Bringing Retail Back Downtown: Detroit

[thelakelander]

15 years after the opening of Campus Martius Park, the results of clustering complementing development within a compact setting are beginning to pay dividends. Now home to more than 6,500 residents and a cohesive retail implementation strategy, Downtown Detroit is becoming a retail and dining hot spot.

Read More: https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/bringing-retail-back-downtown-detroit/


To better put things in perspective, everything in this article is what now exists within a 1/4 mile walk shed or 5-minute walk of Campus Martius Park.




Here is that same 1/4 mile walk shed or 5-minute walk for DT Jax's Hemming Park:



The Mayors Office, DIA, DDRB, DVI, etc. really need to focus and prioritize clustering as much density, adaptive reuse, infill and enhancement of the public realm within this exact section of what we call downtown if there is a goal to have human scale vibrancy within this generation. Luckily, there is opportunity because there's more proposed or coming online within Hemming's walk shed than what's conceptually proposed at Lot J, without the extra hundred plus million going to infrastructure costs. By combining existing assets and businesses, with developments already under construction or proposed and targeting key locations to eliminate human scaled gaps, this area could easily come to life years before the long assumed 10,000 residents goal.

[Captain Zissou]

How much of that circle is owned by First Baptist or COJ?  A rough glance looks like about 30-40%.  That should be the easiest portion to activate, but it will likely be the last to see any street level activity.

[thelakelander]

I think Laura Street between the Landing and Hemming Park is the easiest way to get four continuous blocks of active street level retail and dining in the short term.



First, Hyatt Place, VyStar and the Barnett/Trio/Trio garage are all private projects that will be active at street level.




Second, retail needs to be visible from as much traffic as possible. For Lot J to remotely have a chance of getting off the ground, $39 million is being spent to raze the Hart Bridge viaduct in the Sports District. Well, that access to more through traffic that Khan is demanding is the same thing the Northbank could use. However, the current Hart Bridge plan puts that expressway traffic back up on the viaduct west of IAW, diving it to multiple corridors through downtown. Just close off the entire bridge and send all that traffic down a two-way Bay Street. It will make retail more viable for every property along Bay between the Sports District and I-95, including the prime intersection of Bay and Laura Streets.



Third, we tend to discount or forget about what's already in place. Both the Wells Fargo Building and BOA Tower have ground floor space with a mix of occupied and vacant retail storefronts with frontage on Laura and Bay. If we can find a way to remove an expressway ramp for Lot J, we should be able to find common ground with these building owners for street level modification and integration of their retail storefronts to add pedestrian scale interaction on their blocks.

In the Detroit 5-minute walk circle, the lion's share of development has been adaptive reuse and retrofit of office tower ground floors to include restaurants and shops. See some examples below:












Fourth: Activate COJ owned property. Instead of demolishing the Landing and killing any resemblance of life from the site for years to come (demo, time for highest & best use studies, city review, RFPs for redevelopment, review of RFP submittals, etc.), issue a RFP for the management and reuse of the structure. Consider anchoring it with uses in need of better or alternative downtown spaces like the visitors center, Sweet Pete's....begging Hooters and Fionns, etc. to come back). This can include opening it up to Laura, although that's not totally important to the actual activation of pedestrian scale activity). A small food hall with locally based cuisine and businesses would likely be a gold mine and the type of destination that would pull people into the area at night and on weekends.

In addition to the Landing, Snyder Memorial and the library's long underutilized retail spaces need to be put back into use. Use incentives if necessary to secure the type tenants that attract foot traffic and that can maintain operating hours outside of 9-5 weekdays. These are catalytic sites even if they don't mean cranes, millions in public incentives, or major ribbon cutting ceremonies.

With this, you have a five to six block street of Laura Street (where we've already paid to streetscape) that can be consistently programmed with enough traffic and compactness to be considered a destination until itself. With the added life, you'll discover that many of the existing businesses that close up shop early now, will extend their operating hours because the atmosphere is there to support the investment.



