Dan Gilbert and the state of Detroit revitalization | phases

Image from "Detroit Is Dan Gilbert Territory," Vox.

I have been critical of past journalism that makes Dan Gilbert out to be the original savior of Detroit.  It's not that he's not key, it's just you can argue he's the fourth phase of post 1980s revitalization ("What Gilbert has built got kick-start from Karmanos and Compuware," Crain's Detroit Business).  

(He also owns the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team and does some investment in that city.)

Note that I am doing a disservice to the post-riot efforts to revive Detroit beginning with the founding of the New Detroit business development group, the construction of the Renaissance Center by Ford Motor Company in the 1970s ("Detroit's RenCen history dates to 1977: Key facts about GM's downtown HQ," Detroit Free Press), the revitalization of the Greektown neighborhood as a continued attraction despite white flight in the 1980s ("Trappers Alley," Detroit Historical Society), although the problem with Greektown is once you went a few times, you didn't need to go again--later it was incorporated into the MotorCity Casino, etc.

Still, the city continued to leak population and business--this accelerated when the African American Coleman Young was elected as mayor in 1974, plus as capital replaced workers, employment dropped.

  In 1971, Motown Records left the city for Hollywood but failed in its ambitions to become a more wide ranging media conglomerate ("Motown Goes Hollywood: The Liberation of Detroit," Furious).

Henry Ford II and Architect John Portman with Model of Detroit Renaissance Center, May 1972

Photo: Henry Ford Museum.

Trappers Alley, 1989 and today.

In the early 1980s Chuck Forbes--he bought and restored more than 40 building in Downtown Detroit--tried to renovate the Fox Theater ("Preservationist who helped save Detroit's theater district dies at 92," Detroit Free Press).  

Detroit's Fox Theatre in its heyday.

He couldn't pull it off and he was forced to sell to Mike Illitch--the founder of tje Little Ceasars, the national pizza chain--in 1987.  Illitch owned the Detroit Red Wings hockey team and related properties, and was beginning to invest in other properties in the Greater Downtown.  

The theater propelled the Illitches to do more investment, eventually buying the Detroit Tigers in 1992,  and surprise, Marilyn Illitch, the wife "winning" the city's license for a casino in 1999--it was in her name because Major League Baseball doesn't allow team owners to be involved in gambling businesses.  

More recently, the company's attempt to develop a sports and entertainment district around the arena for the Red Wings and the Pistons basketball team has gone through fits and starts ("Another broken promise in the Ilitches' District Detroit," "For the public, it's trust but no verify for District Detroit, Gilbert projects," Detroit Free Press) .  And the family has been criticized for owning buildings and not rehabilitating them.

In 2003, Peter Karmanos moved his Compuware IT firm to Detroit ("Motown to become Geektown with new Compuware building," Michigan Business Trades,"Compuware to be sold to Houston IT company" Detroit News).  From the article:

Karmanos founded Compuware in 1973. It went public in 1992 and moved to Detroit from Farmington Hills in 2003 — essentially beginning a corporate repatriation to the city that has continued to accelerate with Quicken Loans Inc. and its affiliated companies.

(Note that one of the original big iron computing companies, Burroughs, was based in Detroit, until it merged with Philadelphia's Sperry in 1986 to form Unisys, which today is more of an IT services firm rather than a manufacturer.)

Like Compuware's move from Farmington Hills, in 2010 Dan Gilbert moved his Quicken Loans from the Detroit suburbs to the city (" The Quicken Loans founder saw opportunity in a perfect storm," Financial Times).

The new Hudson's office building is a startling modern glass facade office building in the midst of mostly older historic buildings.

And from that he has made a huge commitment to the city, buying existing buildings and rehabilitating them, building the new Hudson's office building on the site of the old department store, and acquiring some of the Renaissance Center property ("Detroit needs a transformational projects action plan for the Renaissance Center, the adjoining waterfront and business district, and transit," blog entry).

His commitment, frankly, has been incredible in terms of property development, recruiting businesses to the city, helping to fund start up businesses, and more.

