Report: Can reusing Detroit’s older buildings help citywide revitalization?

Posted on November 8, 2017

Detroit still has many older vacant buildings in commercial corridors throughout the city. As the city takes bigger steps to revitalize these corridors, how can smaller businesses and developers utilize these storefronts? What barriers do Detroit developers specifically face when working with them?

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has just released a report with the Urban Land Institute looking at these barriers in Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Detroit. The report points out key challenges in each city, with a specific focus on zoning, financing, parking, and code.

In terms of Detroit, the report specifically notes that financing is a huge challenge for small and mid-market developers, and that,

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