Immigrants contribute to Hamtramck’s vibrancy, economy

Hamtramck’s growing immigrant population contributes to the city’s diversity and vibrancy — as well as spawning an increasing number of small businesses that are boosting its economy.

Excerpt:

“Real cities remain viable by serving their marketplace,” says Erik Tungate,
Hamtramck’s director of community and economic development, who
estimates the 2.2 square mile city contains anywhere from 500 to 700
businesses – 30 to 40% of them immigrant-owned. Since the 1980s, the
Conant Street district alone, he says, has migrated from a mainly
Polish influence to a veritable United Nations, where business owners
represent about 30 different ethnicities. 

“To be a student of
Hamtramck you have to be a student of Detroit,” says Tungate. “Over the
past five years, it’s been miraculous, like raising the dead here. In
the next five years I see greater downtown Detroit – the T formed by
midtown south to the Detroit River and then east and west along the
riverfront – completely gentrifying. Hamtramck will become even more of
a hotbed of immigration because it’s a walkable, affordable enclave
just outside of the greater downtown Detroit area.”
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