The Detroit City Group is gearing up for another active year, under the leadership of co-chairs John Cornwell of Plunkett Cooney and Cindy Richards of Howard & Howard. March started off with a bang with two events, our annual “Brown Bag” lunch and roundtable discussion hosted by Howard & Howard on March 12, and a Detroit Red Wings hockey night on March 20, courtesy of our friends at Crain’s Detroit Business. We are in discussions with several presenters for other programs this year and expect to have two more sessions scheduled for the spring within the next few weeks.
While everyone within LMA Midwest’s footprint has reason to be weary of this extreme and never-ending winter, many in southeast Michigan are at least equally weary of national reports concerning the demise of our region. On the heels of Detroit’s bankruptcy filing last July, I had several service providers, colleagues, and even clients from other regions express sympathy at our plight. While I appreciated the sentiment, it made me uneasy to know that so many people seemed to think that Detroit is closed for business. In fact, the opposite is true. Detroit never shut down. City services continue and, by some measures, are improving. For the majority of businesses operating in the city, the post-bankruptcy filing world has been business as usual.
From a local perspective, many consider Detroit to be on the upswing. The American auto industry, written off as an extinct dinosaur a few years ago, is booming. The high-tech scene is thriving. Low real estate prices have attracted investment. Downtown is becoming cool again. The city has seen an influx of nearly 12,000 jobs since 2006 according to the Detroit Regional Chamber – including many good jobs, filled by well educated, 20- and 30-somethings who, to a greater degree than we older folks, like to live where they work. Condos, lofts, and apartments in the downtown and nearby “midtown” areas are all but sold out. According to the Detroit Regional Chamber, 97 percent of downtown Detroit rental apartments are currently occupied. There has been talk of rent control in some of the more popular areas, and several residential projects are either announced or under construction. For the first time in my 34 years of working downtown, foot traffic, a given in most other downtowns but long absent from Detroit, is reappearing in a big way. And a few big ticket projects, such as a new hockey arena and residential-retail complex to be built on vacant land a few blocks from the current downtown stadiums, are in the works.
Detroit still has much to overcome. It is a large city geographically and many areas remain blighted. Bankruptcy is painful. Pensioners and creditors will be hurt in the process. The fate of some of the city’s jewels, such as the Detroit Institute of Arts, is still uncertain. But the city is open for business and is becoming cool again. Even Fodor’s named Detroit one of the world’s top three “buzzy” travel hot spots for 2014. Wondering what the buzz is about? Give us a visit.
Pictured Above: Bodman Thinks Spring (Training)
Detroit is a sports-crazy town and Bodman PLC is at the heart of it all. The firm’s headquarters office is located inside Ford Field, home of the Detroit Lions, and directly across the street from Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers. The Firm often schedules events to coincide with local sports milestones, and has for several years celebrated the opening of major league baseball spring training with baseball-theme snacks and a display of baseball memorabilia donated for the day by firm personnel. This year’s celebration was highlighted by a visit from PAWS, the Detroit Tigers’ mascot, who is pictured above with Bodman marketing staff members (from left to right) Kristyn Kelley, Akilah Paramore, and Tony Allegrina.