  Detroitman Member Username: Detroitman Post Number: 1027 Registered: 06-2004 |
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/a pps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2006 1218/SUB/612150343/0/toc&Profi le=0 TechTown unveils $1.3B plan By Tom Henderson 6:00 am, December 18, 2006 Advertisement CRAIN'S DETROIT BUSINESS TechTown, in partnership with Wayne State University, Henry Ford Health System and General Motors Corp., is shopping a master plan for what the partners hope will be a $1.3 billion, 43-acre, 12-square-block multiuse renewal project south of the New Center in Detroit. The partners, all major land-owners in the district, want to develop the project in four phases over 10 years. It would include retail and office space, faculty and student housing, a train station and a multiplex theater. “TechTown isn't just a technology park,” said Howard Bell, TechTown's executive director. “TechTown was planned as a real estate development, too.” Bell said he hopes a combination of private and public funds and tax credits will fuel the plan. As a state-designated SmartZone, the area is also eligible for tax breaks. Groundbreaking for the first phase could come in January 2008. That phase likely would include a new street, dubbed Ford Parkway, that planners hope will be lined with high-end townhouses and apartments. The parkway would run parallel to Fourth Street, two blocks east of the Lodge Freeway. The Hudson-Webber Foundation's board of trustees voted Friday to approve a grant of $90,000 to fund preliminary plans, which were completed in September by graduate students at the University of Michigan's A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. “What's exciting about this is it is a holistic approach to developing the neighborhood. It certainly will be a boost for Midtown,” said Hudson-Webber President Dave Egner said. Hudson-Webber has long been a supporter of TechTown. In 1995, it funded a $150,000 feasibility study for the tech park and incubator. “But for various reasons the folks at the university didn't feel the time was right, so it sat on a shelf,” Egner said. “Fast forward to 1997 and Irvin Reid's arrival. He took it off the shelf.” TechTown is both a legal entity — a 501(c)3 nonprofit that owns TechOne, a tech-park incubator — and the name WSU, GM and Henry Ford Health System selected for the project area. Irvin Reid, president of Wayne State University, chairs the board of the TechTown nonprofit. WSU has 12 seats on TechTown's board of directors, GM has two seats and Henry Ford one seat. Since the initial study grant, Hudson-Webber has contributed two more grants of $300,000 each to help transform and attract technology company tenants to space in redeveloped buildings. “This fills in the hole in the doughnut, but we can't do it alone” Reid said. “I don't want to oversimplify the solidity of our plans just yet. The plans we have were a good exercise, a good think piece. But we have to get a lot of people on board. The mayor hasn't seen it, yet. And the City Council needs to see it. We have to do this in collaboration with the New Center, with the Cultural Center, with Henry Ford Health System. We want to be a good neighbor.” The project is bounded by I-94 to the south, the Lodge to the west, the Grand Trunk rail line to the north and Woodward Avenue to the east. With 26 acres under its control, Henry Ford is the largest land owner in the district. GM still owns a 50,000-square-foot building in the area and three parcels of land totaling 3 to 4 acres that are used for surface parking, said Matt Cullen, a vice chairman of the TechTown board and GM's general manager of economic development and enterprise services. “From the beginning, the vision GM, Henry Ford and Wayne State had was to create a real campus environment that had the important elements of community development. ... We're glad to have had a catalytic role,” Cullen said. “The stakeholders are working well together and the various pieces are coming together. There's TechTown. NextEnergy (Center) moved in. Frank Jonna's lofts are underway. We're whacking away at it. It wasn't that long ago that that area was abandoned buildings and busted-up parking lots.” The Southfield-based Jonna Cos. are constructing 100 lofts apartments in two buildings near Tech One, the Graphic Arts Building at Burroughs and Woodward and the Caille Building at Second and Amsterdam. “One of the most important aspects is it begins to connect vibrant parts of Midtown and the New Center. It will give you a contiguous sense of vibrancy,” said Bob Riney, Henry Ford Health System's COO and a vice chairman of the New Center Council Development Corp. “With residential and retail, this makes it a 24-7 strategy as opposed to primarily a 9-to-5 strategy. Among our health care workers, we've seen a dramatic increase in workers interested in finding a place to live in the area, and that's another good sign.” The only property the TechTown nonprofit incubator actually owns is the five-story Tech One building, a former Burroughs Corp. building that was donated by GM. The nonprofit's thrust, until now, has been to find tenants for that 140,000-square-foot property. So far, Tech One has 34 tenants and has nearly filled three of its five floors. TechTown is scheduled to redevelop two more existing sites. Tech Two, 160,000 square feet, is the former Criminal Justice Building, designed by Albert Kahn. Tech Three will be on the site of the