Detroit’s Future Landscape

There’s a lot of talk about the reshaping of the city of Detroit.  Mayor Bing has mentioned several times the city needs to be shrunk and so have many other community leaders and experts.

Urban farms are all the buzz and starting to take shape.  There’s some serious talk going on about copying Flint, Michigan’s land bank concept to expedite the re-landscaping of the city.

What will the city of Detroit look like in the future?

There will be a strong vibrant downtown core surrounded by 5-7 “pod” areas with a inter-dispersion of urban farms, industrial plants and ghost neighborhoods.

Some of the pod areas will be English Village, Corktown, University area, Palmer Woods/Sherwood Forest, & Mexicantown.  They’ll each eventually have their own distinct flavors and demographics.

The challenge will be keeping them connected to the downtown and interconnected with each other.  We may see some of these pods incorporate themselves and become their own cities surrounded by Detroit like Highland Park and Hamtramck.

I see all these changes as a positive as the city needs something to shake it at its core.  Too many Detroiters have a crippling entitlement mentality and will not change their ways without a major pattern interruption.  The city of Detroit needs its own Katrina like event to spur people into action, instead of sitting and sitting and sitting.

Why am I telling a bunch of real estate investors about all this?

Change brings opportunities for those that can envision the future.

The changes coming to Detroit are going to create many wealthy individuals that can see what’ s happening and have the resources to proactively take advantage of the changes.

Where in the city of Detroit should you be buying real estate?

Detroit is really trying to turn things around…

In a sweeping 5-year, $1-billion plan, 41 school buildings and 1 support building are slated for closure in June, with another 13 to be closed by 2012. DPS officials based this redesign in part on Detroit’s changing neighborhoods, comparing areas of growth to areas of abandonment. Here is a look at how those buildings fit onto a map of Detroit’s most vacant areas.