Downtown Revitalization: Detroit
Downtown Detroit was one of the first cities featured in Metro Jacksonville's Learning From series in 2006.
Since that initial article, Detroit has lost 200,000 additional residents, Mayor Kilpatrick has been sentenced to 28 years in prison, and being $18.5 billion in debt, it became the largest municipality in U.S. history to declare bankruptcy.
Ignoring the negative national press, Metro Jacksonville's Ennis Davis returns to highlight a few successes this city has made with the ongoing revitalization of its downtown.
Book Cadillac
If anyone in Jacksonville believes that restoring the Laura Trio into a Courtyard by Marriott hotel is a daunting task, let me introduce you to the Book Cadillac. Completed in 1924, the 31-story Book Cadillac Hotel was abandoned for 24 years before reopening as the Westin Book Cadillac Detroit in 2008. The $200-million flagship hotel reconstruction project now features 455 hotel rooms and 67 exclusive luxury condominium units.
Detroit International Riverfront
The Detroit International Riverfront has become a major downtown Detroit tourist attraction and landmark. Through the process of incremental expansion, it will eventually stretch 5.5 miles from the Ambassador Bridge in the west to Belle Isle in the east.
The riverfront is home to a cruise ship passenger terminal and dock, a marina, a multitude of parks, restaurants, retail shops, skyscrapers, and the Cobo Convention/Exhibition Center and Joe Louis Arena. The city's tallest structure, the Marriott at the Renaissance Center, is also situated along the International Riverfront.
Dating back to 1960, Cobo Center is a major convention center featuring 732,000 square feet of exhibition space. Located along the Detroit River, it's the home of the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), hosted each January, and Autorama, hosted each March.
The 14-acre Hart Plaza is named for the late U.S. Senator Philip Hart. It opened in 1975 and is a major waterfront destination for festivals and concerts.
Rivard Plaza located at the foot of Rivard Street features a covered seating, a carousel, concessions, and bike rentals.
The William G. Milliken State Park and Harbor consists of the former city-owned St. Aubin Park and Marina and an adjacent reclaimed brownfield. The brownfield was redeveloped as restoration wetlands, intended to mimic the riverine wetlands that once bordered the Detroit River. This portion of the park opened to the public on December 3, 2009.
The Dequindre Cut is a new shared-use path on the east side of downtown, on former Grand Trunk Western Railroad Right-Of-Way. The first 1.2-mile stretch was funded by $3.4 million in grants and opened to the public in 2005. It connects the riverwalk to Eastern Market. Construction began in September 2013 on a 0.64-mile extension. This extension is part of the Link Detroit project which is funded through various sources including a $10 million TIGER grant.
The former Parke-Davis and Company Pharmaceutical Plant complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. Now known as River Place, it has been converted into offices, retail space, residences, and a hotel.
Detroit People Mover
Similar to Jacksonville's Automated Skyway Express, the Detroit People Mover is a 2.9-mile automated people mover system serving downtown Detroit.
Featuring 13 stations, the elevated transit system began operation in 1987 and has a daily ridership of 5,300.
Subsidized to the tune of $12 million annually, its cost-effectiveness has drawn criticism throughout its history.
The Woodward Avenue Light Rail line, beginning construction in 2013, will serve as a link between the Detroit People Mover and SEMCOG Commuter Rail with access to DDOT and SMART buses as part of a comprehensive network of transportation in metropolitan Detroit.
Currently under construction, the Woodward Avenue Modern Streetcar line was initially proposed as a Detroit People Mover extension.
Rosa Parks Transit Center
The $22.5 million Rosa Parks Transit Center was completed in July 2009 after first being announced in 2005. Incorporating a soaring tensile canopy, the 2.4-acre intermodal center serves as a major transfer point for buses and the Detroit People Mover. If the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) is in need of a great example of a cost efficient intermodal transportation center, Detroit's Rosa Parks Transit Center is as good as any.
Greektown & Greektown Casino
The area of downtown known as Greektown was home to Greek immigrants during the early 20th century. The Greektown Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. As of June 2012, only three full-fledged Greek restaurants remain in Greektown. Today, the historic district is a popular dining and entertainment district, anchored by Greektown Casino.
