[KaiserJeep]

So we have:

1) Population in severe decline from the 1950's onwards, down from 1.8M to 701K. The basic cause being that other countries rebuilt their automobile industry after WW2 and did so more efficiently than did Detroit, who spent money on Union corruption.
2) Devil's Night (October 30th PM) where some portion of the city burns each year.
3) Failed schools, failed medical care, high unemployment, high crime, and more than a third of the residents living below poverty level.
4) A city government in bankruptcy since 2013. Based on the court ruling about pensions, soon to be inhabited by de-motivated Fire, Police, and other Emergency Services.

...it just doesn't inspire me to go house hunting there, and I'm in the market.

[copious.abundance]

^
To be sure, mostly the adventurous are currently moving into Detroit. But once things start to get nice enough you'll start to get more timid people moving there too.

Anyway, some more apartment projects. All the ones I'm showing have been announced just this year.

Developer says $7 million will turn Detroit's castle-like James Scott Mansion into 25 condos

March 13, 2014

A Detroit developer said financing is in place and a project to turn the 137-year-old, castle-like James Scott Mansion in Detroit into 25 condos should begin this summer.

Joel Landy, whose Detroit developments include the Burton Theatre, the Addison Building and the Leland Lofts, to name a few, said that financing has been arranged and it is “99 percent sure" that the development will move forward.

Landy said the gorgeous but crumbling Richardsonian-Romanesque building at 81 Peterboro in the Cass Corridor will cost about $7 million to redevelop, and has already been approved for $2.6 million in state historic and brownfield redevelopment tax credits.

[...]

2 apartment projects OK'd for downtown Detroit as Mayor Duggan shows hands-on interest in development

Rendering of the Statler City Apartments

March 26, 2014

Downtown Detroit’s hot rental market will get some needed units with approval of two apartment projects Wednesday by the Downtown Development Authority, including a bank of rental apartments planned for atop the Griswold parking deck near the Westin Book Cadillac.

The Griswold was originally planned as condominiums but the project fell apart during the Great Recession. It was resurrected and came back to the DDA on Wednesday as a $22-million apartment rental project. Construction is planned for later this year with an opening possible by late 2015.

In the second deal, the Village Green apartment development firm plans to build a 200- to 250-unit residential apartment project on the site of the former Statler Hotel near Grand Circus Park. The total project cost was estimated at $35 million to $40 million. The project is called the Statler City Apartments and will face Grand Circus Park between Washington and Bagley. Developers hope to start construction in two years.

Rendering of the Griswold development


[...]

One already under (re)construction...

Davenport Rehab Kicks into High Gear, Begins Spring Gutting

April 9, 2014

Activity is picking up at The Davenport, a 119-year-old apartment building in Midtown that was vacant for years. Announced late last year, the restoration project was limited to boring utility work over the winter. These days, the building is teeming with workers clearing junk and gutting the interior, which will be rebuilt as eight apartments of affordable housing. The Davenport expects to be ready in October, but don't forget to keep an eye on its larger neighbor, Cass Plaza. That effort should begin showing similar signs of life any day.

[...]

[copious.abundance]

Cap Park's Original 3 Rehab Buildings Finally Make Progress

June 10, 2014

United Way Building (left) and Cap Park Building (right).


Messy renovations at the Griswold and Bamlet buildings have stolen the show in Capitol Park lately, but the spotlight is shifting to the trio of buildings controlled by Karp and Associates. After announcing renovation plans in 2012, the United Way and Capitol Park buildings are finally showing signs of life. The Farwell isn't too far behind.

Built in 1895, the United Way was kept in decent shape over the years. Therefore, unlike makeovers scheduled for its younger neighbors across the park, this project might look relatively low-key from the outside. The $38.6M residential renovation washing through the interior will leave behind 56 "loft-style" apartments, most of them one-bedroom units. According to Crain's, work is expected to finish up by the end of the year.



[...]

185 New Apartments Greenlighted in Lafayette Park

July 17, 2014,

DuCharme Place, a residential development planned for Lafayette Park, looks ready to leap from rendering to reality after a decade on the back burner. Featuring four contemporary residential buildings, DuCharme is slated for the site once home to Rochdale Court Apartments, a senior living center demolished in 2002. Featuring four contemporary residential buildings, DuCharme Place promises 185 new apartments right next to downtown. Construction is expected to begin this fall, with a grand opening planned for late 2015.

