America's "comeback city"?? (Detroit, Kalamazoo: best cities, lofts, mortgage)

[snoopygirlmi]

I understand the skepticism because I had it for awhile.

Now that I've been downtown a few times and seen it for myself - there's no denying that Detroit is on an upswing. There's a night/day difference between Detroit 10 years ago and Detroit today - in a good way.

Is it perfect - No.

Will it ever be perfect - No.

Can it still be better - Yes, in some ways. There's still a lot of work that needs to be done - and people are realistic about that.

Jobs aren't moving out. A lot of the suburban HQ's have moved or are looking at relocating to Downtown.

People want to move in - it's a destination - and apartment prices prove it.

If you get a chance and have Amazon Prime, check out the Grand Tour episode where the guys revisit Detroit after 20 years. (It's in season 3) They talk a lot about how the city core has changed a lot since their last visit. Jeremy Clarkston focuses on how modern the city is now and wonders how it's possible that this is the same city that he was robbed in 20 years ago. James May talks a lot about how some of the land is being re-purposed for urban farms (much to Clarkston's dismay - of course).

The point is that people are making these observations because it really is astonishing how much the city has changed and they aren't just surface changes. There's been a cultural shift in Detroit - for the better.

[sheena12]

Originally Posted by raleightransplant

Detroit is definitely coming back. Young people don't care about 'Old Detroit', and if they do--they're celebrating it's rich culture and actually trying to revive it and change the narrative. Job growth actually has it in the top 20 cities nationally now. Lots of young creatives from all over are coming in. Detroit teaches a great lesson--Nothing is ever final. Detroit has always had good bones, it just needed the vision. It's a beautiful city, and optimism is clearly there. I really enjoyed my last visit.

East coast hipsters who can't afford Brooklyn any more are moving to Detroit.

[Nattering Heights]

Automobile production will decline for a few decades then end. The debt bubble pop will wipe out Quicken and many other bubbly corporations in the next few years. Soil pollution will affect local farming and food supply for centuries. Detroit's future is much brighter than southwest cities in drought, but the population still has a long way down to go.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by Nattering Heights

Automobile production will decline for a few decades then end. The debt bubble pop will wipe out Quicken and many other bubbly corporations in the next few years. Soil pollution will affect local farming and food supply for centuries. Detroit's future is much brighter than southwest cities in drought, but the population still has a long way down to go.

Transportation production will not end. It may change, you may call it something else, but it will not end. Already you can say the Detroit automakers do not make cars anymore. That is nearly true, they make CUVs SUVs and pickups. People do not want "cars" anymore for he most part.

The automakers hire a lot of really smart people. Smarter than anyone on CD (at least individually). while it is cute to say management is bad, or stupid, etc, it is not at all true. The people at the top of these companies are very smart and they are getting advice from people who are even smarter. they have a plan and they are committed to avoid mistakes made in the past. Notably, the jobs in corktown mentioned above have nothing to do with manufacturing. Yes, they make mistakes and sometimes company politics prevent them form immediately making good decisions, but they are not stupid no matter how popular it is to say otherwise while standing around the water cooler while working for them or for someone else. If someone on CD were really smarter or more competent than the people running multi-billion dollar companies, then what are they doing here? Why are they working for someone else?

Transportation will change and the automakers will change with it. Some of them will go out of business, but someone else will replace them. For over 150 years SE Michigan has specialized in making things out of metal, and/or figuring out how to make things out of metal. While some of the manufacturing mass production has gone to cheaper less regulated locations, there is still no other comparable single location where you can find so much capacity to make things (especially with metal). It is not the giant automakers that provide this capacity but the thousands of smaller shops, plants and design centers.

However SE Michigan is also diversifying and automotive is a smaller percentage of our overall economy than it was a decade or so ago. Other industries (like healthcare related business for one example of many) have expanded considerably while automotive has recovered somewhat but not to the level it once was. The result is we are less automotive dependent and healthier economically than we were in the past.