American Beauty Iron Building, which Bell had hoped to renovate but now says likely will have to be demolished because of its disrepair. Bell invited the UM team to help create the master plan overseen by Roy Strickland, director of the master's program in urban design at the College of Architecture and Urban Planning. “When I left the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (in 2001) to come to UM, it was because I was interested in Detroit. So Howard's invitation was very fulfilling to me. You can't get a better location for development in the country than this one,” Strickland said. “It has all four agents any good urban development needs — a medical center, education, culture and technology. Developments with those components revitalized Boston and Philadelphia after they'd lost thousands of people.” Strickland said that unlike many proposed urban developments, this one has only three major property-owners, Henry Ford Health System, GM and Wayne State, and all are supporters. He said another distinguishing feature is that the plans don't require existing businesses to move. “Our plans went around existing buildings and businesses. No one currently living there or working there will have to move.” Of the preliminary renderings, Egner said: “Isn't it wonderful that the University of Michigan is working with Wayne State on this project? It makes a statement about how committed both universities are to this region.” Tom Henderson: (313) 446-0337, thenderson@crain.com | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 4911 Registered: 10-2003 |
This sounds incredibly ambitious, which is something many developers have lacked (ambitious) in the city for quite some time. I like the sound of it. The backing of this project seems to be strong, and this sounds like one of those plans that could very well come to fruition. Heck, if it only gets half completed it will be something. | ||
Detroitman Member Username: Detroitman Post Number: 1028 Registered: 06-2004 |
I know what you mean Lmich, its plans like this that will help move Detroit forward in the 21st Century. Here are the specs of the plan. TechTown plan specs 6:00 am, December 18, 2006 Stakeholders in the TechTown project envision development that would include: - 616,500 square feet of office space. - 115,300 square feet of retail. - 951,100 square feet of laboratory space, including 140,000 square feet in the current Tech One tech-incubator building. - Residential housing totaling 3,273 units, including 1,242 for market-rate housing and a mix of campus units: 857 dormitory rooms, 805 graduate student units and 169 units for faculty. - A large passenger train station just west of Woodward to replace the cramped Amtrak station currently on West Baltimore, south of Grand Boulevard. The station could serve Amtrak as well as other uses, such as high-speed rail. - A 72,500-square-foot conference center next to the train station. - A 1,250-seat multiplex theater at Woodward and I-94. - A 71,000 square foot student union at Cass Avenue and York Street. - A 794-room hotel and condominiums at Woodward and Amsterdam Street. http://www.crainsdetroit.com/a pps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2006 1218/SUB/612150344/-1/toc | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 4912 Registered: 10-2003 |
Really, this is the "big city" redevelopments you see going on in the likes of a big thinking cities such as New York, Boston, and so on. If Detroit can pull this off, and it will be able to pull off anything. This plan is far more meaningful than any amount of stadia, bars, or restaurants. They better market and spin the hell out of this, though, because it's definitely a risk with the potential to be just as big a flop as a success. What I find very impressive is that the backers are local, neighborhood institutions, and ones that understand how the city works as opposed to national outsiders. They know what buttons they'll have to push to not only rev the engines of the MotorCity, but put it in drive. (Message edited by lmichigan on December 18, 2006) | ||
Tetsua Member Username: Tetsua Post Number: 986 Registered: 01-2004 |
This is unheard of. I used to like this project, now I love it. The Techtown project has always been the most exciting one to me in terms of spuring future development. Also the article mentions Tech 3 off Woodward, so it seems like the project is growing faster than they originally though. | ||
Gumby Member Username: Gumby Post Number: 1507 Registered: 11-2003 |
This saddens me a bit but overall I really like their plans. Perhaps they will try to save the Woodward facade of the building. | ||
1953 Member Username: 1953 Post Number: 1210 Registered: 12-2004 |
NO WAY! I love that building! I'll repair it! | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 235 Registered: 04-2006 |
This is the type of thinking that will once again make Detroit attractive nationally and internationally. I can't wait to see how this develops. | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 5304 Registered: 02-2004 |
Their proposal better work. Detroit and the rest of Michigan's economy is a negative GDP growth as is. Action is better than talk. | ||
Cman710 Member Username: Cman710 Post Number: 100 Registered: 07-2006 |