[Lore]

If you notice the residential projects are geared towards the high end demographic. Something like 35% of Detroit's current residence are in the poverty level and 23% are unemployed. Which doesn't count the fact that a majority are seniors.

Gentrification is not going to bring Detroit back to where it was. You have whole city blocks around the downtown center that are wastelands of abandoned and rotting middle class homes.

[copious.abundance]

If you notice the residential projects are geared towards the high end demographic...Gentrification is not going to bring Detroit back to where it was.

Detroit used to be one of the, if not the, wealthiest big cities in the US. Back 50-80 years ago it was a highly gentrified and middle-class city.

This is from the March, 1929 National Geographic, in an article about Michigan. Notice the section caption, "A CITY WITHOUT SLUMS"



If you go through Google street view and explore all the residential streets of the city you can tell it used to be that way - huge swaths of middle-class bungalows and, particularly in the older sections, some really nice upper-end houses (or, what obviously used to be upper-end housing). So yes, gentrification can help it bring it back to where it was, because it was a gentrified city at one point.

You have whole city blocks around the downtown center that are wastelands of abandoned and rotting middle class homes.

So your solution is to leave them as wastelands of abandoned and rotting middle class homes? What kind of nonsense is that?

The thing Detroit NEEDS most of all right now is wealthy and middle class people, because right now they're sorely lacking in them. Wealthy people will bring in additional tax revenue, which will give the city more funds to help the poor. Along with that they need all the gentrification and fancy real estate developments they can get, because that, too, will create additional tax revenue, create jobs, etc., etc. Not developing the city is only going to make things worse; developing the city is the only thing that will make it better.

[Lore]

As I said what Detroit needs is good paying middle class jobs, not the charade of trying to appeal to a few squatters who will be pleased with isolating themselves in some ivory towers. It's totally putting the cart before the horse.

[copious.abundance]

Why is renovating some old apartments and building some new ones, "isolating themselves in some ivory towers?" You do realize the old ones used to be regular apartments and offices back in the day, and that the new ones are pretty much standard urban apartments, don't you? No it appears you do not.

Furthermore, you don't seem to have even glanced at some of the other things I've posted. It's not just apartments being built/renovated, a lot of people are buying old houses and fixing them up.

As for the jobs, one of the reasons why you're suddenly seeing this spree of development in Detroit is because of the new jobs being created.

[copious.abundance]

Metro Detroit among top ten areas of U.S for job growth, study says

July 02, 2014 - Since the recession some U.S metros have become more competitive in attracting their shares of the overall jobs added to the labor force, and Metro Detroit is among the top ten metros in the country on this front.

So says an analysis by CareerBuilder and Economic Modeling Specialists Intl., which used “shift share” analysis, or separating regional jobs trends from national ones, to reach the results.

The study from CareerBuilder and EMSI looked at the 50 most populous U.S. metros and their total job growth from 2010 to 2013, when overall U.S. job growth was at 4 percent.

Each metro area’s job growth was then compared to national job growth trends, the difference being each metro’s job competitiveness of lack thereof.

The CareerBuilder/EMSI study found that Metro Detroit had a total employment of about 1.9 million jobs in 2013, after adding 125,330 jobs from 2010 to 2013. To keep pace with the national average, it would have had to have added 89,148 jobs.

The sectors driving Metro Detroit’s competitiveness? Motor vehicle production, engineering services and temporary help work. Houston, Texas, led the top 50 metros for job competitiveness.

[...]

[Lore]

You're reporting on anecdotal feel good headlines. I gave you the statistics. The average income per worker in Detroit Is around $26K, which is nearly half the US average. Until you lift those workers wages you'll never see the city rebound. This is not going to come by some form of trickle down economics. We already know that doesn't work.

In order to rebuild you need a catalyst for new business to locate there. You need to upgrade the infrastructure improve the schools and universities. Businesses come to an area where they have an educated, skilled and a competitive workforce. Not because some yuppies are living in condos. They come after.

The whole thing would require several major corporations to move into town. I'm not sure the US could muster up the ability to do that at this point. Certainly not again in the manufacturing area.