But I'd consider him the third or fourth phase of modern revitalization in Downtown Detroit.

The Economist reports, "A billionaire has rebuilt downtown Detroit," casts sine shade that this commitment may change  It's more speculative and opines that the Detroit suburbs (in particular Oakland County, "The rise of Oakland County is built upon Detroit's fall," 2014, "Revisiting stories: the death of L. Brooks Patterson, County Executive, Oakland County, Michigan," 2019)) are still strong.  From the article:

In 2007 Mr Gilbert made the then remarkable decision to move Quicken Loans’ suburban headquarters downtown. Mr Gilbert says that the initial thinking was humdrum—the firm’s lease was expiring, the business was growing, and he didn’t want to build a new greenfield campus. But he also had a bigger idea in mind. “We needed to keep young people here [in Michigan] and make sure they weren’t going to places like Chicago,” he says. “We knew that young people did not want to work in suburbs.”

In the 18 years since, Mr Gilbert has acquired some 130 properties in Detroit (the exact number he is not sure of). Many were derelict when he bought them. Initially, as the financial crisis and then, in 2013, the city’s bankruptcy crushed Detroit, he was buying buildings defensively. “It just takes one bad landlord to screw up the whole block, right?” he says. By 2015 Mr Gilbert not only owned property. His firm employed teams of security guards and operated a system of 500 CCTV cameras.

I'm surprised the article didn't reference his recent divorce, which reduced the amount of investment capital he has at his disposal ("Rocket Mortgage Founder Dan Gilbert’s Soon-To-Be Ex-Wife Is Now A Billionaire," Forbes).

The real issue has Detroit revitalization hit the critical mass point where further improvement is somewhat replicating?  (Like DC in 2000, when residential preferences changed to again favor urban living.)

I'd say The Economist is probably right.  That it hasn't even though there is tremendous positive activity in so many sectors of the city and its economy ("10,000th side lot sold is one sign of hope in Detroit's neighborhoods," Detroit Free Press).  It's moved on from bankruptcy definitely ("Detroit bankruptcy documentary debuts on streaming; filmmaker looks back on 11th anniversary of bankruptcy filing," Kresge Foundation).

I have purchased, but not yet received the book DIY Detroit: Making Do Without City Services (review) about the DIY culture that developed during the many year decline in services provided by the city ("Stepping in for the State," Reason Magazine).

Michigan Central campus in the foreground.

Detroit outside of its core has so much empty land, even though there is a fair amount of neighborhood improvement and scads of innovative initiatives, like

•  the ongoing reuse initiative of the former Marygrove College campus ("Interesting community initiative in Detroit: Marygrove Conservancy," 2022)
• the continued expansion of the Henry Ford Hospital system
• Wayne State University too, which is a major research-oriented urban university, along with nearby design school Center for Creative Studies, they've helped to revitalize the Cass Corridor community ("Detroit’s Cass Corridor was never meant to become "Midtown" — so why do we call it that?," WWJ-AM, "The revival of Detroit's Cass Corridor drives out criminals," Detroit News)
• the University of Michigan's continued development of a campus in the city ("“Our commitment to Detroit is increasing”: U-M constructs new downtown Detroit center," Concentrate)
• Ford Motor Company's redevelopment of the once abandoned Michigan Central train station into an innovation campus ("Mobility Innovation District," "Ford Reveals Plans for Inclusive, Vibrant, Walkable Mobility Innovation District Around Michigan Central Station"press release, "Renaissance Rising: Michigan Central Station's Triumphant Return," Michigan Rising, "New Michigan Central transit hub plan includes Amtrak service -- here’s what to know," NBC4, "Michigan Central Station to get one of Hilton's newest luxury hotels in 2027," "Michigan Central Station looked too far gone to redevelop. Here’s what it took.," Crain's Detroit Business)

            Michigan Central train ticket booth, when the building was vacant and abandoned.

