Article on Trends in Real Estate Development

Southeast Michigan is a suburban metropolis. Although we should continue to improve downtown Detroit and make it a crown jewel unto itself, the fact remains that approximately 83% percent of metropolitan Detroit residents live outside city lines. One way to promote well-being as well as growth across the metropolis is to nurture and create many great places. As Sherri Begin wrote in the June 4th edition of Crain’s, "…young people … are making decisions (on where to live) based on … the environment, sustainability, walkability, the opportunity to interact with other people and the quality of life."

Fortunately, there’s currently an expanding movement in the planning, design and development communities. Whether it’s ‘traditional neighborhood development’ promoted by the ‘New Urbanists’ or ‘main-street lifestyle centers’ and ‘multi-use town-centers’ on drawing boards at developers’ offices nationwide, Americans are transforming the built environment in profound ways.

What I’m talking about is this: Have you ever been to Europe? When you walk through an old European town you stroll down a magical high-street or boulevard that supports a bustling mix of shops, cafes, and flats. The combination of commercial, residential, and leisure establishments in one area creates dynamic places.

Today both young and old Americans are more sophisticated than they used to be. They’ve traveled to Europe. They’re demanding better places.

Big money is getting behind these changes. General Growth Properties, for example, is the nation’s second largest shopping center owner. At a May conference for New Urbanists in Philadelphia, GGP’s head of development, Thomas D’ Alesandro IV, said that “going forward, (GGP) is going to be a different company”. He foresees “the reinvention of existing malls into mixed-use centers”. This strategic shift is framed as a response to evolving living patterns and opposition to sprawl.

Despite Michigan’s current economic woes, good things are already happening. General Growth itself is creating the Shoppes at Gateway Park at 8 Mile and Woodward in Detroit. They’re marketing this urban project as a main-street lifestyle center, similar to the Village of Rochester Hills, the first of its kind in Michigan, developed by Robert B. Aikens & Associates, LLC in 2002. The Village, after five years in operation, is currently welcoming to its mix the national power-house Whole Foods. Players like Whole Foods move in because the people they want to associate with are already there. People are there because the development functions in ways like a traditional town square. Taubman Centers, based in Bloomfield Hills, will in October be opening an open air center, the Mall at Partridge Creek, in Macomb County. With this development, another major national player may be stoking the flames of change.

Downtown mixed-use projects, such as the new Burton-Katzman building in Birmingham and the many new loft projects in Royal Oak, are also important harbingers in this area of wider trends. These two villages provide excellent examples of how traditional downtowns can update themselves while maintaining their charm.

So, what do successful projects like these teach us? Great places are places that make a variety of people happy. The design attracts the people, the people attract the retailers and restaurants, and the total package generates energy. The energy can be invested back into the place to make it even better. That’s what Michigan needs.