Visiting the old factory district in Detroit showed me the real story on those 'tech hub' announcements.

I was there last month and saw maybe three new buildings, but the rest were still empty shells with the same faded 'for lease' signs from five years ago. The local paper's headline about a 'revitalized corridor' felt totally disconnected from the boarded-up windows and cracked pavement I walked past. How do these big redevelopment promises get so far ahead of the actual, physical work on the ground?

3 comments

3 Comments

andrewwilliams1mo ago

I mean, is it that surprising though? They always announce this stuff years before anything real happens. Maybe it's just me but I feel like those press releases are more for getting funding than showing what's actually there right now. Idk, I've seen the same thing in a few cities and it always looks way worse in person than it does in the news.

evan_davis1mo ago

Remember when they said that riverfront park was a done deal? They had the fancy drawings and everything. I went down there last weekend and it's still just a chain link fence around a bunch of dirt and old concrete. They put up the sign with the pretty picture years ago, and that's about it. Makes you wonder where all the talk goes, because it sure doesn't go into the ground.

barbarawebb1mo ago

Yeah, the "fancy drawings" part gets me every time. They're great at making promises but not so great at keeping them.