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Vandykenjefferson
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Username: Vandykenjefferson

Post Number: 29
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Monday, November 06, 2006 - 2:08 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I wrote this for one of my classes at U-M. What do you think?

The chief difference between the “cool cities” approach to urban redevelopment and previous efforts at “urban renewal” is that they attempt to cater to different ends of the job market. While the “cool cities” method attempts lure employers by providing an intelligent and creative workforce, previous attempts at “urban renewal” have attempted to lure employees by providing employers with a variety of vacancies.
The Russell Industrial Center dates back to Detroit’s climax. It, in many regards, is a microcosm of Detroit – it began making auto parts in 1915, switched to airplane components during the Second World War, and was abandoned during the white exodus. The Russell Industrial Center has served as a good example of the advantage that largely disadvantaged urban areas have over their suburban counterparts – urban areas, such as Detroit, have a more diverse stock of old buildings that can be converted to new uses at comparatively inexpensive rates which are ideal for small start-ups and small businesses which are pervasive in cool cities. For example, in the Russell Industrial Center, a small studio of 600 square feet costs four hundred dollars a month. The Russell Industrial Center - centrally located between Eastern Market, Hamtramck, New Center and Midtown on Clay Street – is like many other projects using the cool cities approach in that it both contributes to, and feeds off of, the cool cities movement.
However, unlike most other creative class developments, the Russell Industrial Center redevelopment has used both the cool cities and more traditional urban redevelopment approaches. Cleary the Russell Industrial Center shares many attributes with other recent cool cities developments – such as Karmic Café, Young Soul Rebels, People’s Records, Amsterdam Espresso, Sizzle ‘n’ Spice, and High Bias Recordings – in that it serves to both attract and retain the creative class by fostering the combination of urban grit, low cost and independent nature that is so popular with the creative class. Yet the Russell Industrial Center project shares many attributes with other old style urban redevelopment projects. The Russell Industrial Center development project is run by Boydell Development, and has received many tax credits and grants which are routinely given to larger developments to attract workers – in this case artists. And, given the results, this combination of approaches has been a success, given that while the Russell Industrial Center continues to gain tenants, the Karmic Café and Young Soul Rebel Records both recently closed their doors, arguably because they failed to infuse traditional urban redevelopment techniques with the cool cities approach.
The future of the Russell Industrial Center development appears to be a bright one. The building encompasses more than 2.2. Million square feet and has room for many more artists. The development, located between four of the areas most popular with the creative class – Hamtramck, Eastern Market, Midtown and New Center – can potentially act as a catalyst for growth which can connect these four relatively isolated artistic enclaves.
Throughout its history, the Russell Industrial Center has served as a microcosm of Detroit and as a gauge of changes looming in the future. Hopefully, it will continue this predictive quality as it becomes popular with artists and serves as a prime example of the potential of a combination of the cool cities and traditional urban redevelopment approaches.
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Dialh4hipster
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Username: Dialh4hipster

Post Number: 1830
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Monday, November 06, 2006 - 8:16 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hope that's a first draft.
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Gravitymachine
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Username: Gravitymachine

Post Number: 1379
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Monday, November 06, 2006 - 8:46 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

as a tenant of the russell, I'd say your way off.
only about a 1/5-1/6 of the space is actually utilized as artist's space and only about a 1/3 of the complex is even occupied. the rest of that 1/3 being used as warehousing, a trucking company, an envelope packing company, and an industrial cleaner amongst others. It hasn't and probably never will spawn anything of value beyond its walls into the neighborhood (if you can call a completely industrialized area that). There is a lot of neat stuff going on in there, but a microcosm of detroit? that's a stretch.

and wow, they must've raised the lease rate since I moved in!

now, if you wanted to take what's happening at the russell arts-wise, and combine that with places like the 4731, and the pioneer building, and other arts spaces you might have something.

http://www.communitywalk.com/m ap/22880#0003gSo
http://www.4731.com/06/
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Toolbox
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Username: Toolbox

Post Number: 1002
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Monday, November 06, 2006 - 8:53 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The craftspeople have been in the RIC for a lot longer than cool cities has been around.

People think cool cities created a lot of what has been around for at least 20 years, it just brought it to the masses.
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Vandykenjefferson
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Username: Vandykenjefferson

Post Number: 30
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Monday, November 06, 2006 - 12:32 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Gravity Machine - What the actual lease rate? I just used that figure becuase I saw an ad for a 600sf loft for $400 on craigslist. What is a more accuret estimate?
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Dialh4hipster
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Username: Dialh4hipster

Post Number: 1836
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Monday, November 06, 2006 - 12:52 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Are you seriously at UM? "Accuret"?
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Krawlspace
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Username: Krawlspace

Post Number: 275
Registered: 04-2004
Posted on Monday, November 06, 2006 - 1:02 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I had been wondering for a while now if the Russel allows anyone to actually live there in a leased space. Is this the case? I have been looking for a truly "rough" loft space for a long time. Like an empty room with plumbing service and electric service and that's it.
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Rustic
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Username: Rustic

Post Number: 2898
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Monday, November 06, 2006 - 1:04 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

VD, you failed to compare and contrast with Beverly Hills. Your grader will jump all over that.

Dailh4hipster, I have it on good authorety that UoM is almost as good of a school as Northwestern.
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Dialh4hipster
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Username: Dialh4hipster

Post Number: 1837
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Monday, November 06, 2006 - 1:18 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Classic, Rustic.
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Rustic
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Username: Rustic

Post Number: 2900
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Monday, November 06, 2006 - 1:20 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

you're no slouch yourself ...
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Gravitymachine
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Username: Gravitymachine

Post Number: 1383
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Monday, November 06, 2006 - 7:16 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

What the actual lease rate? I just used that figure becuase I saw an ad for a 600sf loft for $400 on craigslist. What is a more accuret estimate?





quote:

I had been wondering for a while now if the Russel allows anyone to actually live there in a leased space. Is this the case? I have been looking for a truly "rough" loft space for a long time. Like an empty room with plumbing service and electric service and that's it.




call em. 3138724000
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Bvos
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Username: Bvos

Post Number: 2064
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Monday, November 06, 2006 - 10:04 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Man, this is what a U of M student produces at the Junior level? Pathetic. A Wayne State student could out do this any day.
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Lowell
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Username: Lowell

Post Number: 3256
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Tuesday, November 07, 2006 - 6:27 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I dunno, it was a good post if made fuzzy by an excessive use of vague terms like 'cool cities' and 'creative class'. You can't expect someone to write a PhD dissertation on the first try.

The RID is an interesting business incubator and a creative reuse of an industrial property. I understand why, but I miss all the windows that once graced its exterior. The ugly cement block fills are hideous.
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Bob_cosgrove
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Username: Bob_cosgrove

Post Number: 404
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Tuesday, November 07, 2006 - 10:02 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

If you get a chance, drop by the Detroit Historical Museum gift shop and pick up the 36-page phamplet "Milwaukee Junction - Cradle of Detroit's Automobile Industry" published by a consortium of historical organizations including the museum.

Milwaukee Junction is the area east of Woodward to St. Aubin and north of Harper to Clay, which includes the Russell Industrial Center. The Center originally was the Anderson Carriage Company and the C. R. Wilson buggy company maker of auto bodies.

Anderson made bodies in 1901 for Ransom E. Olds "Merry Oldsmobile" placing auto parts manfuacture in the Russell Properties long before 1915 as cited above.

The booklet published in 2005 is based on research by the Historic American Engineering Record of the National Park Service and the Detroit Historical Musuem.

Bob Cosgrove
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Bob_cosgrove
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Username: Bob_cosgrove

Post Number: 405
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Tuesday, November 07, 2006 - 10:04 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

If you get a chance, drop by the Detroit Historical Museum gift shop and pick up the 36-page phamplet "Milwaukee Junction - Cradle of Detroit's Automobile Industry" published by a consortium of historical organizations including the Museum.

Milwaukee Junction is the area east of Woodward to St. Aubin and north of Harper to Clay, which includes the Russell Industrial Center. The Center originally was the Anderson Carriage Company and the C. R. Wilson buggy company maker of auto bodies.

Anderson made bodies in 1901 for Ransom E. Olds "Merry Oldsmobile" placing auto parts manfuacture in the Russell Properties long before 1915 as cited above.

The booklet published in 2005 is based on research by the Historic American Engineering Record of the National Park Service and the Detroit Historical Museum.

