Aspinwall, a well off Pittsburgh Historic Suburb

My evaluation excluded the more suburban portion of Aspinall north of state route 28. Aspinwall began as an upper middle class river town for those who wished to be close to Downtown for commuting but away from the craziness and pollution of the City. But unlike Sewickley this was mostly younger families with children. Aspinwall has maintained its stability even with dropping from 4,000 to 2,700 residents since WWII. This is aided by its attractive historic housing, nice village feel with attractive neighborhood retail, location in the prized Fox Chapel School District, and convenience to the Water works shopping district.

Areas that Aspinwall could improve from an urban perspective include more bike infrastructure, racial diversity, and walkable schools within the borough boundaries (as opposed to being in surrounding suburban communities). A large multi-family, mixed-use development along the river would be a nice population boast to the borough as well, but not sure if this is possible with the flood plain.
Click here to view the entire Aspinwall photo album on my Flickr page

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Convenient access to Downtown via transit and an easy 15-20 minute drive/
* Very walkable village feel with compact residential streets and several streets with neighborhood restaurants, bars and some retail.
* Pretty Dense community.
* Pretty good age diversity and large percentage of family households.
* For sale housing generally on the high end but pretty good diversity. 2-bedrooms in the 200ks low 300ks, 3-bedrooms 300Ks and low 400ks, & 4-bedrooms 300K-600Ks.
* Recreational amenities include a very interesting riverfront park and the Aspinwall Recreation area.
* Culturally Aspinwall has a nice mix of restaurants, bars, and cafes, and a few art galleries but not much else.
* Lots of locally owned boutiques, unique shops, and a bookstore. Plenty of retail amenities just outside of Aspinwall but in a strip mall (i.e. a movie theater, hospital, supermarket, banks, a Walmart, staples, and several chain retail stores).
* Very safe community.
* Attractive historic housing.
* Generally good ADA infrastructure. Up to date ADA curb cuts is hit or miss.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Limited bike infrastructure.
* Very white community (90%). Some economic diversity.
* Rentals are pretty limited but what exists is generally medium prized.
* Only the Catholic Elementary school is within Aspinwall. But Aspinwall is part of the prized Fox Chapel School District, all of which are in suburban, auto centric areas.
* Limited modern in-fill. What does exist is hit or miss.

Sanford, FL Historic Orange Producing Capital of the World


I included only the Historic core of Sandford between the lake and 13th Street and French & Locust Streets.

Known as the “Historic Waterfront Gateway City,” Sanford sits on the southern shore of Lake Monroe at the head of navigation on the St. Johns River. The town started to grow in the late 1800s when the South Florida Railroad ran a line from Sanford to Tampa. This helped propel Sandford and the surrounding area into the largest shipper of oranges in the world. The City waxed and waned for many years but eventually found its footing. A City streetscaping project in 2004 helped breath new life into Downtown and many new stores and businesses opened.

Sanford has a well invested and extensive historic main street across several streets, along with great waterfront parks. South of here are many attractive historic streets with turn of the century architecture. To become a great urban core there are is significant in-fill and additional density needed here along with the remediation of a fair amount of blight. Plenty of vacant lots and surface parking surrounding the historic core of Downtown.
Click here to view my Sanford, FL album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Excellent street grid and connectivity.
* Nice array of Bike lanes across Sanford.
* Excellent racial and economic diversity.
* Diverse array of for-sale housing starting around 100K to 400K.
* Wonderful array of waterfront parks including the Sanford Riverwalk, Veterans Memorial Park & Ft. Mellon Park. Also several nice neighborhood parks.
* Culturally lots of great restaurants, craft beer & bars,  several historic theaters, and many live music venues.
* Decent amount of neighborhood amenities including a drug store, supermarket, and lots of boutiques, and socially stores Dwtn. All a public library, post office.
* Several nice elementary schools and a public middle school just outside of Historic Sanford.
* ADA infrastructure is generally good but some areas with less than ideal sidewalks and curb cuts in the residential areas.
* Great urban massing in the blocks where the historic buildings are still in tact. 

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Sanford is only a 30 minute drive to dwtn Orlando but really no bus service.
* Family households are pretty limited.
* Rentals are limited especially 1-bedrooms. Price points are pretty average.
* Generally safe area but some blighted spots.
* Modern infill is mostly auto centric.
* Fair amount of surface parking, open space (not parks), and auto centric areas. 

