Affordable luxury can be found in downtown Detroit at the Eddystone Apartments – for 19 households. Individuals who earn $53,000 or less annually qualify for the rate. It’s a small win for community members who spent years tracking development proceedings in Downtown Detroit’s new entertainment area called District Detroit.

Over a decade ago, an Ilitch-owned development company released a vision for the nearly 50-block community dubbed District Detroit. The plan included a fantastical multi-million dollar sports and concert arena, mixed-use buildings for restaurants and housing, and walkable areas for people to navigate the brightly lit entertainment zone.

What wasn’t included however were community needs that focused on environmental sustainability, inclusive planning, historical designations, and common courtesy for their tax-paying neighbors. At the time, the city didn’t require community stakeholder input for development projects, leaving an opening for the highest bidder to determine ‘new Detroit.’ So, Brush Park area residents took on accountability measures themselves and pushed for District Detroit plans to be more inclusive of community needs. Now that the arena and the Eddystone are complete, neighbors say the development company fulfilled some requests and failed on others. Even though the city has since passed a Community Benefits Ordinance that requires developments of a certain size to work with impacted neighbors on carving out benefits and protections, it’s unclear whether residents have any true power against big-money developers.

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“At district community meetings it feels like nobody is happy and I feel like people feel taken advantage of,” said Lauren Hood, a community developer who was vocal about District Detroit plans years ago. “But also, people are losing steam because they know the game in Detroit now–developers are going to get what they want no matter what.” 

Those who could afford the increased cost of living from the profitable businesses in District Detroit have stayed. More restaurants and businesses have moved in and some of the neighborhood’s homeowners say the area is “thriving.” They want District Detroit to succeed and believe the work that’s been done so far is beneficial because property values have increased.

The historic Eddystone, which is centered within the District, was built in 1924. It served as a long-term hotel for men until it was left desolate next door to what is now Little Caesars Arena. When plans for the District were released, residents demanded that the Eddystone be saved. Olympia Development of Michigan, an Ilitch-family holding, redeveloped the 13-story building with 96 rental housing units and imploded the neighboring women’s hotel, Park Avenue, in 2015. 

Detroiters were told that the Park Avenue Hotel could not be saved because of a loading dock issue associated with the arena. 

“I’m really happy that the Eddystone got done, obviously,” said Francis Grunow, a former resident who was active in the District Detroit Neighborhood Advisory Council regarding the District’s early plans. “I wish that they could have done both the Park Avenue and the Eddystone and I think District Detroit would have been better off if both of those buildings had been renovated.”

Negotiating benefits for the District were 16 members of a community-elected and City Council-appointed NAC. The group kept track of their requests and conversations with the city and ODM. According to their documents, requests for parking, environmental safety, and rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of vacant areas within the district were never implemented. 

It wasn’t until after District Detroit plans were approved by the City Council that Detroit residents were required under city law to have a voice in major developments in their communities. Therefore, ODM never had to include neighborhood requests regarding LCA, the Eddystone or the Park Avenue Hotel. In 2016, Detroit voters approved the creation of Detroit’s Community Benefits Ordinance, requiring projects of a certain size to listen to, but not fulfill, community requests in the planning process. 

Eddystone quietly re-opened in December 2021 as a luxury, smart-technology apartment building that offers lavish amenities and a dining option. The $40 million project is the first “new space” to offer affordable housing at up to 80 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI) in District Detroit. Affordable housing was a high priority for community stakeholders who didn’t want to see long-term residents pushed out.

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The Ilitch family began purchasing property and land throughout the district prior to announcing plans for the arena. That worried residents and small business owners, who, at the time, had no guarantee from the city that they would be included in the planning process.  

“ODM owns 60% of the land,” Grunow said. “Doing anything on your own as a small business owner, property developer, or whoever, you have to tread lightly because they kind of control your interest.”

According to Grunow, the community’s interest was to maintain housing affordability, particularly for residents along Henry Street, which ODM is in the process of re-developing.

Those who can afford market-rate rents will pay $1,709 for a 595-square-foot studio apartment, according to the Eddystone website. One and two-bedroom options are also available, though the building comprises mostly studios. Each apartment has an in-unit washer and dryer and residents have access to amenities like a dog wash area, bike storage, and fitness center. Anyone can visit the building’s Japanese-inspired restaurant, Basan, whose owners also maintain Second Best and Grey Ghost in ODM buildings across Woodward Avenue.

Four Man Ladder hospitality group, which manages the restaurants, said that opening Basan on the ground floor of Eddystone has been “incredibly rewarding,” in an email to BridgeDetroit. The restaurateurs said that their businesses “feed off the energy” from arena crowds.

The refurbished building has an art-deco style, reminiscent of the 1920s era when Eddystone was in its heyday. The walls are painted in masculine colors and the small apartments are open concept. ODM worked with Detroit-based Kramer Design Group to maintain the historic feeling of the building, including the exterior brick. ODM’s Vice President Stefan Stration said the concept is a “modern interpretation of the historic space.”