This seems like a great plan, if the developers can pull it off. Attracting high technology businesses and workers will be necessary to reforging the city's economy. The manufacturing sector will remain important, but clearly that is not a growth industry. High technology will encourage people to come to the city for work, especially immigrants with technical training and education. Those people could really help revitalize parts of the city. | ||
Jasoncw Member Username: Jasoncw Post Number: 308 Registered: 07-2005 |
I think a theater would make the Wayne State students happy. The new train station seems good too. I like the project a lot.  | ||
Fnemecek Member Username: Fnemecek Post Number: 2228 Registered: 12-2004 |
I wonder if the folks at the London Luggage Shop know about this. Seeing as how they own a retail store that is currently sandwiched between 2 WSU buildings at that location. | ||
Rustic Member Username: Rustic Post Number: 3052 Registered: 10-2003 |
One thing you have to watch out for with these type of developments is overambitious developing to the point where you end up EITHER pricing out the very people and companies you want to attract in the first place (via that tech incubator) OR having to subsidize them to the point where their rents aren't even remotely market viable (which is bad for many different reasons). This, of course, is assuming the point of a Techtown is to attract, encourage and foster a high density tech development locale in the region leveraging the nearby institutions (WSU, New center, DMC, HFH, New Center) and regional assets (the Auto tech centers, UoM, Tank Plant, auto suppliers, ... and don't forget increasing numbers of engineers with lots of free time, cash in hand, and homes probably not worth selling so they have an incentive to remain in the region). If OTOH the point of "Techtown" is simply to provide $$$ to do realestate development following the fillintheblanktown branding model typical of development within the GB loop then it will simply be competing with all of the other ambitious stuff that is underway. If so IMO, all of them bright ambitious techies (and Detroit and the region does have it's fair share of em) will then simply be working generally as they have been in low density isolation out in cheep and plentiful space in nearby suburbia (lotta nice relatively new property available cheep in Livonia, Madison Heights etc) or even BFE exurbia which may have circumstantial appeal (consider all of them AA-area startups). This is perfectly fine, of course BUT then you lose out on the advantage of leveraging the significant regional assets to potentially build a high density critical mass for rapid tech development growth in the region. | ||
1953 Member Username: 1953 Post Number: 1212 Registered: 12-2004 |
Whats wrong with pricing out the very people or companies you want to attract, so long as you develop a viable, if ritzy, community? | ||
Rustic Member Username: Rustic Post Number: 3053 Registered: 10-2003 |
1953, (1) it would be competing with all of the other ambitious stuff that is underway within the GB loop, so why subsidize it under the guise of Techdevelopment? and (2) it would lose the chance to build a high-density critical mass for rapid tech development growth in the region, let "viable, if ritzy," communities pop up either naturally (downtown b-ham) or via direct subsidy (recent CBD developments). | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3256 Registered: 08-2004 |
Rustic, you're starting to sound like the folks who are worried that downtown will have too many Condo's coming online all at once. What's wrong with making an area ritzy and vibrant? Lord knows Detroit needs all the "vibrant" it can handle. If Detroit development goes slow on everything, then the rest of the world will truly pass us by... | ||
Bussey Member Username: Bussey Post Number: 440 Registered: 12-2003 |
I for one support anything that doesn't involve OSB windows. | ||
Bussey Member Username: Bussey Post Number: 441 Registered: 12-2003 |
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Cman710 Member Username: Cman710 Post Number: 101 Registered: 07-2006 |
Gistok, I tend to agree with your perspective. While over-development would not be good, Detroit in the past has suffered from a lack of any development at all. And ambitious, big projects like this one will bring new jobs with them, even if the area does not currently support the size of the plan. If we want to see development, we have to see a vision and go with it. Otherwise, areas of the city will always remain under-developed and half-vacant. | ||
Bob Member Username: Bob Post Number: 1271 Registered: 11-2003 |
I love the talk about a new rail station. They have been talking about a new rail station since they left MCS, wonder if this will just be another plan that stays that or will be get a new station. But I guess the success of the test line from AA to Detroit will help decide that. | ||
Cman710 Member Username: Cman710 Post Number: 102 Registered: 07-2006 |
A new train station would be great. It would be great to be able to rehabilitate MCS, but since that will not happen anytime soon as a train station, anyway, a modern, smaller station would be great. | ||
Rustic Member Username: Rustic Post Number: 3054 Registered: 10-2003 |
