Boarded up commercial buildings in Detroit neighborhoods don't typically get a developer's attention like they would in Midtown or near the riverfront.

They may not get any attention at all, just serving as a blighted backdrop as residents drive by, wait for buses or walk past until they find an open storefront.

Inside, their roofs may be falling in. Mold may cover walls. Debris may cover the floors.

Yet in five buildings just like that in the northwest corner of the Detroit, residents, city staff and a development team are dreaming big about what businesses could fill them - and what it could mean for the neighborhood.

The Platform development group - owners of the iconic Fisher Building in the New Center Area - says it's time to elevate the corners of the distinctive block known as the hub of Old Redford, home to the historic Redford Theater.

"We want to reactivate these buildings," said Dang Duong, who works with The Platform on its real estate development. "We're also engaging with the community to see what is needed in this area, and what this community would like to see."

The Platform bought the buildings on Grand River Avenue at Lahser last year in a tax foreclosure auction. The initial investment was just under $80,000 for all five properties. One group is at the northwest corner of the intersection; the other two are across Lahser beyond a party store and two independent retailers.

It's a highly traveled road, near shops with city-wide name recognition, like Sweet Potato Sensations and Motor City Java House.

While the vacant buildings dominate the intersection, it also conveys a "city center" type of presence. That spoke to Peter Cummings, a partner in The Platform, who saw potential.

"It was a place where you could create something," said Cummings, whose recent work in Detroit includes bringing Whole Foods to Midtown.

However, changes weren't likely to happen soon with the current pace of development in the Old Redford/Brightmoor area.

"We came to the conclusion that unless we acquired them and put them into the mix, it would be impossible to move the needle at that intersection. We had to take the blighted buildings and put them into service some way."

Next comes the investment in time, communication and setting a shared vision for the properties. That continued this week with a neighborhood meeting to get ideas about what residents would like to see in the spaces. At the top of the list: a sit-down restaurant, and more ways to capitalize on the energy of nearby artists.

In the meantime, The Platform will keep the buildings secured, and continue to clear them of debris. At least one needs a new roof before winter, and others may need routine maintenance to keep them from further deterioration.

They'll get the work done soon, "so they can survive the winter while we do planning of interior space and identification of potential tenants," Cummings said.

Planning will continue in coming months, he said, with significant work getting under way in spring.

The Old Redford/Brightmoor area is one of three neighborhoods that The Platform is targeting while it pursues large-scale mixed-use projects in the New Center and Midtown Areas. The other two are Island View along East Grand Boulevard and the University District.

"We believe strongly that the recovery in Detroit is sustainable, but it has to be inclusive and involve a larger geography of Detroit and a larger population of Detroit," said Cummings. "To accomplish that, you have to go out into the neighborhoods."

Choosing the Brightmoor area for a project aligns with the city's goals for seeking redevelopment in areas outside of the popular downtown and Midtown.

The city is looking at the Grand River commercial corridor from Greenfield to Telegraph as ripe for reactivation, Duong said. Recent nonprofit grants supported the Grandmont Rosedale Development Corp. in improving walkability and green space about a mile to the east.

Closer to Lahser, private investment is driving a new commercial hub around the Meijer store that opened in 2015. This year, it's been followed by two new retail centers that include a Dollar Tree and soon an Elite Mr Alans.

In Old Redford, neighborhood improvements mean serving the blocks surrounding the Depression-era theater, an area with both apartments and single family homes behind the commercial strip. The area includes Brightmoor, which is just south of Grand River, an area with significant housing blight - and no significant commercial corridor. Also notable is the stable population base in Rosedale Park to the east.

The 48219 ZIP code gained population from 2010 to 2014, growing by about 530 people to 47,476 - a feat in a city where population declines define its fall and rebirth.

Other economic indicators support efforts to invest nearby: About 83 percent of the population graduated high school; the median income is about $30,000 - higher than the overall city; and one-third of the households are below the poverty level, fewer than the 40 percent in the entire city.

Beyond demographics, the character of the area warrants filling in the vacancies,

Cummings said.

Grand River was designed for commercial uses decades ago, as the roads of the central city stretched west, lined with mostly single- and two-story structures. Some, like the ones The Platform bought, were built in the 1920s; others are much newer, like McDonald's and a grocery store.

Cummings said the eastern-most buildings have rotted for years, while "next door there's a barbershop trying to exist. The small businesses and residents who've stayed in these neighborhoods are the gritty, creative, underappreciated survivors."

Recharging the block through the renovation of a few buildings won't touch every property that needs help in Old Redford, or in the other areas that The Platform is targeting. However, it should signal the potential for the areas, energizing the neighborhood for more to follow.

"We want to figure out how to create environments ... that make businesses more sustainable for the barber who's survived," Cummings said.

That will require foundation money, Cummings and Duong said, since rehabbing the buildings will cost more than eventual rental income can cover.

The planning for the rehab is likely to take the financials in two directions: nonprofit for the rehabilitation, which in turn will allow them to charge a rental rate for the finished spaces that will make the properties self-sustaining once they're functioning as rentals.

Duong said that while some nearby businesses are doing well, some properties are still financially teetering.

"We're hoping to change that balance," he said.

John George, founder of Motor City Blight Busters, has focused on this neighborhood for 28 years. He said the work of volunteers "kept it on life support" during the economic downturn,

Most of the investment in our community besides Meijer has been "smaller mom and pops who we ... appreciate," George said.

The purchase by The Platform increases the area connection to the Fisher Family Foundation, founded by Cummings' late father-in-law, Max Fisher, and a funder of the Brightmoor Alliance Inc.

"He's well connected; highly financeable; brings a new level of professionalism," George said of Cummings. "I'm thrilled to be able to work and partner with him."

George looks back on what he started in Old Redford and Brightmoor and times when it depended on "guts and callouses" to keep pace with boarding up homes, elevating safety and creating new ways for the people there to feel a sense of community.

"We must have been out of our minds to think ... we could hold this neighborhood together," George said. "I didn't think it would take 28 years, but now we're seeing the investment we longed for."