Cold Spring NY, a quaint Hudson Valley Town

Cold Spring is one of many attractive historic towns running along the Hudson frequented by many vacationing New Yorkers. The central area of the village is on the National Register of Historic Places due to its many well-preserved 19th-century buildings. The town grew around the West Point Foundry  in 1818.

Cold Springs has gracefully transitioned from a minor industrial hub into an attractive historic town that is well preserved and hosts a vibrant main street full of unique privately owned shops and plenty of bars and restaurants to serve tourists, especially in the summer. The City also takes advantage of its gorgeous views down the Hudson with an excellent waterfront park. For the year round resident, schools are good and most things you need are within walking distance. Highland State Park, one of New York’s best, is literally a mile away.

I’m not sure I’d want to see this town overdeveloped, but it would be nice to have some more quality urban in-fill outside of main street along with bike infrastructure. Cold Springs also lacks racial and economic diversity. 
Click here to view my Cold Spring album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Lovely, well maintained historic main street.
* Along the Hudson Commuter Line which provides convenient access to towns up and down the eastern side of the Hudson and eventually NYC.
* Gorgeous riverside park with amazing views of the Hudson and Catskills Mountains. Parks within the City are pretty limited but Hudson Highland State Park and the Constitution Marsh Audubon Center are less than a mile away.
* Culturally there are many restaurants & bars, several community theaters and art galleries. Several nice historic sites as well.
* Many wonderful boutiques and locally owned shops as one might expect for a tourist town. But also important neighborhood assets including a drug store, supermarket, public library, post office, and medical center.
* Very safe town.
* Nice array of decent-good schools all within walking distance.
* Great sidewalks and ADA infrastructure along the Main Street and core, but walkability drops off a bit in surrounding streets.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Not very dense. Much of the local businesses are supported by tourists. But it gives the locals a level of amenities they could never have without tourist.
* Lack of density is also not as much of a factor since everything is still very close in such a small town.
* Removed from major employment centers including over 1 hour by driving and 2 hours via transit to NYC. Although West Point is only a 1/2 drive.
* No biking Infrastructure here.
* Poor economic and racial diversity. Generally a pretty affluent White community.
* Generally pretty expensive housing. Limited smaller for sale product in the 200Ks & 300Ks. Most housing selling btwn 400K-600K.
* Rentals pretty limited. 1-bedrooms go for around 2K and 2-bedrooms around 3K.
* Modern in-fill is very limited and what does exist is generally more auto centric. 

Don’t Forget about Downtown Kansas City, Kansas

Click here to view the full Downtown Kansas City, KS album on Flickr
Downtown Kansas City, KS is overall a pretty rough downtown centered along Minnesota Avenue between 5th and 10th Streets lined with 2-3 story commercial buildings. The occasional mid-sized buildings is sprinkled throughout especially surrounding the heart of downtown, Huron Park between 6th and 7th Streets. I extended the evaluation area to be between Washing Blvd and Orville Ave. This captures portions of residential areas like Strawberry Hill & Riverview. I evaluated this as a neighborhood because it is not a major employment hub for the region.

It seems like most of what remains in Downtown Kansas City, KS are government office and services. Some retail remains downtown, but more of the main street type. Few non-governmental offices buildings left. But some positive momentum and initiatives happening downtown with the creation of the Downtown Kansas City Shareholders, formed around a voluntary business improvement district in 2008. Also, there is some positive momentum with renovations of historic homes, specially in Strawberry Hill. This area also hosts some decent urban retail on 6th & 5th Street. But overall there is a lot of blight still in the residential areas.

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Some positive momentum and initiatives happening downtown with the creation of a business district improvement district in 2008 and efforts to fill retail vacancies.
* Pretty good public transit access. Easy driving access to Downtown MO, but pretty poor transit access, especially considering how close it is.
* Highly connected Street Grid.
* Pretty good income diversity although it skews poorer.
* Great racial diversity and pretty good economic and generational diversity.
* Along with Minnesota, some nice urban comm along 4th & 5th Ave.
* Nice array of walkable elementary schools ringing dwtn. Reviews are mixed. Great Arts & Science High School within Dwtn. 

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Significant blight and vacancy
* Not a lot of vibrancy downtown. This is also due to the linear, east to west lay out of downtown.
* Rental options are very limited, but what does exist is very cheap. For sale housing  is generally on the cheap end and somewhat blighted but some nice renovated housing in the high 100ks.
* Some parks but not the greatest.
* Cultural amenities are a bit limited. They include a theater, a local museum, some restaurants and bars, a casino.
* Some neighborhood amenities… salons, banks, a drug store, a family dollar, dwtn library & post office.
* Pretty gritty and a fair amount of blight throughout.
* Fair amount of surface parking downtown and dead space.