Last, build off the initial momentum. With JEA, there's an opportunity to kill a surface parking lot on Forsyth and reuse the existing tower for the mix of uses the property was originally designed for. Creatively reusing that block, gives the Northbank another major destination that could stimulate additional development within its 5-minute walk shed. Same goes with city hall. We're in a time where we don't need the amount of office space we've used in the past. Every building COJ has purchased and converted former retail space into ground floor offices....those uses should be converted back.

[thelakelander]

Adams Street between Main and Pearl is another one that screams easy transformation. You could turn the stretch between Laura and Hogan (and Hogan between Forsyth and Monroe) around with a Coral Gables Giralda Plaza type streetscape project and funding of a full block of outdoor cafe style seating. There's already a decent collection of places like Kazu Sushi Burrito, Da Real Ting, Breezy Jazz Club, Volstead, Desert Rider, Happy Grilled Cheese, Vagabond Coffee, Gili's, Zodiac, etc. there and the Trio/Barnett projects will activate the Laura Street intersection with complementing uses and activity. Focus on activating spaces at the Hogan Street intersection (including removing DVI from a ground level retail corner space) and a streetscape would make it look like night and day from the present atmosphere.

Giralda Before:


Giralda After:


Really, I do believe the heart of the Northbank could be transformed fairly quickly because of what is already in place, under construction or proposed.  A few moves in the right place and you'll have a major overhaul of DT's image light years ahead of most of the stuff being boasted in local media outlets these days.......and for a fraction of the cost to the public.

[Charles Hunter]

It all makes so much sense.  A shame that means nothing to the Powers That Be around here.

[Wacca Pilatka]

Lake, do you perceive any hope that the Landing could be preserved and repurposed at this juncture?  Obviously, it SHOULD be, but given that the city has given notice to proceed and occupancy to the demolition contractor, is there any hope of reversing the seemingly inevitable?

[thelakelander]

I wouldn't bet my house on it but there's always hope until its gone. With that in mind, you keep talking while it's still standing as opposed to being quiet until its too late. In life, you never know if you don't try.

[Tacachale]

I wouldn't bet my house on it but there's always hope until its gone. With that in mind, you keep talking while it's still standing as opposed to being quiet until its too late. In life, you never know if you don't try.

Rule #1 of the Jaxson: Never shut up about the Landing. Rule #2 of the Jaxson: Never shut up about the Landing.

[ProjectMaximus]

Awesome. I'll be in Detroit for several days at the end of this month, might need to reach out to Lake on some areas to check out.

It all makes so much sense.  A shame that means nothing to the Powers That Be around here.

This, as usual, is such a great and persuasive outline. Wish the right people in the city would see it and, at the very least, seek out more info and help.

[thelakelander]

^Let me know. I know that city pretty well now. Btw, received this random email yesterday, which basically validates the article and importance of clustering:

Good morning Ennis,    just came across your wonderful story on Campus Martius Park and Downtown Detroit. Nice job !  As one who has been involved in the original creation of Campus Martius Park and the planning work over the last decade that has prioritized the highly focused development and density, your story has captured these concepts and results we have seen since the opening the Park in 2004.

Just wanted to drop you a quick note and would love to chat with you on how you came to focus on our city.   Best,   Bob

--
Robert F. Gregory  l Chief Planning and Public Space Officer
Downtown Detroit Partnership
One Campus Martius  Suite 380  Detroit, MI 48226

[Sonic101]

Awesome. I'll be in Detroit for several days at the end of this month, might need to reach out to Lake on some areas to check out.

Couple of good food options are the Detroit Shipping Company - Like a food court made from shipping containers and the Monarch Club - new fancy rooftop bar.

[thelakelander]

^Food hall! One of the no-brainer concepts for the adaptive reuse of a building like the Landing. Here are a few of my images:









Weird thing about the Detroit Shipping Company block is that it was the city's chinatown at one point. All that's left today are two buildings and a gateway sign on the corner: