Photo Credit: Courtesy Midtown Detroit Inc.

I returned to Detroit, city of my birth, 10 years ago this month, and I’ve been thinking about the changes I’ve seen in that decade. A groundbreaking in Midtown today brought it all together.

We’re celebrating the new Woodward-Willis building, which will house the Lawrence Technological University design center as its main tenant The mixed-use development planned by Midtown Detroit, Inc. at the northwest corner of Woodward Avenue and Willis Street has been on my radar for years. I’ve worked in and around Midtown, while the project stumbled through redesigns, radical changes to the real estate market, and, now, pressure to build faster because the supply of commercial property can’t keep up with Midtown’s demand.

I received a call last week asking me if Knight Foundation would like to be acknowledged in the press release regarding the Woodward-Willis groundbreaking since we were one of the early investors. I’ve only been with Knight since September, and I was unfamiliar with the grant. It turns out it originated in December 2003. The same month I returned to Detroit. 

Ten years ago Knight Foundation made a $250,000 bet on a strategy by the University Cultural Center Association—which preceded Midtown Detroit Inc. The vision included a $10 million initiative to develop a greenway (now the Midtown Loop), to create a commercial corridor improvement district (now the revitalized heart of Midtown), and to develop a “strategic site” at the corner of Woodward and Willis that would be part of a vibrant neighborhood. Knight funding allowed the association to hire a consultant to complete predevelopment activities and produce initial architectural drawings for the building that broke ground today.

When Knight made that grant, there wasn’t a Whole Foods Market down the street, a gorgeous riverfront and Campus Martius Park anchoring Woodward to the south, or a plan for a streetcar line to connect it to the New Center area. In 10 years it’s become a vibrant neighborhood where people want to live and work and play.

The vision of leaders from years ago is just beginning to pay off and now new leaders have joined as well. If you’d told me 10 years ago that the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Lawrence Tech were all going to join Wayne State University with a physical presence along Woodward Avenue in Midtown Detroit, I might have doubted you. Then again, Sue Mosey, president of Midtown Detroit, Inc., probably did tell me that somewhere along the way and, if she did, I shouldn’t have doubted her. 

Midtown Detroit’s transformation has taken vision, persistence and patient investment. And it’s still not done. I’m looking forward to some more groundbreakings in the year ahead – including the TechTown Living Room and Wayne State’s new mixed-use project. 

For those who would like to say that Detroit cannot recover from its current challenges, I point to this 10-year-old story. Detroit is made up of tenacious people committed to important projects and to delivering the solutions we need for our future. I’m ready for 10 more years. 

Katy Locker, Detroit program director at Knight Foundation