Capitol Park project nearing completion in downtown Detroit

Capitol Park in Detroit

With all the hubbub surrounding recent filming of 'Transformers 3' near Capitol Park, it was easy, during our recent visit, to overlook the progress of the renovation project of the park itself.

Polishing of the triangular little chunk of land bounded by Griswold, Shelby and State streets is moving along nicely, with new concrete walkways and landscape boxes already in place. Sod and foliage is coming soon, and the project should be completed sometime this fall.

What this means for Detroit remains to be seen. Ideally, the refurbished space will anchor a retail/residential hub, similar to the impact Campus Martius Park has had on that area of Woodward. Of course, building the Compuware Building had a lot to do with that rebirth, whereas in the Capitol Park area, the buildings are already in place, towering, historic skyscrapers that give room for office space, lofts, apartments, and anything else. As always, the challenge will be finding tenants for those spaces. A resurrected park area in the middle of all can only help.