A new historic theatre restoration, combined with right-sizing in Flint's downtown and recent loft and apartment redevelopments, are all gaining momentum in a way that spells out the future of Flint.
Plenty of detractors have written off downtown Flint. They've called it a has-been, and that's one of the kinder references to the city accustomed to being a punching bag. But times may be changing; die-hard boosters and Flint haters alike can agree that downtown Flint seems to be turning around and on its way back to a place that's full of life.
Downtown redevelopment projects--post Flint's heyday--date back to the 1970s when the Flint River was reworked and Riverbank Park was added followed by projects such as the Hyatt Regency on the river, AutoWorld theme park and the Water Street Pavilion in the 1980s and 1990s. None took hold like those that have come to Flint in the last five to 10 years. Reinvestment in downtown Flint, a cultural shift toward downtown living, working and playing and an appreciation for history and historic architecture are building Flint back up. The same is happening in cities across Michigan--Pontiac and Detroit--and the country--Nashville and Pittsburgh.
Flint's redevelopment efforts of today involve some of the city's most recognizable and largest physical structures. The Genesee Towers, part of the emerging Health and Wellness District, were demolished in December to make way initially for green space and new construction eventually.
The Capitol Theatre, a grand structure on the National Register of Historic Places, re-envisioned as a venue for concerts, is being restored and could be the part of an epicenter of activity that's rumbling with a mix of commercial, residential and public space.
The towers and theater are two parts of a larger picture of Flint's revitalization, which is driven--like most if not all downtown resurgences--by a mix of private and public investment: developers and nonprofits such as Uptown Developments and Uptown Reinvestment Corp. and Future Flint; universities such as Kettering and Michigan State; organizations such as the Genesee County Land Bank and Michigan State Housing and Development Authority; and some of Flint's most successful families who want to give back to the town responsible for their successes.
In Flint, it's about life after the auto-dominated economy, which was largely responsible for building up the city and eventually, some say, tearing it down. Though automotive is still a part of Flint's economic fabric, the Flint of today is diversifying, folding in housing, medical and life sciences, higher education and entertainment.
Scott Whipple is a Flint-area native, devoted city supporter and project manager for Uptown Development, LLC, one of the main developers in downtown Flint. After 20 years in Florida, he left a job as a project manager planner of a luxury gated golf community, what some might call paradise, to return to Michigan.
Whipple was recruited by Uptown Development to be project manager. He had graduated from Grand Blanc High in 1980, gotten a degree in urban planning and landscape architecture and found a career in Florida, working for the Bonita Group as a project manager of its luxury golf communities. He had gotten a job opportunity in Detroit and had been itching to get back to Flint, to help.
"My boss at the time said, 'Let me get this straight, you want to leave paradise for Flint, Michigan?' A lot of people thought I was crazy, but a few people said, 'You're doing what I want to do.' I'm really glad I did it. The real estate market collapsed in Florida anyway. And this is the kind of work I always wanted to do. I didn't want to go off and design subdivisions and parking lots. It was nice, but this is the kind of work people in my field want to do."
Whipple says his stint at the Sterling Group in Detroit prepared him well for a redesign of Flint.
"The problem with most of the projects of the past was they were silver bullet projects. They were supposed to fix everything. The biggest flaw was they relied on tourism, and that is just not based in reality," says Whipple. "So what we are doing this time around is more basic real estate, offering space the community needs: residential, offices, retail, knowing the retail is going to be the most difficult part. We've made the ground floor of our lofts so there is space for bars and restaurants. We're basically doing it just one building at a time. We're doing most of the buildings mixed use with all three components... We're all anxious to do more new construction, but we're using what's here for now."
Whipple's own father at one time saw no point in fighting for Flint.
"The thing that I've noticed is my dad's generation--he's 84--is a lot of them are retirees who chose to stay here in Flint, and they were really the tough nut to crack as far as changing attitudes about Flint. A lot of them were saying, 'You're wasting your time. Flint is never going to come back.' That is starting to change."
One project in particular brought on a change of heart, he believes. The Vehicle City Arches, the iconic, ornate, lighted wrought iron toppers above Saginaw Street that were taken down, it's believed, for wartime metal scrap, were resurrected in 2004. While mostly decorative, the restoration was part of a huge, unified civic effort that gave locals a rallying point and and a solidified identity.
Future Flint, the same group behind the arches, is also responsible for commissioning bronze statues of Flint's famous founders and leaders to grace downtown streets.