[copious.abundance]

Right, I know all those statistics are bad. But guess what? They're just starting to get better. It's very early in the process, but the process, nonetheless, has begun.

As for the businesses and jobs, I just addressed that in my latest article above. Yes, a lot of those jobs are in the suburbs, but to some extent that's no big deal since it's easy to get from the city to the suburbs. Most of metro Detroit's jobs are in the suburbs these days, anyway. As more middle-class and wealthy people move into the city itself, you'll get more businesses following, which will bring jobs to many of the poor people, and so on and so forth, in the oft-repeated virtuous cycle.

[copious.abundance]

Here, this is in the city of Detroit.

GM to add 1,400 Michigan jobs with new Chevrolet Volt on the way

April 5, 2014

General Motors is expected to announce Tuesday that it is investing $450 million and adding 1,400 jobs to two Michigan operations — including a facility located partially in Detroit, where the automaker plans to build a redesigned Chevrolet Volt.

The company’s plans include a second shift at its Detroit-Hamtramck plant, where the automaker currently makes the Chevrolet Malibu, Chevy Impala, Cadillac ELR, Chevy Volt and foreign versions of these cars.

GM also plans to invest in its smaller Brownstown Township manufacturing plant, where the company currently produces batteries for the Volt.

Gerald Johnson, GM’s vice president of North America manufacturing, is expected to reveal details of the investments at an Automotive Press Association luncheon Tuesday in Detroit. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder have been invited to attend.

[...]

GM employs 1,629 workers at the 3.6 million-square-foot Detroit-Hamtramck plant, including 1,436 represented by UAW Local 22. The automaker employs 100 workers represented by UAW Local 174 at the 406,000-square-foot Brownstown facility.

[...]

[copious.abundance]

In Pontiac, just to the north (also a poor city, I might add). Some of those closed GM facilities are already starting to see new uses.

Michigan-based supplier to invest up to $50M in Pontiac facility

MAY 27, 2014- A Michigan-based automotive supplier plans to invest up to $50 million in a new automotive components assembly facility in Pontiac, creating 450 new jobs at the site of a former General Motors plant.

Challenge Manufacturing Co., based in Walker, plans to build a 400,000-square-foot facility in Pontiac at 2100 S. Opdyke. The site, formerly the General Motors Pontiac East Assembly Plant, closed in 2009.

Pontiac has faced economic and employment blows over the past several years, as GM and others have closed factories, affecting thousands of people.

[...]

Warren is also just north of the city ...

GM to add 1,750 jobs, invest $800 million in Michigan

July 22, 2014 - General Motors is planning to add as many as 1,750 jobs at its technical center in Warren and invest an additional $800 million in Michigan in the coming years, according to Michael Finney, CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

GM declined to say when the jobs would be filled.

The Michigan Strategic Fund, an arm of the development corporation, revised a tax credit for GM today and incentives for two Chinese manufacturers that are investing in the state — H.A. Automotive Systems and YanFeng Automotive.

GM has added or retained 33,000 jobs under an original tax agreement reached with the state in 2009.

“GM, as well as Ford and Chrysler, have over the last few years continued to invest very heavily in Michigan,” Finney said. The revised tax credit enables GM to add jobs, most likely at its technical center in Warren.

[...]

[copious.abundance]

In the service sector ... Highland Park is surrounded by the city of Detroit, so it's essentially "in" the city itself.

Highland Park company Dialog Direct to hire 300 new employees

July 17, 2014 - Dialog Direct, a fast-growing marketing and call-center company, plans to hire 300 new employees at its Highland Park headquarters.

About 250 of the new jobs are for licensed and non-licensed health insurance sales and service representatives who are paid from $21,000 to $33,000 a year. The company said it also will be hiring managers who earn $50,000 or more.

“We’re looking for people who are friendly, energetic and engaging over the phone to handle inbound customer service calls,” said Dialog Direct Chief Operations Officer Rob Hyman. “We’ll provide comprehensive subject matter content and coach the team on ways to deliver the ideal customer experience with every call.

[...]

Scattered around the metro area ...

AT&T Hiring Nearly 100 In Michigan

July 2, 2014 - AT&T is looking for job candidates to fill newly created positions, and current openings, throughout Michigan.

The company will be filling 95 jobs, including 59 new jobs, in areas including call center staffing, retail opportunities and technicians.

