The city of Warren is making moves to make a long-time dream of a downtown area a reality.
A development plan has already been hatched that would include a five-star hotel, restaurants, a nightclub and various shops. According to Mayor Jim Fouts, there would be lofts aimed at young professionals and an enclosed pedestrian bridge that would make it easy for GM Tech Center workers to come to-and-from the proposed walkable downtown area.
“The key to this downtown area will be the pedestrian bridge,” Fouts told 7 Action News. “It’ll be a lot like the Somerset Bridge. It’ll be climate controlled and easy for people to go to and from the GM Tech Center.”
Bouts said GM will be a big part of any success that happens, noting that roughly 25,000 workers are already in the area. He cited recent investments by Chrysler and the tank plant as signs that the economy is ripe for a move like this.
If everything goes as planned a nationwide request for proposals will go out in early April, a development team will be picked by summer and work could begin as soon as 2019.
Fouts used his State of the City address earlier this year to highlight the plan, noting: “I think we’ll finally get our downtown.” A few weeks later he seems confident that things are aligning.
“I want people in Royal Oak, Detroit and Birmingham to think, ‘Warren is the new destination spot, let’s go there,’” said Fouts.
The push for walkable downtowns isn’t new to metro Detroit — aside from pre-existing downtowns in places like Detroit, Royal Oak and Ferndale other cities are exploring the possibility of creating their own outside of Warren.
Previously, the city of Troy announced it’s own plans to build a downtown area near Big Beaver Road. The initial plans for the Troy downtown called for business investments of more than $300 million, Fouts estimated that the current plan in Warren would come with a price tag around $125 million, but noted that the city would be responsible for a small fraction of that for infrastructure items that would help push the project forward.
