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News from Detroit

Shipping containers, bike paths, Rehab Addict, and more: July development news round-up

It's been another busy month for development news in the city of Detroit. Let's catch up on some of the biggest stories from the past four weeks.

After months of delays and a change of location, the first shipping container residential development in both the city and the state hosted an open house earlier this month. Developer Three Squared showed off its nearly completed building, a two-unit structure made out of shipping containers located at the corner of Trumbull Avenue and Pine Street. Two bigger shipping container developments are planned for North Corktown and Woodbridge.

After valiant efforts to stop the demolition of the Park Avenue Hotel were rebuffed by city officials, the Louis Kamper-designed building was imploded the morning of July 11. Drones outfitted with cameras documented the dramatic event. The hotel, built in 1924, was demolished to make way for a loading dock for the new Detroit Red Wings hockey arena.

The complicated task of piecing together a 26-mile bike path that circles around the city has been marked by a number of successes recently, though there are some remaining hurdles. The biggest obstacle in the bike path's completion is an 8.3-mile stretch of abandoned railroad property owned by Conrail. That company has yet to reach an agreement to sell the property necessary for completing what's being called the Inner Circle Greenway. The Midtown Greenway Loop, however, has broken ground on the third of four phases of construction.

Both film crews and work crews have convened upon the Ransom Gillis house, an 1870s-era mansion built in the Venetian Gothic style of the day. HGTV star Nicole Curtis is filming her television show around the renovation of the once-grand building in the Brush Park neighborhood. Viewers will be able to watch the complete transformation of the building from an empty shell into something promised to achieve its "former glory."

Writer: MJ Galbraith

Got a development news story to share? Email MJ Galbraith here or send him a tweet @mikegalbraith.
 
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