought the idea of urban gardening as a saving industry for Detroit, I've also always it'd be nice to see this model actually succede to show that it can be done, and having a diverse local economy certainly isn't going to hurt anything. Maybe, this particular co-op could grow even bigger to scale this thing up so that it can target certain areas of the city. I'm not talking full-on commercial farming, rather using the co-op as a means for stabilizing empty land in residential neighborhoods in kind of the way a land bank does with the actual existing housing stock in those residential neighborhoods.
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An impressive list of Detroit-area architecture and design firms have come together to help shape Palmer Park's future. Led by Gibbs Planning Group and sponsored by the Michigan chapters of the American Society of Landscape Architects and the Congress for the New Urbanism, seven teams made up of 11 firms recently presented various plans for the historic park to the People for Palmer Park, an advocacy group. A consensus master plan will be created from this work and presented to the city by Memorial Day.
Participating firms included LivingLAB Detroit, McIntosh-Poris Architects, ASTI Environmental, dPOP!, Archive DS, department 01, Conservation Design Forum, Ken Weikal Landscape Architecture, Mark Johnson Architects, Hamilton-Anderson Associates, Downtown Solutions, Inc., Campbell Architeture and Planning, and Gibbs Planning Group.
The plans address a wide range of issues facing the park, from stormwater management to transit and parking questions.
Other plans focus on the park's design elements. Dave Mangum, urban planning associate for Gibbs Planning, says the park has been disconnected from itself and the community it serves. He singled out a high fence running along Woodward Ave. that limits access to the park.
People for Palmer Park is engaging community members to identify what they like and dislike about each of the seven presentations. Gibbs Planning will then work with them and the other firms to form a consensus master plan. Though not binding, the parties involved hope that the city will use the master plan when considering changes to the park. It also provides the People for Palmer Park with an effective fundraising tool for their own advocacy efforts.
"There hasn't been a cohesive vision for Palmer Park in quite a while," says Mangum.
Palmer Park is a 300-acre park designed by the 'father of landscape architecture,' Frederick Law Olmsted, the man who designed such famous parks as Detroit's Belle Isle and New York's Central Park.
I haven't seen what the original plans were for Palmer Park back in the 19th century, but the park used to have a different road layout than the one that goes through currently.
Orleans Landing looks really nice, and I hope to see people back on the streets. I remember Rivertown before it was basically condemned by the city, and it was a city neighborhood with one of the more unique vibes.
McCormack Baron Salaza
Can't believe I missed this image. What a great looking proposal and vision for that area. This is exactly what I hoped Rivertown would become.
It kind of reminds me of what was done with University Village in Chicago which was healing disrupted urban fabric that had more than enough demolitions, freeways, and neglect to be reversed by new development that was instantaneous but still felt urban, cohesive, and vibrant.
Can't believe I missed this image. What a great looking proposal and vision for that area. This is exactly what I hoped Rivertown would become.
It kind of reminds me of what was done with University Village in Chicago which was healing disrupted urban fabric that had more than enough demolitions, freeways, and neglect to be reversed by new development that was instantaneous but still felt urban, cohesive, and vibrant.
Agreed. Quite charming if they can pull of using quality materials.
A groundbreaking ceremony is planned Thursday for the $17 million renovation of two derelict buildings in Detroit’s Midtown area, where demand for housing is growing.
When the project is done, 47 “quality, affordable apartment homes” will be available, its supporters say.
Some 275 jobs are to be created as part of the renovation of the Cass Plaza and Davenport Building.
The majority investor in the project is the Great Lakes Capital Fund, a community development finance institution that has pledged $9 million to remake the vacant buildings.
...
Cass Plaza
Detroit News file photo
The Davenport
Detroit News file photo
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I too am really excited for Cass Plaza renovation. If they can take what is there now and make it look like the rendering shown, the developers will have proven that almost anything we consider "too far gone" or "not worth it anymore" can be saved. The Whitney is starting to look really great too; I can't wait to see the outside of the building fully restored!
As for the Globe Building: I'm glad that the state is reactivating this property, but is anyone else the least bit saddened that, from the outside, the building doesn't even look historic? It would have been nice to see a few more original elements, like the brick, used in the new facade.
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