• ongoing business development
• is the major crossing for physical goods trade between the US and Canada
• has two premier urban high schools, Cass Tech and Renaissance, despite substandard outcomes from the school system overall
• tons of park development on the waterfront, the development of a trails network in the city, and the revitalization of Belle Isle, the park island in the Detroit River, which was leased to the state so that there is money for its revitalization ("‘Actions speak louder than words’: Detroiters weigh in on Belle Isle’s future following $144M investment," Bridge Detroit) and renovation of recreation centers ("Detroit is investing $45 million to renovate aging recreational centers and build new ones," Architect's Newspaper, "Long-abandoned Cooley High School on Detroit’s Northwest Side to be Redeveloped," D Business).  Revitalization of Campus Martius Park is considered national best practice ("Campus Martius: The Catalyst for the Transformation of Downtown Detroit," Social Life Project)
• use of professional athlete income taxes in creative ways ("Detroit to use NBA players' income taxes for neighborhood fund after Pistons move," MLive) and the community investment program by the Detroit Pistons basketball team ("How the Pistons honored their commitment to Detroit's North End," Detroit Free Press)
• work is ongoing on building a freeway cap over I-75 in Downtown ("Covering I-75 aligns with plans to connect downtown, District Detroit," BridgeDetroit)
• the Kresge Foundation, built from the ashes of Kresge 5&10 stores, and Kmarts, and is relocating to the Marygrove campus, is super wealthy and continues to invest in the city ("Kresge Foundation announces $180 million for Detroit neighborhoods," Philanthropy News Digest, "Kresge Innovative Projects: Detroit grants engage neighborhoods across city"), same with the Knight Foundation ("Knight Foundation Announces Nearly $20 Million in New Investments to Fuel Detroit’s Economic Growth and Cultural Vitality"), ex owners of the Free Press, and others--Kresge and Knight were part of the group of foundations which re-funded Detroit during its bankruptcy in return for preservation of the Detroit Institute of Arts ("Charities commit $330m to help save Detroit's art from being sold in bailout," Guardian)
• scads of civil society initiatives, etc.

Aerial view rendering of the future University of Michigan Center for Innovation.

Belle Isle.

I-75 is viewed looking west near the corner with Clifford Street in downtown Detroit. Credit: BridgeDetroit photo by Malachi Barrett

The city is still 1.2 million residents short of its peak.  The State Legislature leans Republican and doesn't like cities.  The Trump Administration has an anti-city agenda.  

Transit in the city and region is weak despite many tries to change the trajectory and build a multi-county transit service ("At Last, A Regional Transit Plan for Metro Detroit," Groundworks, 2016).  Bus mostly, but improvements in passenger rail service too.  Meanwhile the state continues to widen freeways, which dis-serve the city proper, leapfrogging development to the suburbs.

A streetcar on Monroe Street, with buses shown on the right.

Detroit had an extensive streetcar system ("Before the QLine: Detroit's streetcar history," Detroit News, Detroit Transit History) although the auto industry wasn't too happy about it.  As suburban systems faced closure, the City bought the systems and consolidated them into the "Detroit Streets and Railways" DSR streetcars.  

The system was replaced with buses in 1956 ("A few thoughts on Detroit’s 60 years without streetcars," Detroit Metro Times).  From the article:

But there’s something deeper and inextricably connected to American culture in the 20th century: the idea that because a technology is new, it must naturally supersede all the other technologies that came before it. Once the futuristic automobile appeared on city streets, many “urban planners” declared that streetcars were “old fashioned” and “obsolete.” One-time head of the Detroit Rapid Transit Commission Sidney D. Waldon called the private automobile “the magic carpet of transportation for all mankind.” (Well, except for children, the blind, the elderly, the poor, etc.)

Streetcars, buses, pedestrians, and a bicyclist in Downtown Detroit.

Into my high school years, there was still an extant trolley station on Woodward Avenue.

Plus, even though the auto industry doesn't have a lot of manufacturing based in Detroit proper anymore--note that in 1959 there were 15 auto assembly plants in the city alone--each probably with up to 30,000 employees, now there are just a couple plants, each with just a few thousand employees--it's been difficult for the legacy industry to shift to electric vehicle production.

