{"id":16344,"date":"2016-07-06T15:11:04","date_gmt":"2016-07-06T15:11:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/?p=16344"},"modified":"2016-07-06T15:11:04","modified_gmt":"2016-07-06T15:11:04","slug":"found-downtown-walkabout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/found-downtown-walkabout\/","title":{"rendered":"What I Found on a Downtown Walkabout"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m often asked how I know so much about what\u2019s going on in Detroit, especially when it comes to new spots for food, drinks, or shopping. It\u2019s definitely true that my job at the Chamber helps me to keep abreast of new development and business openings, but my real wealth of knowledge comes from a much simpler and cathartic place; I like to take walks. A handful of years ago my passion for the city was ignited by wandering around its streets, both the manicured and closely guarded sidewalks of the Quicken \u201ccampus\u201d and the less savory side streets and littered pavement of areas that looked like they hadn\u2019t seen a pedestrian in days. In many cases the latter was more interesting because it presented an opportunity to imagine what the empty store fronts and mangled buildings could<\/em> be. Over the last few years downtown Detroit has become less \u201ccould\u201d and more \u201cis\u201d, which perhaps makes my walks less imaginative but also just as interesting because they present me with literal manifestations of those hopes and dreams for the buildings I pass every day. The walk becomes even more exciting because every week it seems like I come across a new development or storefront. Weekly developments may sound like an exaggeration to some so I decided to document one of my recent strolls, a simple jaunt from my office at One Woodward to Grand Circus. I set my timeline to places or signs of development new in the last few weeks, here\u2019s what I came across;<\/p>\n

Calexico:<\/strong> born in New York this Mexican inspired restaurant now takes up the old Olgas space in the One Campus Martius building. The job fair sign would indicate an opening should be happening later this summer.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9426[1]\"\"IMG_9425[1]\"<\/p>\n

Detroit is the New Black:<\/strong> Local retail on Woodward! now we\u2019re talking. Got to admit I was excited to see this because I already have a couple items from their midtown location on Forest. All indications are for a summer opening.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9428[1]\" \u00a0\"IMG_9429[1]\"<\/p>\n

Kit and Ace:<\/strong> another transplant from Midtown and welcome retail storefront on Woodward. This place is already open and offers a plethora of hip looking clothing for the millennial set. This place should make a killing with the ever increasing flood of young professionals in the area every day.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9430[1]\"<\/p>\n

Norte:<\/strong> Just across Grand Circus Park in the old Taqo space is a seemingly more authentic and trendy take on Mexican food. Not appearing to be open for lunch yet, the sign indicated they had dinner and late night hours.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9434[1]\"<\/p>\n

The Royce:<\/strong>\u00a0With nondescript signage and seemingly not a lot of action\u00a0inside I had to cheat and google this place. Looks like Grand Circus will have its very own wine shop and bar soon, again summer 2016 seems to be the benchmark for opening.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9435[1]\"<\/p>\n

Rusted Crow:<\/strong> As a Dearborn resident this was a familiar sight. The original distillery and tasting room location on Telegraph in Dearborn Heights was quite small and out of the way, but ample space and prime location in Fox Town should make this a hotspot for cocktail connoisseurs and sports fans alike once it\u2019s open.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9436[1]\"<\/p>\n

Bonus: Micro-Lofts!<\/strong> Yes, that torched strip club turned Dan Gilbert opportunity is moving along. 300 square feet might be pretty cozy for an apartment to some but it\u2019s going to be really hard to beat the location once they\u2019re open for tenants.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9432[1]\"<\/p>\n

So 30 minutes and a little over a mile. That’s all it took to discover 7 exciting new locales in Detroit. And to think, the same walk several blocks over may have yielded even more new opportunities and development. So although you\u2019re welcome to scour local websites and foodie blogs for new places coming to the city, if you really want to stay on top of your next favorite restaurant or store, all you\u2019ve got to do is put your feet to the pavement and roam.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m often asked how I know so much about what\u2019s going on in Detroit, especially when it comes to new spots for food, drinks, or shopping. It\u2019s definitely true that my job at the Chamber helps me to keep abreast of new development and business openings, but my real wealth of knowledge comes from a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,12,24,407,152,408,409],"tags":[196],"class_list":["post-16344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-livedetroit","category-playdetroit","category-shopdetroit","category-detroit-businesses","category-detroit-food","category-dine-detroit","category-drink-detroit","tag-challengedetroit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16344\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}