I am not sure what debt bubble you are referring to. Quicken provides real estate loans only and since the last recession they are very picky about whom they lend to. You may not be aware of this, but Quicken survived the 2008 crash and even expanded their business. The big risk with Quicken is the health of their leader and owner Dan Gilbert. It is unclear whether they can, or will want to, continue to function at the same level as they have in the past if he steps down or dies. That is more an issue with the Bedrock companies than with Quicken. Quicken is a well oiled machine that can probably run without his involvement at least for a while.

Not clear what population you think has a long way down to go. All humans? Detroit? In any event you are going to be disappointed on both counts. I hate to tell you this but the population is growing and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, even if you do not want it to. There is no shortage of arable land. the only reason for a food shortage in some places is issues with distribution and political/economic control. We can easily support the world population with the food production we have now and we are using only a very small percentage of the capacity of the planet to produce food.

[lucky2balive]

comeback isn't how nice the restaurants are

its the citizens...they are still mostly poor
and the crime...which is still horrible

[Coldjensens]

2500 Ford jobs is only the beginning of what it will mean to Corktown. You have to remember, Corktown is a small area with little commercial business. Other companies providing support and other services to Ford will locate nearby. (they are already working on it). Some of those 2500 workers will realize it is a nice idea to just live in Corktown and new residential locations will be built (some are already planned). those 2500 workers will eat 2500 lunches and have 1000 or so drinks after work each week or so. They will need laundry/dry cleaning services, last minute gifts for family members, transportation, amusement and support.

Quicken provides 17,000 jobs in the core of downtown out of probably 100,000 jobs in the immediate vicinity. Ford will provide 2500 jobs out of maybe 10,000 or fewer jobs in Corktown. The point is not a competition to see which company provides the highest number of jobs, but the impact the addition of those jobs will have on that particular location. Quicken provides 0 jobs in Corktown so they are irrelevant to this discussion (not to diminish the huge positive impact quicken has had on other parts of town, it just is not relevant here). Ford's 2500 jobs and other support positions will have a profound impact on Corktown. In fact it already has. Try to buy some real estate in Corktown right now and see what you find.

Corktown has been making a trickling but steady comeback. This will give them a huge infusion of activity that will and has change the area dramatically.

That is assuming it happens. There sure has not been a lot of activity at the Trans station building recently.

[NOLA101]

The Detroit "comeback" story is mostly hype. Not entirely hype, but 90% hype.

The VAST majority of Detroit city proper has never looked worse than right now, in 2019.

[mgkeith]

I disagree. The improvements are astonishing since we moved here 25 years ago. The development has to start somewhere. Cities aren't remade all at once. Progress has been good. There needs to be a lot more.

[Coldjensens]

What makes a city a city is thecore of the city(Downtown)/.The comeback downtown is amazing and unparalleled.

[canudigit]

I visited downtown Detroit for the first time in a few years during the Jazz Festival back in early September and I was blown away at the changes. Not even the fact that there was a very large and diverse crowd of people there and it felt extremely safe, because I would expect that during a major festival. The stadium district that has developed in Midtown, particularly along Woodward Avenue, is stunning. It actually reminded me a little bit of Fifth Avenue in Manhattan or the Magnificent Mile in Chicago. We dined alfresco on Woodward Avenue and went to Cliff Bell's afterwards to enjoy the live jazz music. It truly felt like a world-class experience!

I agree with the previous posters who said that the changes are remarkable and that no, the whole city has not evolved yet, but you have to start somewhere and what a start it is! I don't necessarily have a horse in this race, so to speak, because I live in a small town about an hour from Detroit and not in the Detroit Metro, but I feel extremely optimistic and excited about the recent changes. I have lived long enough to see where other cities that experienced major turnarounds started in a specific area and the optimism and momentum grew as the months and years went by. I don't expect anything less to happen in Detroit. It is way too valuable of a city let go.