Stration said reverse commuters, students and empty-nesters are among the many people who have rented an apartment within the building. The vice president said that he is proud of ODM’s “purpose-driven development” to improve the lives of Detroiters by meeting their needs and interacting with the community.

ODM executives gave BridgeDetroit a walking tour of the building in October, noting art in the lobby and several spaces throughout the residential parts of the building that were from local artists. However, they could not name any of the artists when asked and assured BridgeDetroit that QR codes with artists’ information would be added soon. When BridgeDetroit returned to the Eddystone after Thanksgiving, there were no QR codes or artists’ details listed. 

The construction of the arena and the Eddystone have increased job, housing and leisure opportunities, but community members say they had to fight for that visibility and hold executives accountable throughout the development process. Detroit’s Downtown Development Authority said that ODM first requested zoning changes for the arena. To gain the approval, ODM agreed to designate 20 percent of the units within the Eddystone for affordable housing.

ODM was also required to complete the Eddystone within one year of the arena’s opening in September 2017. In 2019, ODM had not yet met the construction requirements and the city amended the initial agreement, requiring a multi-million dollar performance bond if the project wasn’t completed on time with progress milestones established.

The project required approvals from a host of city departments like the Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department and the Historic District Commission to be considered complete.

“The Eddystone redevelopment supports key strategies for Detroit’s growth, as it is in a Neighborhood Enterprise Zone intended to spur rehabilitation of vacant properties. The project will meet the increasing demand for quality, affordable housing and boost economic and fiscal impacts in the neighborhood and city,” the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation told BridgeDetroit in an email.

When BridgeDetroit asked the Historic District Commission for comment on how decisions were made about the historic hotels and what requirements the commision had for ODM in regard to Park Avenue and Eddystone, HDC said that its role is to “review permits for compliance with historic standards and issues approvals or denials for proposed work in historic districts.”

Hood, who was on the HDC board during District Detroit’s planning stages, said that she was the sole dissenting vote for demolishing the Park Avenue Hotel. 

When BridgeDetroit asked HDC for meeting documents regarding the Eddystone and Park Avenue Hotel, a representative for HDC said the commission was victim to ransomware and that all electronic files from 2013 to 2015 were deleted. 

ODM and its partners worked through the pandemic and completed the building in December 2020, on the city’s adjusted schedule, escaping the fine it would have had to pay had construction lingered into 2021. ODM began giving tours of the structure and accepting lease applications the following year.

“I’m full of hope in one reality for District Detroit because it’s still vastly incomplete,” Grunow said. “The other reality, which most of us live with, is that it’s mostly vacant buildings and parking lots.”

Robert Shobe of the People’s Platform, a nonprofit that protects, maintains and empowers Black Detroit, said District Detroit has not been good for the community “since its inception.” Shobe lives on Detroit’s east side and participates in the leisure activities within the district but is indifferent about whether he is the intended audience. He’d rather see the tax breaks and profits from downtown be spread throughout all of Detroit’s neighborhoods. 

“For them to continue to pour resources into downtown as opposed to things (like) wrap-around services for the communities… it’s already too little, too late,” said Shobe, noting the city’s homeless population and those in need of health services. “They have doubled down on not taking care of people and are instead giving to the Ilitches.”

For several years, Angie Pinchem has lived across the street from the new arena and the Eddystone with her husband and children. She said the neighborhood has become a more walkable place that allows her young family to easily access fun activities near their home. However, Pinchem said prices have risen and she wishes the Illitch’s were “better neighbors.” 

“They promised us some things and they never delivered. And that was a little discouraging,” she said, “because I thought that they were looking to help some of the local businesses and local business owners who lived in the neighborhood and also with the parking situation.” 

Pinchem said that residents were promised free car washes when dirt and debris from the construction sites affected their cars–but never received anything. She said the neighborhood is being built up, but doesn’t include necessities like improved schools for her kids or more affordable grocery options. She said her nearest grocer is Whole Foods, which offers nutritious options, but is expensive to shop on a regular basis.

When asked about the parking issues, lack of car washes and working with the community, an ODM spokesperson said in an email to BridgeDetroit “we have and continue to work with members of the community to address any potential concerns when they arise.”

We recently completed a highly successful community benefits agreement working in partnership with the Neighborhood Advisory Committee to ensure community needs are met,” the statement adds. “We encourage community members with any questions about our real estate development to reach out to us directly at info@districtdetroit.com.”

Pinchem’s neighbor, Ruby Howze, has lived across the street from the Eddystone building since 2000. Howze said she feels included in the new activities that the area has to offer and is happy that her property value has increased. She feels unaffected by the Eddystone reopening. However, like Pinchem, she’s frustrated over the parking. 

“The issue is people are walking through private property and parking their cars in our lot,” said Howze, noting that it just happened during the Thanksgiving Day parade and there were at least two tow trucks. The neighbors pay for tow services through their homeowner association, but Howze said the Ilitch-owned company should hire more security and parking services for patrons of their events. 

“People somehow think this is a parking lot over here and it’s not,” she said. “Why people don’t park where they should, I don’t know. I wouldn’t park here.”