John Gallagher

Detroit Free Press

Detroit's east riverfront will not, after all, become the near-exclusive domain of high-end condominium and apartment dwellers.

In a bold, new, and more democratic vision unveiled Wednesday evening, city planners showed off a blueprint to create three zones of public parkland on the riverfront where once private development had been scheduled to rise.

And that's just a start. The city also plans to create two new Dequindre Cut-style greenways down to the riverfront from the neighborhoods north of Jefferson Avenue to ease public access to the waterfront. Jefferson Avenue itself will undergo a redesign to make it more bicycle and pedestrian friendly. And there's even a new sand-filled Atwater Beach planned near the Milliken State Park and Harbor.

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The vision reverses a long-held presumption that the riverfront running east from the Renaissance Center would fill up with pricey residences and shops to boost the city's population and tax base. Instead, this new vision boldly accepts that the value of public access to the riverfront outweighs the value of a few more condos and shops.

“The riverfront belongs to all Detroiters,” Maurice Cox, director of the City of Detroit Planning & Development Department, said of the new vision. “Thanks to the involvement of hundreds of residents, we have principles that frame an international riverfront that can be accessed and enjoyed by all.”

Cox and other business and civic leaders unveiled the plans at a public meeting at the Department of Natural Resources' Outdoor Adventure Center on Atwater Street on the east riverfront. The new vision has been in the works for more than a year and shaped in meetings with residents.

Will this new vision actually happen? That depends on all the usual variables of money and political will. But certainly, with the city solidly behind it, the vision appears more likely than not to become reality.

The boundaries of the East Riverfront district are St. Antoine to the west, East Grand Boulevard to the east, Larned Street to the north and the Detroit River to the south.

Three sites south of Atwater Street – which had been slated for private development – will become public park space instead. This will add nearly 8 acres of additional park space to the district.

The planned Jos. Campau Greenway, which runs from Vernor down to the river, will receive new lighting, furnishings, paving and landscaping. The Beltline Greenway, to be located between Belleview and Beaufait, will connect from Kercheval to the Detroit River. Along with the Dequindre Cut, these greenways will connect the riverfront for thousands of residents living throughout several east-side neighborhoods.

Among the first steps toward implementation: The Jefferson Avenue improvements will begin this year from Rivard to East Grand Boulevard. The Detroit RiverFront Conservancy also will break ground on an extension of the RiverWalk from Mt. Elliott Park to the Belle Isle Bridge along the former Uniroyal site. The RiverWalk extension will also connect to Gabriel Richard Park.

And the Detroit Economic Growth Corp. will issue a Request for Proposals this week for a renovation of the Stone Soap building at 1490 Franklin. The RFP will envision an adaptive reuse of the historic structure with a mixed-use development that will increase density in the district. The RFP will be available at www.degc.org/contractors/new-project-rfps.

“We’ve had tremendous input from the community throughout the planning process,” said Mark Wallace, president & CEO of the Detroit RiverFront Conservancy. “The East Riverfront is a special place for all Detroiters, particularly families and the elderly. This plan builds on the lessons we have learned since opening up the RiverWalk in 2007. The greenway connections and expansions of the park space will significantly improve the riverfront experience for generations to come.”

The improvements to East Jefferson are sorely needed. The city reports that over the last five years, Jefferson between Rivard Street and East Grand Boulevard has been the scene of 1,350 vehicle crashes, 39 pedestrian–vehicle incidents, and nine fatalities from vehicular and pedestrian crashes.

To make the avenue safer, enhanced crosswalks at key intersections and new protected bike lanes will improve safety and support local businesses. These improvements will make it easier for residents to cross Jefferson from neighborhoods to the north of Jefferson, giving them safer access to the waterfront.

This plan, if enacted in full, would continue the decades-long evolution of the east riverfront. For the first hundred years or so of Detroit's history, the east riverfront was given to ribbon farms, long thin strips giving each family access to waterfront transportation. Heavy industry eventually dominated for another century until Detroit's decline saw the riverfront become a mostly derelict zone with large expanses of vacant lots.

Some redevelopment occurred in the 1980s with projects like Stroh River Place and Harbortown built. But an extensive series of high-end real estate projects announced by then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick a decade ago that would have filled up the east riverfront with upscale private developments fell apart during the Great Recession and national real estate crash.

Mayor Mike Duggan's administration began to rethink the riverfront vision, leading to the new plans.

New York–based HR&A Advisors provided real estate and economic consulting services for the new plan. Landscape design concepts were created by Michel Desvigne and Inessa Hansch, a team of Paris-based designers, in collaboration with SOM and Detroit-area firms.

Six local firms — McIntosh Poris of Birmingham; Giffels Webster of Detroit; Kraemer Design Group of Detroit; AKT Peerless of Detroit; Rich & Associates of Southfield, and E. Austell Associates of West Bloomfield —provided consulting and advisory services during the planning stages.

Contact John Gallagher: 313-222-5173 or gallagher@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @jgallagherfreep.