My Detroit Journal

This is another new building going up amazingly fast on the DMC campus! A block away from that is the Whole Foods! And a block away from that is new residential and retail space on Woodward!

The NEXT Detroit Medical Center building is taking shape on the Medical Center's campus.

Whole foods construction progress!

So I'm at the gym and I notice something strange out the window. The walls are going up at our new Midtown Whole Foods store!

This is part of the Vanguard Health System's expansion at the Detroit Medical Center. It is amazing how fast these buildings are going up! The one in the background went up last year. 

Great news this week. Rode my bike by the old GAR building and they are starting to put new windows in! Can't wait to see it finished!

The Sherbrooke Apartment, located at Second Avenue and Hancock, is now under renovation.  This beautiful historic property was recently purchased by local preservation architect, Lis Knibbe. Midtown Detroit, Inc. and Monahan Construction are investors.  It was formerly owned by Wayne State University.  It will be restored back to it's original 14 residential units.  The building will be ready for occupancy by year-end. This story courtesy of Midtown Detroit Inc.

Bocci ball and table tennis? This is Detroit?! Lunchtime in the summer at Campus Martius Park.

Work is finally moving along on the Woodward Garden Theater which is to open spring 2013! According to the Detroit News it will have 1,300 person capacity for concerts of all kinds with 47 "market rate and high market rate" apartments. This is on the same block as the new Great Lakes Roasting Company that just opened. More good news for my neighborhood!

The old "temporary" Motor City Casino is coming down.

I happened on this today as I was riding my bike to the RenCen. I hadn't heard about it so I did some research (Google it) and found that it is going to be a Buffalo Wild Wings. Not sure how I feel about that except that it does get a beautiful building renovated. As you can see in the background it is right at the beginning of Greektown. 

Well, as expected the new coffee shop on the corner had a "soft" opening. I rode by this morning and the door was open. I ordered a coffee and it was $3.50! Of course it's a custom made coffee but I don't think I'll be going every day.  It is beautiful though!

Here is a photo and map of the construction of the most recent section of the Midtown Loop Greenway. Map courtesy of University Cultural Center Association. As you can see it is running along Cass and then turns onto Canfield in front of the new Auburn.

I know this isn't my normal topic for my blog but actually I was going down to take the photos I posted yesterday of Cobo Arena when this bus incident happened, so I guess it counts. For those that didn't see my posting on Facebook, yesterday I was struck by a Detroit city bus while riding my bike on Woodward. As you can see by the map it happened at I-75 and Woodward just as I was about to cross the bridge over I-75. I was riding my bike up on the sidewalk of the service drive heading to Woodward when I turned onto Woodward and decided to swing out onto the road instead of trying to avoid all the people going to the Tiger game. I've done this a hundred times because I stay tight to the curb. Well the busses in Detroit ride very close to curb also and because their engines are in the back I didn't even hear it coming. It happened so fast I was stunned but it didn't even knock me over and it didn't damage my mirror on my bike. I was so stunned that I...

The latest pics of the Cobo construction.

They are starting to restore the cast iron window frames in the Broderick Tower building. It's going to be beautiful!

Whole Foods is officially underway!

This is a building they have been working on for years at the corner of Woodward and Alexandrine. The upper floor is now the Detroit Office for the Kresge Foundation. The lower floor is currently under construction listed as a "cabaret", whatever that is. They just added the awning and the nice fencing this week.

It's been a while since my last post. I was down by the river a couple of weeks ago and saw that they had started demolition of Cobo Arena. That's right, if you haven't heard they are taking down the old arena where the Pistons used to play and where my college graduation was held to begin the much awaited expansion. So I rode my bike down to take some photos. While I was there this guy fishing pulled out this giant walleye and then I realized he had a stringer full of them. There really are fish in the Detroit River! On my way home I stopped at the Tiger game to look through the fence for a few minutes for free. And they have a brand new giant high def scoreboard! More good news for Detroit!

My Neighborhood! Sue Mosey: Slow and steady approach revitalizes Midtown | Crain's Detroit Business   NATHAN SKID/CRAIN'S DETROIT BUSINESS