Detroit’s approach based on collaboration, access and sustainability
Detroit’s resurgence from a 2013 bankruptcy to a city brimming with vitality started with collaboration.
A lot of it.
“Public-private partnership and civic leadership are really in Detroit’s DNA,” said Jared Fleisher, vice president of government affairs and economic development for Rocket Companies. “The story of Detroit’s comeback, which was from the lowest low to the sky is the limit, is fundamentally a story of public-private partnership, of civic commitment.
“…Detroit has seen 10 years of transformation. The secret sauce of taking it to the next level is people who have the capacity from the private-philanthropic sector really leaning in.”
Fleisher was part of a downtown development panel discussion during the Tulsa Regional Chamber’s recent Intercity Visit to Detroit.
More than 125 attendees from across northeast Oklahoma – including city and county elected officials, business leaders, regional partners, education administrators and young professionals – participated in the three-day trip, which ended Oct. 9.
Moderated by Whitney Stauffer, a partner with Narrate Design of Tulsa, the panel discussion included Karen DuPerry, executive in charge of construction for the Detroit Riverfront Conservatory, and Eric Larson, CEO of the Downtown Detroit Partnership.
Detroit has scored many recent project wins downtown, including a 25-story, market-rate apartment tower and a long-awaited riverwalk connection between Mt. Elliott and Gabriel Richard parks. Under way on the former Joe Louis Arena site is a new luxury convention hotel.
There also is the transformation of the riverfront, which now includes pavilions, plazas, rails-to-trails pathways and open green space.
“No developer along the riverfront, even Rocket, can build right to the river’s edge,” DuPerry said. “So, there is going to be that public space now that is continuous for 5½ miles.
“That was very important to us because we wanted to make sure that the public always felt welcome and that everybody could come down. The other important part to it is that it is all ADA-accessible, because we wanted to make sure moms with strollers and somebody who is 90 using a walker felt like they could come down.”
While collaboration is key to development, it also helps to have someone with deep pockets, such as billionaire Dan Gilbert. Founder and chairman of Rocket Companies, a Detroit-based fintech company, Gilbert has invested more than $6 billion into downtown projects, officials said.
He also is creating lasting opportunities through the Gilbert Family Foundation.
“It’s another way that Detroit sort of shows up with legacy and shows up through sustainability,” Larson said. “A lot of people get excited and interested in something for a moment, but the difference is putting the structure together that allows you to continue that. That’s the thing that has been most remarkable about this community.”
Reaching any long-term goal, however, takes a willingness to fight through obstacles, Fleisher said.
“We’ve had great leadership in the city and state government here,” he said. “I think that’s really, really important for you guys, as well. The state government for Oklahoma should realize that a vibrant and bustling Tulsa is in the interest of the state. It’s in the interest of growing the state. It’s in the interest of attracting and retaining talent in the state.
“One of the ways that we’re able to overcome the economic gaps in our projects is that we’ve created pretty innovative tools where the state can be a partner in the projects. Everything is hard…There’s political tension. There’s social tension. There’s racial tension. It is hard. We have two ‘isms, which is our culture at Rocket Companies. ‘Do the right thing, and ignore the noise.’”