Lafayette Park, completed in 1960, is an exceptional example of modern urban architecture, as well as urban planning, according to the City of Detroit Historic Designation Advisory Board. Its 26 buildings by Mies van der Rohe, are his only works in Michigan and the largest collection of his buildings in the world. It includes a small shopping center. Lafayette Park offers three high rise apartment buildings: Lafayette Pavilion and Lafayette Towers, designed by van der Rohe, and 1300 Lafayette East Cooperative, designed by Gunnar Birkerts. Each ofers the unadorned, glass and steel feel of the Lafayette Park – which van der Rohe cited the “civilizing force” of technology as the “driving and sustaining forces” of its time – with their own swimming pools and fitness centers. However, many who prefer ground level condominiums and apartments value the intimate village feeling of the area. Lafayette Park is a short walk from downtown and Eastern Market, and a short bike ride to the cultural center, downtown, and the East Riverfront/Belle Isle. A small shopping center offers built into the neighborhood on Lafayette Boulevard, complete with the Paris Café coffee shop and grocery store. There is plenty of green space, including a neighborhood park, with landscape architecture dressing up the periphery of the neighborhood.
Detroit-born Khalid el-Hakim’s mobile museum has evolved into one of the biggest collections of African American history and artifacts in the country. Now the pioneer in Black Museum Studies is touring Michigan, from Bloomfield Hills to Beaver Island.
By exploring the past, this faith-based tour aims to help people understand modern-day racism.
In order to buffer the transition from affordable to affordable luxury, the City of Detroit offered developer and property owner City Club Apartments a 12-year, $1.46 million tax abatement in exchange for a guaranteed amount of affordable housing units.
Not only will 20 percent of the units be set aside for residents at 80 percent of area median income or lower, but the development is also subject to the city's Community Benefits Ordinance.
Real-estate firm The Platform is pitching the development as the Gratiot corridor's gateway to downtown Detroit.
DuCharme Place, a $45 million, 185-unit development comprising four apartment buildings, will be the first new construction in the neighborhood in 40 years.
There are four major award categories for which business and property owners can apply for a share of $500,000 in grant funding.
A new report released by the Detroit Greenways Coalition highlights five bike and trail projects that the bike and pedestrian advocacy group is most looking forward to in 2016.
It's been another busy month for development news in the city. Let's catch up on some of the biggest stories from the past four weeks.
The largest collection of buildings by famed German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe is located in Detroit's Lafayette Park neighborhood just east of downtown.
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