Historic St. Augustine- America’s oldest City

Click here to view my full Historic St. Augustine Album on Flick
St. Augustine is America’s oldest City and not surprising has a ton of interesting History. It was founded in 1565 by the Spanish and served as the capital of Spanish Florida for over 200 years.  Eventually Florida was ceded to the US in 1819. After much stagnation, the City experienced a late 19th century renaissance when  Henry Flagler, a co-founder with John D. Rockefeller of the Standard Oil Company, spent the winter of 1883 in St. Augustine and found the city charming. He dedicated much effort to modernizing the City’s hotels and transportation systems to make St. Augustine a winter resort for wealthy Americans. This lead to the construction of two ornate hotels, many churches, and the incredible Flagler College. After a post WWII period of decline, the City doubled done on its historic architecture and preserved much of its architecture helping to create Historic St. Augustine as a major tourist destination.

Historic St. Augustine (especially between Cordova and the Matanzas River) is highly walkable lined with cute shops and lots of restaurants, bars, and historic sites. The City converted St. George St. into a pedestrian only way and invested heavily in public space including its waterfront and Plaza de la Constitution. What is still missing from an urban perspective is more neighborhoods serving retail (i.e. supermarket & large retail), bike infrastructure, quality public transit, and affordable housing. There is still room for modern in-fill along the northern edge and western half of St. George Street, which still hosts a fair amount of surface parking and auto centric uses.

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* While transit and bike infrastructure is poor, this is still a highly walkable neighborhood.
* Good economic and generational diversity.
* Park amenities include a modest but attractive waterfront, a great historic Spanish plaza (Plaza de la Constitution) and a large sports themed park. Also some nice quad space in Flagler College.
* Culturally lots of bars, restaurants & cafes, historic sites & museums, and live music venues. Flagler College also brings a lot of cultural activities especially in the performing arts. Because of the tourism the many annual festivals as well.
* Lots a typical tourist stores like boutiques, gift shops, clothing ,specialty and home good stores. .Some more traditional stores like banks, post office, and small gourmet grocerias. No larger retailors nor a supermarket or drug stores.
* Excellent ADA infrastructure bolstered by a dwtn pedestrian street (St. George St.).
* Strong sense of place with a combination of distinctive historic architecture, pedestrian paths and pretty good neighborhood boundaries.
* Overall great urban form, but still pockets of surface parking and more auto centric streets on the edges of the district.
* Great pedestrian activity in the historic district. Less so in the more residential portion of the neighborhood west of Cordova St.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Dwtn Jacksonville is over a 45+ drive with poor transit access. Some jobs in dwtn St. Augustine with Flagler College and the tourist industry.
* Public transit is pretty limited.
* No dedicated bike lanes but there is a dockless system in the City.
* For sale housing rather expensive. 2-bedrooms start in the mid 200ks and 3-bedrooms sell generally btwn the 300Ks-500Ks. 4-bedrooms are 500k or higher. Really no 1-bedroom condo product. Rental product is pretty limited and a bit on the expensive side.
* Both a quality public and catholic elementary school within walking distance. But no middle or high schools.
* Modern architecture is limited.

Galveston, Texas’ original Port City

Click here to view the Galveston Album on my Flickr page
I consider Dwtn Galveston to be between W 25th and W 19th Streets and Broadway and the Ocean. Given that this is not a major employment center for the Houston Metro, I am evaluating it as a neighborhood.

Galveston is one of the most interesting cities in Texas in my opinion. It was founded 1825 when Mexico established it as a port city. Soon after Galveston served as the Capitol of Texas for a brief time. The City quickly developed into a strategic gulf port only out matched by New Orleans. Because of its ethnic mix of Mexicans and Germans, Galveston was very sympathetic to union causes and was a Republican stronghold in the south. It welcomed 3,000 freeman blacks after the Civil War. By the end of the 19th century, the City had a population of 37,000 Along with being a port city the Strand became a major banking center. This prosperity all came crashing down with the devastation of the 1900 hurricane killing upwards of 8.000 souls, the deadliest natural distracter in US history.  Galveston never returned to its levels of national importance or prosperity. During this time Houston developed a major shipping channel supplanting its port. Galveston, however, did emerge as a regional tourist destination, first as an open “red light” city in the 20s & 30s and eventually settling in as a beach, party, and cruise ship destination. The City also invested heavily on preserving its historic architecture, easily the best in the Houston Metro and perhaps the state of Texas.

