McDougall-Hunt and Gratiot Study
a local detroit artist, Carlos Neilbock, was interested in the development potential of his property just behind gratiot avenue on wilkins street in the mcdougall-hunt neighborhood. looking at the surrounding properties, it became clear that this neighborhood had so much potential. nowhere along gratiot is there a collection of more beautiful older buildings. unfortunately, gratiot is a very wide avenue so the pedestrian connection between the north and the south side of the street is broken. additionally, there are a few sites on the north side of the avenue that hurt the potential for a pedestrian neighborhood. first is a liquor store on a prominent corner. second is a bank with a large parking lot.
design work provided pro-bono
assets
detriments
illustration above shows the importance of providing bike lanes on detroit’s radial city. a typical property off the gratiot corridor will reduce distance to downtown by approximately 25%. bikers would also have a clear path to the city without navigating various turns. bike lanes on gratiot will make access to downtown, belle isle, dequindre cut and eastern market and will increase participation among those without cars and entice those with cars to view biking as an option.
ultimately, this study went beyond the initial ask, but as a result, led to one possibility for marketing. the property could function as a parking deck to support a development at the bank site on gratiot and/or as much needed parking deck for eastern market, a third of a mile down wilkins street.
proposed showing pedestrian-connected assets