Greektown Casino is one of three downtown Detroit casinos Michigan voters gave the go ahead for in 1996. The others are MGM Grand Detroit Casino and MotorCity Casino.
Greektown's Monroe Street is a great when preservation of existing buildings and revitalization come together. The casino itself, opened in 2007 utilizing historic buildings originially used for fur processing. This collection of buildings had been converted into a festival marketplace in 1985 by developers Cordish Embry & Associates. In 2009, a 30-story, 400 room modern hotel was added to the Greektown casino complex. The Greektown Casino Hotel replaced a parking garage as opposed to historic structures in the vicinity.
Jefferson Avenue
Jefferson Avenue is one of the five principal avenues in the city, which also include Michigan, Grand River, Gratiot and Woodward avenues.
An eight-lane roadway through downtown, it severs the riverfront from the core of downtown Detroit. Nevertheless, the use of pedestrian refuges and signals enhance the pedestrian environment.
If people have no problem crossing Jefferson Avenue in Detroit, State and Union Streets should not be viewed as obstacles between downtown Jacksonville and Springfield. Give people a reason to cross, while making the crossings as safe as possible, and people will walk between the two districts.
Woodward Avenue
Known as "Detroit's Main Street," Woodard Avenue runs from downtown Detroit northwesterly to Pontiac, MI.
The street is one of the five principal avenues in the city, which also include Michigan, Grand River, Gratiot and Jefferson avenues.
In downtown, it directly ties Hart Plaza/Detroit International Riverwalk, Campus Martius Park, Merchant's Row, Grand Circus Park, and Comerica Park together.
The Woodward Avenue Streetcar, a 3.3-mile-long modern streetcar line, may be one of the most ambitious transit projects in the country.
The $140 million project is being funded largely by a consortium of private and public businesses and institutions within the corridor. When complete in 2016, the 11-station starter system will connect the Detroit People Mover with a railroad station in New Center which serves Amtrak and the proposed SEMCOG commuter rail system.
source: https://www.freep.com/article/20140309/BUSINESS06/303090063/M-1-Rail-transit-Detroit-streetcars
Campus Martius Park
The original Campus Martius Park was created in 1805 and covered several acres and was a major gathering area for citizens. The park was lost in the 1900s as the city's downtown was reconfigured to accommodate increased vehicular traffic. Due to a lack of a true park space in the heart of downtown, a new 1.2-acre Campus Martius Park was created in the median of Woodard Avenue in 2004.
It features two performance stages, sculptures, public spaces, a seasonal ice skating rink, and cafe. Today, Campus Martius Park is the home of the annual Motown Winter Blast, an event that has drawn more than 450,000 people to the downtown area every year. The success of this public space should offer hope for the future of Jacksonville's Hemming Plaza.
Comerica Park
Comerica Park is an open-air downtown ballpark that serves as the home of the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball. It replaced historic Tiger Stadium in 2000. It was joined by Ford Field, home to the NFL's Detroit Lions, in 2002. Together, they anchor the northern edge of downtown Detroit and have become major contributors to stimulating foot traffic throughout the city's core.
The major difference between downtown Detroit's sports facilities and Jacksonville's is distance. All of downtown Detroit's sporting venues are well integrated into the city's core. In addition, they are within walking distance of the Detroit Peoplemover and soon to be modern streetcar line. However, downtown Jacksonville doesn't recieve the same benefit from our investment in sports facilities because those venues are located a mile east and multimodal connectivity is limited.
Grand Circus Park
A part of Augustus Woodward's plan to rebuild the city after the fire of 1805, the city established the park in 1850.
Tale of the Tape:
Detroit Population 2013: 688,701 (City); 4,294,983 (Metro) - (incorporated in 1806)
Jacksonville Pop. 2013: 842,583 (City); 1,394,624 (Metro) - (incorporated in 1832)
City population 1950: Jacksonville (204,517); Detroit (1,849,568)
Metropolitan Area Growth rate (2010-2013)
Detroit: ?0.03%
Jacksonville: +3.64%
Urban Area Population (2010 census)
Detroit: 3,734,090 (ranked 11 nationwide)
Jacksonville: 1,065,219 (ranked 40 nationwide)
Urban Area Population Density (2010 census)
Detroit: 2,792.5/sq. mi.