Real estate values have increased in downtown Galveston in the past two decades. This is promising for urban in-fill to replace blighted and vacant lots blustering its urban form, but if not managed appropriately, could lead to hardships for its large minority populations. I also hope that real estate investment will translate to other infrastructure improvements (i.e. streetscaping, parks, waterfront, ADA infrastructure, and tree canopy).

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Gorgeous late 19th century architecture.
* Generally most intersections have curb cuts but few have modern ADA infrastructure.
* Great racial and economic diversity.
* Good variety of rental options with one-bedrooms ranging from 700K-2,000 in rent; 2-bedrooms between 1-2K.
* Lots of variety with for-sale as well. 1 & 2 bedroom condos near the waterfront sell anywhere from 225K-400. Historic homes start around 175K up to around 400K.
* As this is a major tourist destination for the Houston Metro its not surprising there are good cultural amenities in dwtn Galveston including restaurants, bars, live music venues, several community theaters, and lots of art galleries. Also several museums as well.
* Lots a typical tourist stores like boutiques, antiques, gift shops, and a bookstore. But also more traditional stores like banks, post office, dwtn library, and cafes. No larger retailors nor a supermarket or drug store.
* While no schools within the Dwtn area, there are several surrounding it within walking distance.
* Urban form is good throughout dwtn especially on Post office and Strand St. There areas also have the best streetscaping as well. 

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Modern buildings are pretty ugly, mostly from the 60s & 70s.
* While not the best public transit system, downtown Galveston is served by a streetcar.
* Given that there are few non-service/entertainment jobs and it’s a 55+ drive to downtown Houston, I felt that access to job center is fair at best in Galveston.
* I believe only 19th street hosts dedicated bike lanes. No public bike shares but several private ones set up for tourists.
* No 3-bedrooms for rent.
* Recreational space limited to a couple plazas and an ocean park along the pier. Shipyard and industrial really limit waterfront green space. Saengerfest Park, however, is well activated and laid out.
* While I generally felt self in dwtn Galveston, there is plenty of blight here.
* Modern in-fil is pretty unspring 60s&70s style.
* Fair amount of surface parking lots. Streetscape is uninspiring in a lot of spots.
* Street tree canopy not the best. Dead spots especially in surface parking lots. 

Downtown Hartford, CT- More than just the Insurance Capitol of the World

I used pretty standard boundaries to measure Downtown Hartford, but excluded Downtown North of it is a mostly vacated district.

Downtown Hartford is similar to other east coast midsized cities like Syracuse, Albany, Scranton, Allenton… compact with great historic architecture, but still struggling to rebound from disinvestment. Yet Hartford still excels as a major employment hub hosting over 80K jobs bolstered by being the state capital and hosting many corporate headquarters. Insurance is one of Hartford’s strengths earning it the nickname the “Insurance Capital of the World”.

Dwtn Hartford also contains many great cultural amenities including a gorgeous statehouse, Fredric Olmsted designed park located right in its heart, a gorgeous historic train station and many museums including the Wadsworth Atheneum, the oldest public art museum in the US. Some live, work, play momentum has come within the last decade adding more vibrancy and night life. But dwtn Hartford still has a ways to go before being a truly mixed-use center. Plenty of parking lots in the NW section of Dwtn to in-fill with dense apartment buildings to help make this happen.

