21. Transit riders waiting for the next QLine streetcar to arrive.

22. Dating back to 1933, the Kern’s Clock is a very popular Detroit landmark. It was originally installed at the entrance of the Ernst Kern Company department store on Woodward Avenue. The 10-story department store building was demolished in 1966 as a part of downtown’s mid-to-late 20th century decline.

23. Once the epicenter of Detroit’s early 20th century Greek immigrant community, Greektown is a historic entertainment and commercial district along Monroe Avenue. Much of the district was lost to 1960s urban renewal. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, the two-block strip remains a popular destination for downtown visitors.

24. Greektown Casino is one of three casino resort hotels in Downtown Detroit. Located in the Greektown Historic District, the casino opened in 2000 with 100,000-square-feet of gaming space. The casino occupies a former warehouse built for the Traugott Scmidt & Sons tannery company in 1924. In 1985, it was renovated into a festival marketplace called Trapper’s Alley by Baltimore-based Cordish Embry & Associates that eventually failed. In 2009, a 30-story, 400-room hotel was added to the casino.

25. Downtown Detroit’s quick rebirth is a result of clustering, complementing uses and redevelopment within compact pedestrian-friendly corridors. With this in mind, there are additional areas of downtown still waiting for infill.

26. The Music Hall Center for Performing Arts is a historic 1,731-seat theatre built in 1928 and located in downtown’s theatre district. It includes Aretha’s Jazz Cafe as a street level space.

27. Grand Circus Park on early Christmas morning. Completed in 1915, the 19-story David Whitney Building stands tall in the background. In 2014, a $92 million restoration of the building converted it into the 105-unit Aloft Detroit and 136-unit The Residences at The David Whitney.

28. City Club Apartments CBD Detroit is the first ground-up, mixed-use, conventionally financed mid-rise under construction in Downtown in 30 years. When complete in 2019, the $78.8-million project will introduce 288 residential units and 12,000-square-feet of retail to the downtown landscape.

29. A row of restored historic high-rises on Washington Boulevard.

30. In Midtown, driving south towards Downtown Detroit on Christmas morning.

Article by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com