Rebuilding Far Eastside Detroit

Can the ravaged neighborhoods of Detroit be rebuilt in a traditional manner, with neighborhood centers established no more than a quarter mile from each neighborhood’s edge? Archive DS, a Detroit-based architecture and urban design firm, thinks they can, and has produced a plan for filling in nine neighborhoods that have lost nearly four-fifths of their population since the 1950s. The nine neighborhoods, where 40 percent of the properties have fallen into city ownership through delinquency and abandonment, make up a 1,200-acre area about seven miles east of downtown and not far from the affluent suburb of Grosse Pointe. Small developments – mainly suburban-style single-family houses priced at $200,000 to $400,000 – have been produced nearby in recent years, and they’ve sold well, says Mark Nickita, president of Archive DS. The firm’s Far Eastside plan will try to show that there’s a market for new urban redevelopment, with higher-density housing clustered around key sites such as small parks. The strategy lays out an urban design vision and a 15-year marketing and implementation program for an area where the population has fallen from about 24,000 in 1955 to 4,900 today. It’s one of the largest such initiatives in North America. Because of the many vacant, city-owned parcels, it will be possible to assemble substantial parcels for redevelopment, Nickita says. park at center In the heart of the area would be a new city park surrounded by newly constructed higher-density housing such as stacked townhouses — one two-story unit on top of another. Detroit was built mainly as a city of detached houses on narrow lots. One goal is to introduce more townhouses and other housing that raises the density and broadens the city’s appeal. By rehabilitating existing housing and developing infill housing of varying types, the plan also aims to accommodate all existing residents who want to stay. Empty or soon to be vacant old schools and some of their land are to be converted to housing or neighborhood amenities, such as offices for community organizations. Neighborhood retail facilities would be consolidated into several nodes within walking distance of residents over tree-lined streets. The cost to the city is estimated at $154 million for right- of-way improvements such as road and sewer work and $71 million for rehabilitation of existing housing. That adds up to $225 million, or about $15 million per year. By 2015, the project is forecast to be generating $20 million a year in property and income tax revenue. Rehabilitation and new construction have begun on a limited scale and will accelerate in 2003. The strategy designates an area near Warren and Conner Avenues for a concentration of big- box retail stores and community services. The corner of Jefferson and Conner Avenues would be developed with a retail cluster including entertainment and eating and drinking establishments. A system of greenways would connect the neighborhoods, through walking and bike paths, to major parks. The work will be carried out by many developers, with Archive DS possibly hired as architect by some of them. The firm wanted to produce a code for the project, but was limited to developing guidelines that “are not as rigid as we’d like them to be,” he says. “But we’re glad to be at this point. What this project is all about is proving the potential of this approach.” If the 1,200-acre area takes off, the hope is that other sections of Detroit will follow similar principles for redevelopment.