SmithGroup vice president Gregg McDuffee tells GlobeSt.com the DDA hired his firm to draw up a scope of work to create a redevelopment plan for the Downtown.

"There are several major components to the plan," he says. "We completed a market analysis to have a much clearer understanding of the buildings and services of Downtown."

One component, he said, is to look at the access of the city. Woodward runs as a divided highway from Detroit northwest straight into Pontiac. At the city's entrance, the road splits off and circles the Downtown as a one-way street. It was called The Loop until last year, when officials changed the one-way turn around the Downtown back to Woodward.

McDuffee says his company's plan is to remove the one-way road, and make Woodward a complete divided highway into the city.

"Now, you go around the Downtown, it doesn't lend to bringing a person in," McDuffee says. "The one way nature stifles development."

He says the study looked at the build-out of the Downtown in a one-to-five-year, five-to-10 year and 10-plus-years outlook. The area has been doing well with entertainment and culture facilities, but lacks the other aspects of a successful Downtown, he says.

One of these renewable facilities, he says, is the redevelopment of the Strand Theater, a Downtown landmark theater. The SmithGroup has been hired to complete the renovation, McDuffee says. He says the theater should be completed by March 2003.

"We need to see more brick and mortar downtown, while also be mindful of the local support," he says.

Another idea is to bring daylight again to a section of the Clinton River, that was buried due to city development decades ago, McDuffee says. The city administration, including new Mayor Willie Payne, has also approved of the plan, McDuffee says.

Now, all the work ahead is for the DDA to solicit proposals from developers on certain key parcels of land that the city owns, McDuffee says.

"The city council would only need to approve certain specific developments and ordinances from the plan when they are put in motion," he says.

Instant Insights /

SmithGroup Creates Downtown Development Plan

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