“AT&T continues to expand its customer base in Michigan and invest in our network to ensure we are providing the high level of service customers have come to expect,” said Jim Murray, president of AT&T Michigan in a release.

Positions are available in 32 communities in the state, with multiple opportunities in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties, the company stated.

In suburban Troy, north of the city ...

S&P Data bringing 420 jobs to metro Detroit

Jul 17 2014 - S&P Data LLC is expanding to Troy with support from the Michigan Strategic Fund bringing in nearly $4.4 million and adding up to 420 new jobs.

“S&P Data’s investment means Michigan residents will find good job opportunities that could well have gone to other states,” said Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. “Michigan is America’s comeback state and this expansion is another demonstration that we have changed Michigan in ways that now means more and better jobs and greater prosperity.”

S&P Data Michigan, LLC, is a new subsidiary of S&P Data LLC – which has been in operation since 2006 in Ontario, Cleveland and San Diego – providing contact center solutions to Fortune 500 companies in the United States and Canada.

The parent company plans to expand in Michigan to service newly acquired contracts from two major mobile companies. With its new Troy location, there will be nearly $4.4 million invested and a total of 420 new jobs created. As a result, the company has been awarded a $1 million Michigan Business Development Program performance-based grant.

[...]

And back to the auto industry ... a good overview article. Yes, there is still a substantial auto industry in and around Detroit, and in Michigan in general, contrary to popular belief.

Auto suppliers investing billions in Michigan

July 12, 2014 - Michigan's largest auto suppliers, known as Tier-1 suppliers, have announced investments of just under $5 billion and added more than 28,000 jobs from 2009-2013, according to data from the Center for Automotive Research and Michigan Economic Development Corp.'s Automotive Industry Office.

"The automotive industry is driving the comeback in the State of Michigan," said Nigel Francis, Michigan's senior automotive adviser, during a phone interview on Wednesday.

The substantial investments come even as the number of suppliers has dropped from 886 to 790 in the Great Lakes State, largely due to bigger suppliers consolidating or purchasing smaller companies during the economic downturn five years ago.

The auto suppliers' investments are in addition to the automakers' investments of roughly $14 billion in Michigan during the same four-year time period. Francis said the investments are expected to continue, as suppliers work to keep up with demand and the U.S. automotive industry drives on strong.

[...]

[copious.abundance]

This is from a couple years ago, but nonetheless, more info about new and recent auto industry hiring in and around Detroit.

Report: Chrysler Will Add 1,250 Jobs At Detroit Plants

11/15/12 - Chrysler plans to add up to 1,250 jobs at three Detroit-area factories as it prepares for a rise in pickup sales.

The company said Thursday that it will invest $238 million at engine plants in Detroit and suburban Trenton, Mich., and add a third shift at a pickup truck factory in nearby Warren, Mich.

The hiring is another step in Chrysler's comeback from its 2009 government-funded bankruptcy. The company, majority-owned by Italian carmaker Fiat SpA, now has about 62,200 employees worldwide, including more than 41,000 in the U.S. It is profitable again and has hired 12,000 workers since leaving bankruptcy protection in 2009.

The new hires would boost Chrysler's total employment to 63,450.

About 1,000 of the jobs will be at the Warren plant. That factory produces a newly redesigned Ram pickup and will add the third shift in March.

Another 250 jobs could come to the Mack 1 Engine Plant in Detroit, which will be retooled to make V-6 engines instead of a large V-8 made there currently. Those jobs will be added "subject to market conditions," Chrysler said in a statement.

The Trenton plant will get additional equipment so it can make a four-cylinder engine along with the V-6 that it currently produces for the Ram and other vehicles.

[...]

[Lore]

Nothing new here. These are rinse and repeat jobs that came back with the improvement in car sales. They come no where near what the old employment numbers were for the auto industry and are just as likely to quickly disappear with the next inevitable downturn.

But you just keep the faith repeating the failures of the past.

[copious.abundance]

You said:

Gentrification is not going to bring Detroit back to where it was.

Where Detroit "used to be" was a manufacturing economy highly dependant on the auto industry. Even the 1928 National Geographic article said so. Now that I'm showing you Detroit is in the process of getting back to "where it was," you decide to contradict yourself and suddenly tell me that's not a good thing.