The arches project on Saginaw Street, Flint's main drag, "was a real big place-making effort. It really made downtown. It gave Flint a very distinctive sense of place … I was astonished when they went up. All of a sudden everyone was proud of Flint: We're a cool town. People were using them in ad campaigns for business. They were used to show the beauty of downtown and it made people want to come here. It also got people to notice and remember we have a totally fascinating history," says Whipple.
Uptown Developments is one of several developers with eyes on Flint. Karp Associates out of Lansing has done work in Flint, including turning the Durant Hotel, vacant since about 1973, into 100 loft apartments. Other developers with county and state support turned the Berridge Hotel into loft apartments in 2008.
Several other residential developments are filled to capacity, driven in large part by Flint's student population of about 30,000: The Economy Building, Community Foundation Lofts, First Street Lofts, Wade Trim Lofts, Rowe Lofts. The schools are building residences as well. The students come from Kettering University, the University of Michigan Flint, Mott Community College and Michigan State University and Baker College. U-M Flint built a 16-story, 550-student residence hall on the riverfront a few years ago, and it's full.
"The best thing that's really working in our favor is that there's a national trend, a change in taste for urban living from this next generation that grew up in the suburbs and really don't want to have anything to do with an auto environment… What we have to do, though, is provide the jobs to keep them here," Whipple says.
Baby Boomers also are choosing a walkable lifestyle in more densely designed towns.
Several larger businesses and organizations; Landaal Packaging, the Community Foundation and Wade Trim, MLive Media Group's Flint Journal; have moved into mixed-use renovated spaces in downtown Flint.
Restaurants have come too. The 501 Bar & Grill injected some hip into Flint, says Whipple. There's the Table & Tap, and the gourmet Cork Wine Bar. Churchill's, a Flint staple for decades, was inspired to remodel. And Blackstone's Irish Pub is packed every St. Patrick's Day and during downtown events, says Whipple.
Blackstone's is one of several restaurants adding outdoor seating to downtown Flint, bringing vibrancy and a feeling of safety to the streets, says Whipple.
"Last year when we had a significant warm-up, like 80 degrees, people were outside and having a great time. It was a lot of fun to watch the guys in their kilts.
"The outdoor dining areas that have been established in front of each new restaurant have had a huge impact on the imagery and the environment of downtown. All those eyes on the sidewalk make people safe."
The land where the Genesee Towers sat "will initially be open space. It's a key site and hopefully a new building will go on that site some day," Whipple says.
It's across the street from the Michigan State University School of Public Health, which is under construction and expected to open by fall.
Next, the Flint Farmers Market will open in a new location in downtown Flint by late May.
"The new Flint Farmers Market is going to knock everyone's socks off," he says.
Vendor space will double and be better designed and more centrally located. There will be a community room and a kitchen space that will nurture new food-related businesses as well as host cooking demos and be a meeting spot for classes such as healthy eating.
Next to that an elder care facility, Pace, is under construction.
The Capitol Theatre, which is in fundraising mode and slated for a grant from the Michigan State Housing and Development Authority, "could be the tipping point," says Troy Farah, whose family owns the theater and is involved in major reinvestment in downtown through Uptown Reinvestment Corp.
"We call it the catalyst project," he says.
Like many of the downtown Flint redevelopment projects, the Capitol is a complex mix of funding and approvals.
"This project will also be multi-layered with grants from multiple sources, historic tax credits. The idea, because Flint already has this spectacular cultural center east of downtown, is to complement that, not compete, by having pop, country, rock, reggae concerts," Whipple says. "It'll jibe well with what's going on downtown and help build the entertainment aspect of the economy that brings so many people to downtown.
"The work that we've done, I can't emphasize how difficult it is and how much patience it takes. Tax credits, grants, bank loans, HUD loans, different layers of financing. It can really be a headache, but it's all the more sweet when it gets done."
Whipple says he can hear the signs of Flint's comeback every morning when he wakes up in Grand Blanc, in the same neighborhood where he grew up.
"Not long after I moved back I was lying in bed listening to the city around me. As you wake up you can hear the roar of traffic coming into the city, and then the jets coming and going out of Bishop Airport… if you look at a map, you realize I-69 is an international corridor with Canada. I thought, as I heard all that, that this town does not sound like a dying town at all. In fact it sounds like a commercial hub. Because of our physical location, Flint is never going to die. The airport, the freeway, the railroad, even that is back... You can hear that all now in Flint, planes, trains and automobiles."
Kim North Shine is a Detroit-area freelance writer and the Development News Editor for Metromode.
Photos by Avram Golden.
Natalie Burg is project editor for Issue Media Group's placemaking series, underwritten by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.
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