Other urban attributes Dwtn Hartford could improve upon include better bike infrastructure, more economic & racial diversity among its residents, a real civic gathering space, and more neighborhood amenities like a supermarket and larger format retail.
Click here to view my Downtown Hartford album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Excellent public transit within Dwtn, Hartford City Limits, and well out the Hartford Metro area. Decent access btwn dwtn and the airport via an express bus line.
* For sale condos and flats are a bit limited but good diversity in price. 1-bedrooms sell in the 100Ks & low 200Ks. 2-bedrooms go for anywhere btwn 150K-400ks. 3-bedrooms are limited and diverse in price.
* Rentals are more plentiful generally pretty reasonable in price, esp. for an east cost town. Studios start around a $1,000, 1-bedrooms in the $1,000s, 2-bedrooms in the high $1,000s. 3-bedrooms are very limited. 
* Dwtn Hartford have their very owned Olmsted designed park (Bushnell Park) which in the middle of Downtown, This transitions into the statehouse grounds. Several other plazas in dwtn but most of them or pretty dead or bland modern plazas. None of these are viable civic plazas. Bushnell Park fulfills this role.
* Culturally a nice array of historic and boutique theaters, plenty of music venues, and a small theater. Also plenty of restaurants & bars, lots of museums, and some art galleries. 
* Most dwtn amenities are here including the main post office & library, convention center, and many governmental offices esp. as this is dwtn.
* Dwtn is very high for the size of the metro at 80K and it is the largest employment center in CT.
* Office vacancy rates are high though hovering around  18%.
* Pretty good retail amenities with boutiques and neighborhood amenities.
* Great historic architecture and one of my favorite statehouses.
* Curb cuts fill every intersection but a mix of current and date ADA infrastructure.
* Great good urban streetscape but dependent on whether the street has seen major investment.
* While not terribly vertical, this is a nice compact skyline.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Hartford’s bike share system is generally disjointed and in small bits and pieces. Yes there are several large regional bike paths that pass through the Metro, but they aren’t built for commuters. A bike Share system appears to be in the works as of 2020.
* Downtown residential population definitively skews white and young professional.
* Sport venues are limited to a minor league baseball stadium.
* No department stores or supermarkets.
* Dwtn feels sketch in parts but generally pretty safe.
* Plenty of schools kind of within walking district west and south of dwtn but generally not well rated.
* Decent college enrollment dwtn with about 4,000 students at the community college and a dwtn branch of UConn.
* Modern architecture not bad but generally modern office bldgs with so  urban form.
* Tree canopy is so  but great coverage in Bushnell Park.
* Fair amount of surface parking lots in the NW section of Dwtn but good urban form in the rest of dwtn.
* Dwtn Hartford still has an image problem but this seems to be getting better.

Downtown Pontiac, MI

Click here to view the full Pontiac, MI album on Flickr
I decided to only review Dwtn Pontiac as that was mostly what I visited and because this is the most viable urban portion of Pontiac. During urban renewal Woodward was build as a loop around dwtn. I used this as the neighborhood’s boundary.

Founded in 1818, Pontiac is one of the earliest Michigan settlements. The city was best known for its General Motors auto plants from the early 20th century. Throughout the 1920s and 30s, Pontiac boomed with thousands of new autoworkers moving here from the South. Like many Michigan manufacturing towns, the town fell on hard times. But in 2010, city leaders and business owners had launched “The Rise of The Phoenix” initiative to attract new businesses and retail space. This has certainly gone a long way to stabilize downtown and fill it with many storefronts but plenty of underdeveloped and vacant parts of downtown, especially along the edges where the Woodward loop road destroyed significant urban fabric. Unfortunately neighborhoods in Pontiac have not seen a whole lot of reinvestment.

The way forward to make Downtown Pontiac a truly viable urban place is continued in-fill and population attraction. 

URBAN STRENGTHS:

*  Fair amount of jobs dwtn as Pontiac is the county seat. Also 30 minute drive to dwtn Detroit but takes just over an hour to commute via bus.
* Nice cultural assets including several historic theaters, some night clubs, and decent array of restaurants, bars, and breweries.
* Nice array of neighborhood services and boutiques in many filled historic storefronts. Also the public and a major hospital are located Downtown.
* Dwtn Pontiac generally feels safe but a fair of blight and vacancy on the edges of Dwtn.
* Several schools on the northern and eastern edge of dwtn. Mixed ratings but nice mix of K-12 Schools.
* Great urban fabric and streetscape along Saginaw, the main drag, but certainly lacking on the edges of Dwtn.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* New bike lanes have been added to dwtn Pontiac but still a long way to go for Pontiac to be bike friendly.
* The residential population is generally lower income and Black. But the dwtn caters to a diverse population for work and shopping. Decent generational diversity though
* For sale housing limited to the north edge of dwtn. Generally between 50K-100K. Rental product is also pretty limited but some nice apartments generally listing around 1,000 for 1-bedrooms.
* Interesting modernist plaza and amphitheater at the City centered on top of a parking lot. Really not other park/plaza space outside of this.
* No supermarket, post office, or drug store located downtown.

Royal Oak, a stable Detroit Streetcar suburb

Click here to view the full Royal Oak album on Flickr
I am only evaluating the mostly pre-WWII section of Royal Oak, which is everything south of 12 Mile Ave. This includes the Royal Oak Dwtn and large neighborhoods surrounding it.

Royal Oak developed initially in the early 20th century as a suburb after Detroit boomed as a major industrial city. Low-medium density housing surround its traditional street-side shopping district which run between Washington and Troy. In the 2000s City leaders poured significant effort in revitalizing downtown with new businesses, restaurants, bars and high end stores. Significant mixed-use in-fill also filled downtown.