They come no where near what the old employment numbers were for the auto industry

Right. Notice the 1928 article said that some of these auto plants employed as many as 55,000 or 65,000 each. Nowadays an auto plant that produces the same (or more) number of vehicles as those 1928 plants are lucky if they employ 5,500 or 6,500 each. And most are in the 1,000-3,000 range. So, thanks to automation, the auto industry is never going to employ as many as it used to.

So we have a dilemma here. Since auto employment is never going to be what it was (even if it starts rising again), in order for the city to prosper we need something else. When I tell you that gentrification is going on, you complain about that, too. You don't even seem to have a solution, because no matter what happens you complain about it.

[Lore]

You said:

Gentrification is not going to bring Detroit back to where it was.

Where Detroit "used to be" was a manufacturing economy highly dependant on the auto industry. Even the 1928 National Geographic article said so. Now that I'm showing you Detroit is in the process of getting back to "where it was," you decide to contradict yourself and suddenly tell me that's not a good thing.

They come no where near what the old employment numbers were for the auto industry

Right. Notice the 1928 article said that some of these auto plants employed as many as 55,000 or 65,000 each. Nowadays an auto plant that produces the same (or more) number of vehicles as those 1928 plants are lucky if they employ 5,500 or 6,500 each. And most are in the 1,000-3,000 range. So, thanks to automation, the auto industry is never going to employ as many as it used to.

So we have a dilemma here. Since auto employment is never going to be what it was (even if it starts rising again), in order for the city to prosper we need something else. When I tell you that gentrification is going on, you complain about that, too. You don't even seem to have a solution, because no matter what happens you complain about it.

Wrong, what I'm saying is Detroit, in needing to get back to where it was, needs to change the way it does business. Being a monolithic provider of autos and supportive business no longer works as a viable and stable hope for the future.

As far as a solution, how's this for a novel idea?

Detroit use to be at the forefront of innovation, productivity and worker equity. Those ideals, need not only apply to one industry. They depend on people of vision, like the great industrialist Henry Ford. Who's ideas were key in developing the middle class of the last century. Like Edison and recently Steve Jobs he gave the people what they needed not just what they wanted.

Why not make Detroit the center and capital of the alternative energy future. Everything is there to make it happen. Graph onto the University of Michigan and Michigan State for the expertise. They're right around the corner. Open factories and businesses to develop and construct better wind, solar, nuclear, battery and geothermal alternatives. Turn empty factories into shops for building light and high speed rail. Build better and cheaper ways to transport goods by land, air and sea.

That would be what is needed on the horizon and not an investment in the past.

[copious.abundance]

There are already plenty of other cities well on their way to becoming centers of alternative energies. Not everyone can do that.

I agree Detroit needs to diversify, but I've already shown some examples of that. All those yuppies moving into the new and renovated apartments, for the most part, aren't working in the auto industry, they're working in a variety of other industries and businesses. So the gentrification which you said you dislike is a result of the diversification which you say is needed. You can't dislike one and desire the other, they go hand-in-hand.

[Lore]

There are already plenty of other cities well on their way to becoming centers of alternative energies. Not everyone can do that.

There were a lot of people building autos before Henry Ford made the Model T.

Here you go! Here's a start, although I don't imagine any of the eight employees are living in any of those fancy new condos. Get a nice Detroit Coaster Bike for around $700!

http://www.wzzm13.com/story/news/local/ ... /13067257/

[Gsearch]

(CNSNews.com) - In the Detroit public school district, 96 percent of eighth graders are not proficient in mathematics and 93 percent are not proficient in reading.

That is according to the results of the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress tests published by the Department of Education’s National Center for Educational Statistics.

Only 4 percent of Detroit public school eighth graders are proficient or better in math and only 7 percent in reading. This is despite the fact that in the 2011-2012 school year—the latest for which the Department of Education has reported the financial data—the Detroit public schools had “total expenditures” of $18,361 per student and “current expenditures” of $13,330 per student.

According to data published by the Detroit Public Schools, the school district’s operating expenses in the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2014 amounted to approximately $14,743 per student.


Nationwide, only 33 percent of public-school eighth graders scored proficient or better in reading in 2015 and only 32 percent scored proficient or better in mathematics.



http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/ter ... proficient