Troy, a prosperous northern Detroit “Edge City” retained Gibbs Planning Group in 2017 to plan a traditional downtown on their 125-acre civic campus. Although the city includes two regional malls, major corporations and over 85,000 residents, it lacks a walkable city center.
A year-long community visioning initiative resulted in a plan for a walkable urban center based on the 1920s City Beautiful movement. The plan was based on hotel, residential, and retail market research, and real estate pro forma economic models to estimate demand, costs, and potential investment returns for the proposed center.
The plan includes 1,000 residential dwellings, 180,000 square feet of retail/commercial, a large hotel, a revitalized city hall, a courthouse, library, a regional civic building, a lake and nearly 60 acres of parks.
The plan was supported by over 65 percent of the city’s voters in a public referendum.
Similar Projects
South Main #thisisCNU
Buena Vista, Colorado
Outside Buena Vista, Colorado, on the site of a former garbage dump, forty acres of riverfront land sat vacant for years. It took two nature-loving developers—risk-takers with a background as competitive kayakers—to see what it could become.
Fairview Village
Fairview, Oregon
Built in a suburb of Portland, Fairview Village is designed as a compact neighborhood, including houses with porches and stoops facing the street.
Jean Lafitte Tomorrow
Jean Lafitte, Louisiana
Of all the projects recognized by the 2013 Charter Awards jury, this project inspired particular warmth – particular enough to create a special award of recognition for its locally driven, handcrafted approach.