Jacksonville: 2,008.5/sq. mi.
City Population Growth from 2010 to 2013
Detroit: -25,076
Jacksonville: +20,799
City Land Area
Detroit: 138.8 square miles
Jacksonville: 747.0 square miles
Convention Center Exhibition Space:
Detroit: Cobo Center (yb. 1960) - 723,000 square feet
Jacksonville: Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center (1986) - 78,500 square feet
Adjacent to Convention Center:
Detroit: Courtyard Detroit Downtown and Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center (both connected via People Mover)
Jacksonville: N/A
Tallest Building:
Detroit: Renaissance Center - 727 feet
Jacksonville: Bank of America Tower - 617 feet
Fortune 500 companies 2009 (City limits only):
Detroit: General Motors (7), Ally Financial (273), DTE Energy (290)
Jacksonville: CSX (231), Fidelity National Financial (316), Fidelity National Information Services (434)
Urban infill obstacles:
Detroit: Downtown is cut off from nearby neighborhoods and the waterfront by major highways (Jefferson, I-75, I-375, Lodge Freeway)
Jacksonville: State & Union Streets cut off Downtown Jacksonville from Springfield.
Downtown Nightlife:
Detroit: Greektown
Jacksonville: The Elbow
Common Downtown Albatross:
An abundance of surface parking lots
Who's Downtown is more walkable?
Detroit: 93 out of 100, according to walkscore.com
Jacksonville: 73 out of 100, according to walkscore.com
Visual Information
Green = Jacksonville's city limits (current urban core) before consolidation in 1968
Red = Jacksonville's current consolidated city-county limits
Jacksonville's current and original city limit boundaries over Detroit's (highlighted in red).
Article by Ennis Davis
If anyone in Jacksonville believes that restoring the Laura Trio into a Courtyard by Marriott hotel is a daunting task, let me introduce you to the Book Cadillac. Completed in 1924, the 31-story Book Cadillac Hotel was abandoned for 24 years before reopening as the Westin Book Cadillac Detroit in 2008. The $200-million flagship hotel reconstruction project now features 455 hotel rooms and 67 exclusive luxury condominium units.
Detroit International Riverfront
The Detroit International Riverfront has become a major downtown Detroit tourist attraction and landmark. Through the process of incremental expansion, it will eventually stretch 5.5 miles from the Ambassador Bridge in the west to Belle Isle in the east.
The riverfront is home to a cruise ship passenger terminal and dock, a marina, a multitude of parks, restaurants, retail shops, skyscrapers, and the Cobo Convention/Exhibition Center and Joe Louis Arena. The city's tallest structure, the Marriott at the Renaissance Center, is also situated along the International Riverfront.
Dating back to 1960, Cobo Center is a major convention center featuring 732,000 square feet of exhibition space. Located along the Detroit River, it's the home of the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), hosted each January, and Autorama, hosted each March.
The 14-acre Hart Plaza is named for the late U.S. Senator Philip Hart. It opened in 1975 and is a major waterfront destination for festivals and concerts.
Rivard Plaza located at the foot of Rivard Street features a covered seating, a carousel, concessions, and bike rentals.
The William G. Milliken State Park and Harbor consists of the former city-owned St. Aubin Park and Marina and an adjacent reclaimed brownfield. The brownfield was redeveloped as restoration wetlands, intended to mimic the riverine wetlands that once bordered the Detroit River. This portion of the park opened to the public on December 3, 2009.
The Dequindre Cut is a new shared-use path on the east side of downtown, on former Grand Trunk Western Railroad Right-Of-Way. The first 1.2-mile stretch was funded by $3.4 million in grants and opened to the public in 2005. It connects the riverwalk to Eastern Market. Construction began in September 2013 on a 0.64-mile extension. This extension is part of the Link Detroit project which is funded through various sources including a $10 million TIGER grant.
The former Parke-Davis and Company Pharmaceutical Plant complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. Now known as River Place, it has been converted into offices, retail space, residences, and a hotel.
Detroit People Mover
Similar to Jacksonville's Automated Skyway Express, the Detroit People Mover is a 2.9-mile automated people mover system serving downtown Detroit.
Featuring 13 stations, the elevated transit system began operation in 1987 and has a daily ridership of 5,300.
Subsidized to the tune of $12 million annually, its cost-effectiveness has drawn criticism throughout its history.
The Woodward Avenue Light Rail line, beginning construction in 2013, will serve as a link between the Detroit People Mover and SEMCOG Commuter Rail with access to DDOT and SMART buses as part of a comprehensive network of transportation in metropolitan Detroit.
Currently under construction, the Woodward Avenue Modern Streetcar line was initially proposed as a Detroit People Mover extension.
Rosa Parks Transit Center
The $22.5 million Rosa Parks Transit Center was completed in July 2009 after first being announced in 2005. Incorporating a soaring tensile canopy, the 2.4-acre intermodal center serves as a major transfer point for buses and the Detroit People Mover. If the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) is in need of a great example of a cost efficient intermodal transportation center, Detroit's Rosa Parks Transit Center is as good as any.
Greektown & Greektown Casino
The area of downtown known as Greektown was home to Greek immigrants during the early 20th century. The Greektown Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. As of June 2012, only three full-fledged Greek restaurants remain in Greektown. Today, the historic district is a popular dining and entertainment district, anchored by Greektown Casino.
Greektown Casino is one of three downtown Detroit casinos Michigan voters gave the go ahead for in 1996. The others are MGM Grand Detroit Casino and MotorCity Casino.
Greektown's Monroe Street is a great when preservation of existing buildings and revitalization come together. The casino itself, opened in 2007 utilizing historic buildings originially used for fur processing. This collection of buildings had been converted into a festival marketplace in 1985 by developers Cordish Embry & Associates. In 2009, a 30-story, 400 room modern hotel was added to the Greektown casino complex. The Greektown Casino Hotel replaced a parking garage as opposed to historic structures in the vicinity.
Jefferson Avenue
Jefferson Avenue is one of the five principal avenues in the city, which also include Michigan, Grand River, Gratiot and Woodward avenues.
An eight-lane roadway through downtown, it severs the riverfront from the core of downtown Detroit. Nevertheless, the use of pedestrian refuges and signals enhance the pedestrian environment.
If people have no problem crossing Jefferson Avenue in Detroit, State and Union Streets should not be viewed as obstacles between downtown Jacksonville and Springfield. Give people a reason to cross, while making the crossings as safe as possible, and people will walk between the two districts.
Woodward Avenue
Known as "Detroit's Main Street," Woodard Avenue runs from downtown Detroit northwesterly to Pontiac, MI.
The street is one of the five principal avenues in the city, which also include Michigan, Grand River, Gratiot and Jefferson avenues.
In downtown, it directly ties Hart Plaza/Detroit International Riverwalk, Campus Martius Park, Merchant's Row, Grand Circus Park, and Comerica Park together.
The Woodward Avenue Streetcar, a 3.3-mile-long modern streetcar line, may be one of the most ambitious transit projects in the country.
The $140 million project is being funded largely by a consortium of private and public businesses and institutions within the corridor. When complete in 2016, the 11-station starter system will connect the Detroit People Mover with a railroad station in New Center which serves Amtrak and the proposed SEMCOG commuter rail system.
Quote
M-1 Rail — who’s paying?
The M-1 Rail line is funded by a combination of private and public money — making it unique among big-city transit lines. There are more than 20 sources. Here are the main ones and the amount each is giving:
? $35 million: Kresge Foundation
? $25 million: U.S. federal transportation grant
? $9 million: Detroit Downtown Development Authority
? $6 million: Ilitch Holdings
? $4 million: Ford Foundation
? $3 million donors: Blue Cross Blue Shield, Chevrolet division of General Motors, Chrysler Foundation, Compuware, Detroit Medical Center, Henry Ford Health System, Penske Corp., Quicken Loans, Wayne State University
? $1 million: Hudson-Webber Foundation
source: https://www.freep.com/article/20140309/BUSINESS06/303090063/M-1-Rail-transit-Detroit-streetcars
Campus Martius Park
The original Campus Martius Park was created in 1805 and covered several acres and was a major gathering area for citizens. The park was lost in the 1900s as the city's downtown was reconfigured to accommodate increased vehicular traffic. Due to a lack of a true park space in the heart of downtown, a new 1.2-acre Campus Martius Park was created in the median of Woodard Avenue in 2004.
It features two performance stages, sculptures, public spaces, a seasonal ice skating rink, and cafe. Today, Campus Martius Park is the home of the annual Motown Winter Blast, an event that has drawn more than 450,000 people to the downtown area every year. The success of this public space should offer hope for the future of Jacksonville's Hemming Plaza.
Comerica Park
Comerica Park is an open-air downtown ballpark that serves as the home of the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball. It replaced historic Tiger Stadium in 2000. It was joined by Ford Field, home to the NFL's Detroit Lions, in 2002. Together, they anchor the northern edge of downtown Detroit and have become major contributors to stimulating foot traffic throughout the city's core.
The major difference between downtown Detroit's sports facilities and Jacksonville's is distance. All of downtown Detroit's sporting venues are well integrated into the city's core. In addition, they are within walking distance of the Detroit Peoplemover and soon to be modern streetcar line. However, downtown Jacksonville doesn't recieve the same benefit from our investment in sports facilities because those venues are located a mile east and multimodal connectivity is limited.
Grand Circus Park
A part of Augustus Woodward's plan to rebuild the city after the fire of 1805, the city established the park in 1850.
Tale of the Tape:
Detroit Population 2013: 688,701 (City); 4,294,983 (Metro) - (incorporated in 1806)
Jacksonville Pop. 2013: 842,583 (City); 1,394,624 (Metro) - (incorporated in 1832)
City population 1950: Jacksonville (204,517); Detroit (1,849,568)
Metropolitan Area Growth rate (2010-2013)
Detroit: ?0.03%
Jacksonville: +3.64%
Urban Area Population (2010 census)
Detroit: 3,734,090 (ranked 11 nationwide)
Jacksonville: 1,065,219 (ranked 40 nationwide)
Urban Area Population Density (2010 census)
Detroit: 2,792.5/sq. mi.
Jacksonville: 2,008.5/sq. mi.
City Population Growth from 2010 to 2013
Detroit: -25,076
Jacksonville: +20,799
City Land Area
Detroit: 138.8 square miles
Jacksonville: 747.0 square miles
Convention Center Exhibition Space:
Detroit: Cobo Center (yb. 1960) - 723,000 square feet
Jacksonville: Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center (1986) - 78,500 square feet
Adjacent to Convention Center:
Detroit: Courtyard Detroit Downtown and Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center (both connected via People Mover)
Jacksonville: N/A
Tallest Building:
Detroit: Renaissance Center - 727 feet
Jacksonville: Bank of America Tower - 617 feet
Fortune 500 companies 2009 (City limits only):
Detroit: General Motors (7), Ally Financial (273), DTE Energy (290)
Jacksonville: CSX (231), Fidelity National Financial (316), Fidelity National Information Services (434)
Urban infill obstacles:
Detroit: Downtown is cut off from nearby neighborhoods and the waterfront by major highways (Jefferson, I-75, I-375, Lodge Freeway)
Jacksonville: State & Union Streets cut off Downtown Jacksonville from Springfield.
Downtown Nightlife:
Detroit: Greektown
Jacksonville: The Elbow
Common Downtown Albatross:
An abundance of surface parking lots
Who's Downtown is more walkable?
Detroit: 93 out of 100, according to walkscore.com
Jacksonville: 73 out of 100, according to walkscore.com
Visual Information
Green = Jacksonville's city limits (current urban core) before consolidation in 1968
Red = Jacksonville's current consolidated city-county limits
Jacksonville's current and original city limit boundaries over Detroit's (highlighted in red).
Article by Ennis Davis