There’s a great piece of commentary in today’s Detroit News from Karen Dumas discussing a topic I find extremely intriguing.

Dumas, former press secretary for Mayor Dave Bing, defines a “new” Detroit, a city seeing an influx of “young, white, educated and employed” individuals moving in, starting businesses and reshaping the city. She goes on to examine how this “new” Detroit compares to what is already here, and has been here, for quite some time. She describes a stark dichotomy between the native, jaded Detroiter and the optimistic ”new” Detroiter, and how the two can be at odds with eachother.

On one hand, you have a population of people who see Detroit as a land of incredible opportunity, who are coming in to make change on their own rather than waiting for the government to step up and do something. But on the other hand, you have a population that has been in Detroit for years—generations even—who have become jaded and cynical after years of being let down by their government and their education system. 

New residents seem oblivious to the challenges of crime and schools, and instead have embraced the opportunity to redefine a seemingly faceless city.

It seems they’ve said, “OK. Those who were here have not seized the opportunity, so step aside and allow us to do so.” They are not waiting for City Council to pass any resolution, or for there to be a collective performance of “Kumbaya” with the Mayor’s Office. They, along with a core group of businesses, are doing what they want, where they can, to create the city they want Detroit to become.

The challenge is balancing the needs of those who have stayed with the wants of those who are arriving.

Now, whether or not all of this is turning Detroit into a suburb remains unanswered. I honestly never really considered a Whole Foods chain coming to Detroit being an example of the suburbanization of the city. Plenty of big cities have chains like this.

But, it’s a fascinating conversation that is important to have, and worth having for that matter. It’ll be crucial to watch how these two Detroits grow alongside each other and whether the needs and wants of both populations can be met successfully. 

Detroit has had a rocky past and the wounds of racial and social divides in the Metro Detroit area still run deep for many. I truly hope the story of the new Detroit will not become a story of the “rich white people trying to come in and take over the city.” It’s not about that. There’s incredible opportunity and potential, and success will only happen if we’re all willing to work together. I do hope Detroit continues to be a story of how people of all different backgrounds, perspectives and ideas can come together to rebuild a city, because that’s the Detroit I want to continue to work in, and a Detroit I want to one day live in.

Read the entire commentary here. 

It’s an event that harkens back to a time when shopping and retail was huge in the city of Detroit. But Downtown Detroit Days, a three-day event this weekend that features 40 different stores from the Troy Somerset Collection, could be a sign that shopping and retail like this could become a permanent fixture downtown.

The stores are located in a trendy restored mini-mall called the CityLoft which debuted last summer. This summer, more vendors have been added in tent space across the street from the building on Woodward Ave.

From Vera Bradley to Coach, to items from Brooks Brothers and Eddie Bauer, there seems to be a little something for everyone. Not to mention, retailers like Fist of Detroit apparel have plenty more to offer under the tents.

Somerset spent about $300,000 to turn its new space — which once housed a Woolworth store — into a 6,000-square-foot retail venue featuring a hair washing and drying station called a dry bar and a DJ spinning tunes from the mezzanine.

Downtown Detroit Days shopping runs 11 a.m.-7 p.m. through Saturday, and will take place one weekend a month through August.

Photo by JESSICA J. TREVINO/Detroit Free Press

(Source: freep.com)

So, what happens when you take a former Model T warehouse showroom built in the 1920’s and turn it into a small business shared-office space? 

You get the ‘Green Garage,’ an incredibly cool office space that’s creating a lot of buzz in Detroit’s Midtown neighborhood. So much buzz, in fact, that the New York Times even recently paid a visit to see what all the fuss was about.

The Times is calling the Green Garage a “metaphor for urban reinvention” and a new epicenter for business incubation in the city. See what else they had to say about it in the full article here and check out some pictures of the space here on Curbed Detroit. 

Photo by Michelle and Chris Gerard Photographers

As you know, I always love it when good ‘ol D-town gets some loving in national publications. The most recent example comes courtesy of the New York Post after one reporter made a visit and decided to bike through the city to see what it had to offer. 

The result: it seems we can add another reporter to the growing list who walk away after a visit both pleasantly surprised and and just as equally charmed. The whole piece offers a really nice perspective of the city and the gems within it. 

The reporter admits he never had any inclination to visit the city and, for the most part, was only familiar with a jaded and stereotypical picture of Detroit being a city of ruins in post-apocalyptic nightmare. Lucky for us, he realized how inaccurate that picture is.

It’s not an in-depth analysis by any stretch of the imagination, and for the most part reporter Max Gross only hits on the biggest and more obvious attractions in Detroit like the DIA and Eastern Market. But then again, to someone who’s never been here before, those are some pretty noteworthy and extraordinary parts of the city. 