The quantum leap associated with the adoption of new car technology has allowed electric vehicle development to shift the auto industry center of gravity out of Michigan--California, Texas ("Next Phase of Clustering of Business away from the Midwest," 2022), and Georgia, among others.

The fifth phase: neighborhood rebuilding?  In addition to ongoing downtown redevelopment, I do think somehow, to leverage the energy of Dan Gilbert's (and the Illitches) investment downtown that an equivalently strong initiative needs to rebuild neighborhoods in concentric rings outward from the core.

There are nonprofits doing this and they appear to be quite impressive:

• Core City: "Detroit's Core City project revitalizes abandoned Detroit buildings, land," Detroit Free Press
• Detroit Blight Busters: "Motor City Blight Busters continue decades-long mission to uplift Detroit with ambitious expansion plans," Detroit Metro Times, "America's Progressive Developers: Detroit Blight Busters," Forbes, "A wave of new businesses lead a grassroots revival in Detroit’s Grandmont Rosedale," "Detroit nonprofit revives Pages Bookshop with new youth-led vision," Crain's Detroit Business
• Dream of Detroit: "Can This Muslim Community Create a Model for Rebuilding Detroit?," The Nation, 
• LifeBuilders: "Resilient Neighborhoods: Regent Park’s comeback has been building one home at a time," Model D
• Life Remodeled: "Life Remodeled founder and CEO to pivot focus to new group," Crain's, "'Cody High' doc looks at Detroit revitalization effort," DFP

Why not historic architecture compatible rowhouses instead.  A set of rowhouses built in 2019 in Bentonville, Arkansas' Downtown are worth $1.4 million or more.

New housing is being constructed too, even if I think it is butt ugly ("Detroit Historic District Commission shoots down townhome development for second time," Crain's).

(I'm pretty sure I helped my cousin deliver the old Redford Record community newspaper when I was 9 or 10.--that being the no longer published paper in the Detroit Blight Busters service area.  Technically, Redford is a township next to Detroit, and part of Detroit there is considered to be "Redford."  And the Grandmont Rosedale Community Development corporation operates in the Rosedale Park neighborhood that I once lived in.  I delivered the Detroit Free Press, but only once I lived in the suburbs.  I was gonna get a route in Detroit, but then my chaotic life changed even more.)

It's hard for us who grew up in Detroit in better days--it was in decline, we just didn't know--to compare today's city to what we remember.  We have to give that up--although when I was a kid in Rosedale Park my Congresswoman lived a block down the street, and the son of a future Detroit mayor was in my Cub Scout troop.

Conclusion.  People in the region still have their race bias, Detroit being a majority black city, and it's hard to imagine people wanting to live in the core the way they do in cities like DC, NYC, Philadelphia, and Boston.

But the work has to continue ("A new fund is laser-focused on 11 key Detroit neighborhoods," Crain's Detroit Business).

The Tigers and Lions have stadiums next to each in Downtown.  (One of the parking lots in the foreground is built on where my father had his dentist office.)

Sadly, the Detroit Tigers didn't make the American League Championship Series this year.  Although the Detroit Lions football team appear to have righted their decades of futility ("Roar Restored: Lions' Resurgence Carries Major Implications," Front Office Sports, "Former Lions owner Martha Firestone Ford turns 100 years old Tuesday," Detroit News).

And Dan Gilbert is pretty damn amazing.  Even though after investing one billion dollars or more, Detroit has a ways to go.

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Also see the past blog entries:

-- "Uneven development: cities and states | Oakland California and the Silicon Valley," 2025
-- "Pontiac Michigan: a lagging African American city in one of the nation's wealthiest counties," 2022
-- "The real lesson from Flint, Michigan is about municipal finance," 2016

-- "Post Riot Detroit," Detroit's Great Rebellion
-- "50th anniversary coverage of the Detroit riots," Detroit Free Press