February 2024 Review
What happened in Detroit during the shortest month of the year?
I’m a bit late on this one, as it seems in the opposite way that January drags on forever, February flies by in the blink of an eye, which cannot be explained by a few less days. I also wanted to wait to see if there would be some news out of a few meetings towards the end of the month, like the Michigan Stategic Fund meeting on the 27th that usually comes with some grant and funding announcements for the City. I’m trying to stick to my monthly update and my mid-month post, but sometimes they’ll be late, and sometimes they may not come at all, but at least this one is just late.
Detroit Food Commons
There’s been a long standing, negative stereotype of the city that there’s nowhere to get fresh groceries. While that was never entirely true, Detroit has lacked some volume and quality in the grocery store realm over the past decade or two. The Detroit Food Commons hopes to not only add a grocery store a growing area of the city through its “Detroit Peoples Food Co-Op”, but also add space for food entrepreneurs to get their start and for the community to host events. The 31,000 square foot, two story building in the North End is nearly completion and the Food Co-Op is planning its grand opening in May.
The main tenant of the Commons, the Food Co-Op, will be a full-service grocery store with local and organic options, as well as a prepared deli section with seating. As I mentioned, the Co-Op is just one of the tenants of the greater overall building which hopes to promote health in the community, as well as provide space for people to grow their businesses. The Co-Op itself has a membership structure, which allows people to buy in an be voting members. However, it appears that anyone is able to use the space and shop at the store.
Not enough good things can be said about a quality grocery store, as they are mainstays of a healthy and thriving neighborhood. I think this development shows an encouraging trend of increased amenities up the Woodward corridor to accompany an increase in housing. While New Center may never be the business center it once was with GM, trading that for a healthy mix of residential and commercial seems to be an upgrade in the long run.
In addition, I think the concept of a Co-Op ads a sense of ownership of the store by the community and its members. Even if the members don’t necessarily share in the profits and expenses, their voices can be heard about needs that the Co-Op can fill, and gives a sense of permeance to the store, as a large corporation won’t suddenly decide to close up shop to satisfy shareholders. I’m intrigued to learn more about the nuts and bolts of how it works, but the idea that these neighborhood essentials should be community driven and led is something I can definitely get behind.
Lions Training Facility
One post on social media has got Detroiters and Lions fans speculating hard over the past couple of days. (Alright this technically came about in March, but with February being a short month, I’m making an exception.) Detroit journalist Terry Foster, formerly of the Detroit News and 97.1 The Ticket, tweeted out a rumor regarding the Detroit Lions training facility.
There are rumors that the Detroit Lions are looking into moving their practice facility from Allen Park to the New Center area in Detroit. The Lions are the only professional team not entirely in Detroit proper. - @terryfosterdet
This, obviously, got people talking. Terry isn’t just some random twitter guy; he’s been plugged into the Detroit sports world for the better part of four decades. However, he’s also been out of the game for a few years, so we probably need some verification elsewhere before this is confirmed. When he mentioned New Center, people started speculating on where this might go, as it would need to be a fairly large open area. Soon after, Terry followed up with a response to that speculation,
The rumored Detroit Lions practice facility would go behind Herman Kiefer Hospital which has an open parcel of land. Plenty of room. -@terryfosterdet
Now, I’ll forgive Terry for the fact that Herman Kiefer isn’t technically in New Center, instead within the bounds of Virginia Park. However, this is an area that people online were identifying as a spot that made sense for the facility. The Herman Kiefer complex has been long contemplated for renovation and went through the CBO process some years back. Obviously not much has happened since then, but incorporating a new Lions facility in the greater footprint could definitely help move it along.
The speculation that the Lions may be on the move isn’t random either, it was reported last year that they were exploring renovations or a new facility in order to allow them to host more fans at the complex. Currently, they can only host 2,500 fans on their 22-acre complex, which was built in 2002, but they’d like to get that number up near 15,000. I think most people’s first thought is how can they fit such a large facility in the City? While large, 22 acres is not impossible to fit within the neighborhood. Altogether, the Herman Keifer complex is about 38 acres, which includes the two nearby former Detroit Public School properties that were sold along with the main Herman Kiefer building.
All in all, I think there’s a good chance this comes to fruition. I’m sure the Lions will look to go through the CBO process and secure some tax breaks to offset the increase from Allen Park. The Lions have clearly seen what kind of atmosphere a winning team can bring with it, and I’m sure they want to cash in on it outside the 10 or so times they get to host a game at Ford Field. The Pistons have shown that even with a terrible team, a professional franchise can be more than just the team on the field, with the development of the Pistons Performance Center and its recent partnership with Henry Ford Hospital. I think a new Lion’s facility within the city limits would be great for the city, and it would probably be great for the Lions.
Old and New Industrial Space
Whether you agree with the approach or not, it’s no secret that Mayor Duggan has a desire to attract large manufacturing and industrial facilities to the city and wants to clear up space to do so. It can certainly bring a lot of jobs but can be controversial for its effect on the surrounding area, the potential for low earning potential jobs, and sore memories from auto plants of the past that closed up shop and depressed whole areas of the city. I don’t think you can fault him for trying though, as Detroit has a lot to offer in the field of manufacturing and logistics, and it’s certainly possible for these jobs to be great opportunities for Detroiters.
Recently, two areas have been in the mayor’s sites for redevelopment into industrial hubs, with the first being the old Packard Plant. The redevelopment plans proposed a few years back by Fernando Palazuelo and his company, Arte Express, were ambitious at best and dubious at worst. However, I don’t think anyone is surprised to see the full-scale redevelopment of the original building fall apart for a multitude of reasons, and I think most are resigned to the fact that the Packard will be almost completely gone in the near future. The city has done some on and off demolition of the site, but has since gotten a court order for its full tear down and it should be complete by the end of the year.
With a fresh plot of land, Mayor Duggan has said his hope is to attract auto manufacturers and suppliers to work with the GM and Stellantis plants nearby, similar to the redevelopments of the Cadillac Stamping Plant and the former AMC headquarters. It makes sense, the area has long been used for manufacturing, there are nearby plants that need parts, and while these jobs may not pay what they used to, they can often be safe, unions jobs that someone can make a career with. I’m never going to fault Duggan for doing what he can to put money in the pockets of Detroiters and get new businesses on the tax roll, and while it would have been great to save the old building and resurrect it into a bustling neighborhood, sometimes the smart choice is the realistic choice.
The other area the mayor is targeting encompasses part of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Airport (City Airport) and the surrounding neighborhood. In February, the city received money from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) to design the airport, removing the crosswind runway, and opening up land for redevelopment. This has drawn some pushback because the airport still serves as a functional airport and teaching facility, which will be hampered by the removal, but it’s clear the cities priorities are set on development of the area for other uses, and not revitalization of the airport itself. This redevelopment plan opens up nearly 80 acres of land for potential commercial and industrial use, again targeting auto related companies to supply the nearby plants.
The airport still has plenty of function left as a place for airplanes. Along with this redevelopment, there are plans to improve facilities and safety to attract more plane traffic. There are also plans to bring back educational programs that were once housed on site. Again, I don’t think redevelopment into more industrial space is necessarily a bad idea, especially when living near a functional airport is not the most desirably thing in the world. It would be great if the city could diversify the types of businesses that it brings in, gearing more towards alternative mobility or flight related industry. The city was targeting Joby heavily for the site, but ultimately was passed over for Dayton, Ohio.