Here’s an excerpt:

The streets may have appeared a little lonely at first, but when I did encounter people, they seemed extraordinarily cheerful and friendly. As I biked past total strangers walking their dogs, or chatting with their neighbors, they unfailingly looked up and waved, like we were in a small town. Maybe that’s the best way to sum up what I saw in Detroit. One part urban blight. One part something like buried treasure. And really, really friendly.

You can head on over to the New York Post here and read the full story.

The mainline through Detroit and one of the most historic avenues in the country is finally starting to see the comeback it’s been waiting for. The Detroit News reporting that the downtown stretch of Woodward Avenue between Jefferson and Grand Circus Park has seen many businesses and retailers relocating back to the area in recent years.

Dan Gilbert is responsible for a lot of the activity, with the Quicken Loans founder owning five buildings on the street. Gilbert has promised his ownership of those buildings will lead to a “two-year period when a lot of new residential … and new retail” will open in the city’s core.

The past 18 months has seen six businesses open or relocate into the downtown Woodward corridor, but it still has a ways to go to fill the many remaining vacant buildings and properties scattered throughout the area. 

Decades ago, downtown Woodward was packed with retail and street life. Many once-prominent Detroit retailers first set up shop or had a major presence there, including Vernors pop, Sanders Confectionary and Hughes & Hatcher men’s clothing store. At one point, the block-long Hudson’s department store was the second-largest department store in the world behind Macy’s in New York City.

Historical preservationist Rebecca Bino said the avenue’s peak years were between 1915 and 1955 with a reported 1.2 million people crossing the corner of State and Woodward daily in 1925. In 1983 the iconic Hudson’s department store, that at one point in time occupied an entire block on the street, closed it’s doors 

Read up on the full story here in today’s Detroit News.

There’s been some good news so far this month regarding groundbreakings of major developments in Detroit by big chain stores. Earlier this week marked the official groundbreaking of the Whole Foods store in Midtown. And come this Thursday a new project called the Gateway Marketplace will break ground near 8 Mile and Woodward.

The new development is expected to host a Meijer superstore and a Marshalls. But why is this such a big deal? After all, contrary to popular belief Detroit already has plenty of grocery stores. But, the bigger meaning behind project like this is that it shows major corporations and big chain stores are starting to have more confidence in the future of the city and therefore are choosing to invest in developments. 

Check out more details and a video of the Whole Foods groundbreaking here on HuffPostDetroit. 

Thanks to Translogic, we’re able to take a closer look at some of the possibilities of future transportation infrastructure in the city.

Most of us already know the story of how Detroit became the Motor City after it fell in love with roads and highways thanks to the car boom of the 1950s. Thanks to that subsequent shift in mindset, and promotion of the very industry that put Detroit on the map, options and ideas regarding mass transportation were neglected. 

But with Chrysler’s recent announcement of financial support for light-rail in the city, it’s apparent this conversation about where to go from here in regards to mass transit, will be something we’ll be talking about for quite some time to come.

Check out the video below for more.

The Detroit Free Press has started a pretty cool new project on their website. Dubbed Detroit Self-Portraits, and deriving inspiration from the DIA “Detroit Revealed” Exhibit, the site allows Metro Detroiters to upload and share their views of the city.

Visitors can then go on and vote for their favorite images and leave comments. Head on over to the project here and check out the collection so far. 

Photo by Steve Hauptman

After the Mercury Bar failed to catch on with the coffee crowd, the recently renovated venue has now reopened withe a new menu and a new vision. 

Burgers!

Right across the street from Slow’s BarBQ on Michigan Avenue, the Mercury Bar officially opened this past Saturday. The restaurant features a beer drinking room on the lower level aptly named Corktown Cellars. The interior of the place features a huge mural by local artist Jerome Ferretti, along with a pretty cool full-wall Fathead of a classic Mercury car grill. And of course, what I’m sure will be one of the biggest draws come summertime, the restaurant has a huge adjacent patio overlooking the old Michigan Central Station. 

Check out Curbed Detroit for the gallery of the restaurant. 

Picture from Curbed Detroit

If you’ve been downtown, you’ve probably seen them. Maybe, you’ve even used them.

They’re Detroit’s numerous tubes, walkways and skywalks that connect some of the city’s buildings and sporting venues together. From the tubes in Greektown to the skywalk connecting the Joe and COBO to the adjacent parking garage, there’s actually quite a few more than I ever took the time to realize.

Lucky for us, Faded Detroit put together a nice little gallery of some of Detroit’s tubed walkways, along with some interesting back stories on why the walkways were even built to begin with. Head on over and check it out. 

Picture from Faded Detroit