It seems as if years ago, as Detroit Mayor Coleman Young told the suburbs that they needed Detroit, some suburbs tried hard to prove him wrong and developed viable downtown districts chock full of restaurants and retail stores.
Some have done better than others.
Kirk Pinho of Crain's Detroit Business reports that the city of Dearborn is faced with the challenge of creating a more lively suburban downtown experience for people who work or live nearby.
He writes:
Both of Dearborn’s two distinct downtown business districts are poised for a new wave of investment and mixed-use development as several vacant or underused sites are on deck for new investment.
That’s in addition to at least $50 million in new recent development and a redevelopment push in the city’s two downtown districts, according to economic development officials.
Developers and planners are seeing the city’s large institutions like Ford Motor Co., University of Michigan-Dearborn and Henry Ford College as hotbeds for young talent that would fill the more than 200 apartment units nearing completion or in planning for downtown, said Cristina Sheppard-Decius, executive director of the West Dearborn Downtown Development Authority.
