The Revitalisation of Fitzgerald – Detroit MI
For today’s article, I want to highlight an area that I love investing in. Fitzgerald area in Detroit is fast becoming one of Detroit’s “go-to” suburbs. The city of Detroit have but together a plan to revitalise the entire area. Read on for more details and click the link below for the full story. Very apt given today’s – Deal of the Week as well! This is also an area we are heavily invested in and helping with the revitalisation.
Background
The vision for the Fitzgerald Revitalization Project is to transform a quarter square mile area by addressing every publicly owned vacant lot and house. Removing blighted structures, beautifying vacant lots and creating homes for new residents will contribute to stabilization, increased property values, and improved quality of life. The City of Detroit has developed a three-part implementation strategy to create a sustainable model for transforming and maintaining all parcels within the Fitzgerald Project Area:
Creation of a neighborhood park and greenway to be maintained by the Parks and Recreation Department
Development of economically self-sustaining, productive landscapes in partnership with one or more Productive Landscape Developers or Development Teams (Productive Landscape Development RFP)
Rehabilitation of all salvageable, publicly-owned structures and implementation of low-maintenance landscape strategies in partnership with a Housing Developer (Housing Rehabilitation RFP).
The Project
The Fitzgerald Project Area identified within the larger Fitzgerald neighborhood was selected for this pilot because of the concentration of publicly-owned vacant lots and homes. This smaller project area also allows for the overall impact to be focused in a walkable, quarter-square mile area.
To start the project, the City of Detroit commissioned an award-winning landscape architecture firm, Spackman Mossop & Michaels (SMM), to work with the residents of the Fitzgerald Project Area to create a Neighbourhood Framework Plan. SMM assessed the range of existing conditions and created a flexible, interstitial landscape plan to activate and improve vacant land parcels in a way that addresses every publicly-owned parcel in the project area. The plan incorporated feedback from residents on current neighbourhood issues as well as amenities and uses they would like to see in their neighbourhood. The plan provides a framework that balances the needs for greater open space, community gathering and recreation, opportunities to develop new productive landscape projects, and the sustainability of long-term maintenance.