Bob Cosgrove
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Gravitymachine
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Username: Gravitymachine

Post Number: 1385
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Wednesday, November 08, 2006 - 9:19 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

The RID is an interesting business incubator and a creative reuse of an industrial property. I understand why, but I miss all the windows that once graced its exterior. The ugly cement block fills are hideous.




the photographers in the place seem to appreciate the small windows to control the light better. building 3 and building 2 are the only ones with them as well. and its RIC, not RID
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Lowell
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Username: Lowell

Post Number: 3261
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Wednesday, November 08, 2006 - 10:56 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yes, RIC, [only a key away] but why would photographers appreciate the darkness. Don't tell me they are still using, gasp, film. Or is it better for artificial lighting.
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Gravitymachine
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Username: Gravitymachine

Post Number: 1386
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Thursday, November 09, 2006 - 1:10 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

there are no film photographers on my floor that i know of. I image a dearth of constantly changing light coming from one end of the studio would be tough to work with, thought to be honest this is just an anecdotal observation of mine.
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Amy_p
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Username: Amy_p

Post Number: 722
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 10:27 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Gravitymachine, I wonder if you have an opinion on spaces with the old windows vs. the bricked-ins with one tiny window. I write, so the light doesn't matter; I'm just weighing aesthetics against heat, I guess. Thanks for the brain-pick.
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Gravitymachine
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Username: Gravitymachine

Post Number: 1388
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 11:38 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I have the best of both world's, I have one of few studios with two original 4pane x 4 pane windows, not the full width old windows, not the tiny new ones. I think my space may have been an office or a part of a stairwell or something at one time.

I hear from others in studios with the full width windows that they are drafty, especially because the seals around the glass panes are old and cracking and broken panes have been replaced with plexiglass. With the heat in the place being set at a less than balmy temperature, a smaller window unit might be the way to go if its of larger concern.
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Jjaba
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Username: Jjaba

Post Number: 4469
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Monday, November 13, 2006 - 2:02 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

jjaba's father, Alva Sholem, opened his envelope factory in the old Murray Body Works in the 1950s before there was even a freeway there. He was happy to have a one-storey plant, hard by the corner of Russell and Clay. He was there until a Teamsters strike caused the compnay to abandon Detroit for the South. They left two salesmen in Detroit, sold off the equipment, and locked out 65 mostly Polish workers. Dad had been on 2460 E. Grand Blvd. He worked for Smith Envelopes for 40 yrs. He was the factory superintendant, not an owner. They all lived in Grosse Pointe. Dad loved Hamtramck, the culture, the people, the life.

jjaba, Proudly Westsider.
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Vandykenjefferson
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Username: Vandykenjefferson

Post Number: 31
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Wednesday, November 15, 2006 - 9:50 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

why all the hate dialh4hipster?
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Dabirch
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Username: Dabirch

Post Number: 1948
Registered: 06-2004
Posted on Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 12:22 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

why all the hate dialh4hipster?




There's no hate. He just likes to flaunt his east coast intellectual superiority.

It becomes quite charming after a while.
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Chitaku
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Username: Chitaku

Post Number: 934
Registered: 03-2006
Posted on Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 2:52 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

THE Karmic Cafe closed because of bad Karma. The owner was a douchebag and got what was coming to him. DO NOT SUPPORT THIS MAN OR HIS BUISNESS!!!!! HE takes advantage of poor detroiters and then goes and hides out at his compund in Milford.
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Viziondetroit
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Username: Viziondetroit

Post Number: 931
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Saturday, November 18, 2006 - 4:36 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

^ ok?
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Jjaba
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Username: Jjaba

Post Number: 4485
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Monday, November 20, 2006 - 1:11 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Milford? did they ever find Jimmie Hoffa?

jjaba.
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Kristina
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Username: Kristina

Post Number: 16
Registered: 07-2006
Posted on Friday, November 24, 2006 - 10:27 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Chitaku,
So funny. I will say the same thing about the Russel Industrial Center. DO NOT support the Boydell company.
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3rdworldcity
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Username: 3rdworldcity

Post Number: 351
Registered: 01-2005
Posted on Monday, November 27, 2006 - 12:12 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I haven't got the slightest idea how the RIC could be related to "cool cities," whatever they are.

For years after the property had been "condemned" as a tear down, the RIC had a relatively high occupancy rate and provided inexpensive space for a wide variety of businesses.

That's because it was purchased by the legendary billionaire New York real estate investor Harry Helmsley. I heard he bought it for $1 per sq. ft. because, basically, it was empty and a candidate for demolishion

It's reported Helmsley bragged it was the most profitable real estate deal he ever did. Who'd a thunk?

It's nice to own niche real estate.
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Vandykenjefferson
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Username: Vandykenjefferson

Post Number: 36
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Sunday, December 10, 2006 - 10:21 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

maybe I failed to clearly state this in the essay, but the link is that places like the RIC are what make detroit perfect for cool cities. Few cities have such a stock of cheap real estate for artistes and students. For example, NYC could never offer artists gigantic lofts at rates affordable to artists.

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