Updates Coming to Detroit’s Dexter Avenue
New Streetscape Project
Dexter Avenue will soon get an update with The Dexter Streetscape Project that will run from Davison Street to Sturtevant Avenue. The project includes a redesign of the street to make it more aesthetically pleasing, walkable and safe. The City of Detroit held numerous community meetings to engage residents to determine desires for the future streetscape. The project was anticipated to start construction in the spring of 2021 and remains in the design phase. We will share more news as we receive more news.
New Business Site
The City of Detroit Planning and Development Department is slated later this summer to begin construction for a new business site on the northeast comer of Dexter and Tyler, 13200 Dexter Avenue. The currently vacant lots owned by the City of Detroit will be the site of semi-permanent retail and public use space created out of shipping containers.
The designs proposed by KEO & Associates feature three to four storefronts specifically for goods and services retail that open onto Dexter and Tyler St. and a second story shared open space where community members can sit, visit, work or study in a place with wi-fi, away from the house but in a protected environment.
The pop-up designs do not allow for commercial kitchens. However, due to neighbors expressing interest in more restaurants in the neighborhood, the site is also being constructed with food truck vendors in mind. Behind the storefronts will be an open meeting space for al fresco dining and gravel paths for food truck vendors to set up easily.
The open central area between the food truck pads and the retail space will also be able to be used for other community events and programs and will feature the current “What up Doe” Mural by Sheefy McFly and art by Dabls. Architects are working on ways to blend the ultra-modem appearance of the new facilities with the aesthetics of the historic community around it.
Negotiations are underway as to who or what organizations will facilitate the upkeep, maintenance and rental of these retail spaces. The Russell Woods-Sullivan Area Association is working to help ensure that local entrepreneurs have the chance to take advantage of these storefronts and will keep residents informed of the Dexter Pop-Up progress.