Nonsense Gistok, I'm not talking slow ... I'm talking smart. Talk about passing things by ... if they blow the opportunity that exists right now to foster a high density tech hub on the old "north end" of the cass corridor they won't have the chance again -- the opportunity exists NOW ... without a strong hub in the region it is quite likely that in 5-10 years most of the uptodate tech knowhow won't be in the region anymore. BTW, the AA area has NOT proven to be particularly good as a regional tech hub given the size, $$, and industrial might of the Detroit area. Neither have the various suburban industrial and tech clusters. OTOH that rail corridor begining in the New Center area historically HAD been a tech hotbed (from ~1900 to the 1960's) from electric appliances to automobiles to computers. Now, bookended by two research hospitals, a large VA hospital and a large R1 university it is poised to possibly come back at almost exactly the time when the auto companies are about to slough off much of their talent. And ya wanna get excited about subsidizing a multiplex movie theater under the Techtown© brand and calling it progress? Gimme a break! | ||
Kenp Member Username: Kenp Post Number: 141 Registered: 03-2006 |
This is similar to what I saw in Reston, Va. Its close to Dulles airport and a major technology center. They built a planned urban city center in the middle of a field, complete with hotels, movie theaters and stores. They made it look like a city that had been there for years. | ||
Genesyxx Member Username: Genesyxx Post Number: 638 Registered: 02-2004 |
The initial buzz surrounding this is great! If they can pull this off, this will be a huge step for the city. | ||
Bussey Member Username: Bussey Post Number: 443 Registered: 12-2003 |
bump | ||
Nainrouge Member Username: Nainrouge Post Number: 123 Registered: 05-2006 |
Do they have the money to do this? When reading the article, I just see a couple hundred thousand from Hudson Webber - not the 1.3b they need to complete it. | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 4915 Registered: 10-2003 |
It would obviously be a phased project, so they don't need all of the money up front. | ||
Apbest Member Username: Apbest Post Number: 348 Registered: 03-2006 |
a couple hundred thousand for more indepth planning/design. professional Real estate development roughly goes in these loosely chronological steps (real estate developer article on wikipedia) * Market research * Site selection / feasibility analysis * Due diligence / preliminary pro forma * Property acquisition, perhaps using option to buy * Project design / refined pro forma * Obtain entitlements * Financing / final pro forma * Construction * Lease-up / sales * Operation (in cases where the project is retained as an asset) they'e roughly in the property acquisition/project design stage on the overall plan, and then will probably continue with the process in 4 phases as identified by the first article | ||
Detroit_stylin Member Username: Detroit_stylin Post Number: 3391 Registered: 10-2003 |
Ummmmm..pardon my ignorance, but what is pro forma? | ||
Apbest Member Username: Apbest Post Number: 350 Registered: 03-2006 |
I didn't know that term either when I read that...but from my understanding it's projected financial statements/cash flows persay (Ndavies might have more to say on this) from the wikipedia article entitled "pro forma" a business example: "A pro forma document is provided in advance of an actual transaction. Such a document serves as a model for the actual documents of the transaction. For example, when a new corporation is envisioned, its founders may prepare a business plan containing pro forma financial statements, such as projected cash flows and income statements." | ||
Royce Member Username: Royce Post Number: 1965 Registered: 07-2004 |
Cass Avenue in that area is a very walkable street. It would be nice to see some retail and housing(townhouses) go on it to add to what's going on with Techtown. BTW, would that Ford Parkway Street cut through the current Henry Ford Hospital parking lot, just east of the Lodge? Wouldn't it actually just be a continuation of Fourth Street to the north? | ||
Emu_steve Member Username: Emu_steve Post Number: 43 Registered: 11-2006 |
This, and let's hope it comes to pass, and Google out near Ann Arbor have to be huge for Michigan. Too often kids get excellent college educations in MI and Ohio colleges and then leave for another part of the country. Now SE MI needs to build a new 21st century employment base using neighboring UofM and WSU as catalysts. As others have said, it is nice to have stadia, arena and entertainment downtown, but the bottom line is still downtown Detroit needs a growing employment base to thrive. If folks work downtown they pump a lot of money into the downtown economy. If they work out in the 'burbs, they pump money there. And if folks don't have job anywhere in MI, then... | ||
Royce Member Username: Royce Post Number: 1980 Registered: 07-2004 |
Has anyone been to the Java Exchange? It's a new coffee house in the Tech One Building. | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 2017 Registered: 10-2004 |
The DetroitTeach might catch wind of the two blatant quotes from Wikipedia in this thread and rap your knuckles with her ruler. You've been warned... | ||
Deegee Member Username: Deegee Post Number: 33 Registered: 11-2004 |
I've been to the Java Exchange. Very good coffee and a few other items on the menu. They have poetry readings on Friday evenings. Stop by and help a new business. | ||
Tomoh Member Username: Tomoh Post Number: 274 Registered: 11-2004 |
I've also been to the Java Exchange. Quite nice inside and free wifi. Similar themes as their Wall Street cafe, and smoothies and sandwiches. Its location is easy to pass by if you don't know to look. |