While already a stable upper middle class community, the City could improve with added density and urban in-fill along its commercial corridors (Main & 11th Street) out of downtown. 

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Best transit access runs along Woodland Avenue on Royal Oak western border.
* Very good street connectivity in Royal Oak.
* Pretty good bike infrastructure with several streets of bike lanes and a fair amount of Detroit’s bike share stations around downtown.
* Good economic and generational diversity.
* Diverse array of rentals 1-bedrooms range anywhere from 800K-1.6K; 2-bedrooms between 1.3K-3K. 3-bedrooms generally in the 2-3Ks. Same with for-sale properties -bedroom condos sell between 250-325K, 2&3-bedrooms anywhere between 250K-550K.
* Nice array of small-medium high amenity parks spread through the City.
* Extensive Downtown for a historic suburb spanning several streets between Washington and Troy. Dwtn hosts a great array of neighborhood businesses, restaurants & bars, several historic theaters, a cinema, a dwtn post office
* Royal Oak also hosts several supermarkets & drug stores but not larger retailers.
* Dwtn hosts great urban fabric and streetscape. Outside of dwtn the commercial streets of Main or Eleven mile are semi-autocentric. Still have sidewalks but plenty of auto centric buildings.
* Nice array of pretty well schools within walking distance to most residents.
* Decent historic architecture but very high quality urban infill. 

URBAN WEAKNESSES

* Pretty easy access to Dwtn via the car but about a 45 minute transit ride.
* Racial diversity is pretty limited.
* Density is not great and more akin to a 1950 suburb, but that’s Detroit for you.
* Outside of Downtown, not a lot of pedestrian activity.

Palmer Park and the University District- Detroit’s wealthiest African American enclave

I included several linked and related districts surrounding Palmer Park including the Palmer Park Apartment  District, Palmer Woods, Sherwood Forest, and the University District. Sherwood Forest and Palmer Woods are large mansions districts built in the 1920s-1930s with sinuous streets. Palmer Woods hosts smaller but large homes on gridded streets from the same area. The Palmer Apt District hosts incredible 1910s-1930s historic apartments bldgs. Unfortunately many of them are abandonded.

This district is by far the wealthiest African American pocket within Detroit’s city limits. Because of this homes, are well maintained and generally sell between 300K-500K with a strong commercial district running along Livernois. Blight, however, is not far away creeping into the districts southern and eastern edges. Hopefully with a major urban infrastructure investment on Livernois and the neighborhood’s existing assets, this area can continue to stabilize and spill over into surrounding districts.

Major urban improvements to the neighborhood include the need for more density and urbanization of Woodward Avenue. Given Detroit’s current population trajectory, I don’t see this happening anytime soon but hope there will soon be urban in-fill going up along Livernois building off the street’s successes.
Click to view my Palmer Woods and Palmer Park Historic District Albums on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Good transit access and downtown access but still 8 miles away.
* Most intersection have up to date ADA Access.
* Some dedicated bike lanes running through Palmer Park and good coverage by Detroit’s bike sharing system.
* The Single Family portion of this district includes some of the high Medium Households in Detroit. The apartments surrounding Palmer Park are just above the poverty level.
* Lots of Family households here at around 75%.
* Palmer Park certainly provides excellent park amenities to this neighborhood. Also a large cemetery and two golf course, but guessing these are not as popular.
* Lots of restaurants, bars, cafes, boutiques, and neighborhood retail lining Livernois St on a decent urban setting (at least for Detroit standards). Major streetscape improvements in the works for Livernois as well.
* Livernois also hosts a supermarket, post office, library, and a nice mix of boutiques and neighborhood serving retail. On the other hand commercial amenities on Woodward on limited due to blight and auto centric design.
* There is both a great Catholic Elementary and High School in the neighborhood. Several public schools of mixed rating.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Still some blight in the Palmer Apt District and along the Wood Ave Commercial District.
* Even with good transit and bike coverage the neighborhood is still pretty spreadout requiring long walking distances between destinations.
* About 85% African American households.
* Most homes are 4 bedrooms costing around 300K. Larger properties go for 500-600K. Keep in mind all of these are large homes with decent back yards.
* Rentals are limited outside of the Palmer Apt District. Very affordable rents here where at 20bedrooms goes for $900-1$,000.
* Other than bars and restaurants and some events at Detroit Mercy University, limited cultural amenities here.