Parking and transit questions arise after ambitious $1.5B District Detroit development proposal

Parking and transit questions raised in light of new $1.5B District Detroit plan

District Detroit developers made their case to the public at Cass Tech Tuesday night, unveiling the plan which includes about 10 projects for the area - but infrastructure questions have been raised.

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Lingering questions about parking and transit remain a few days after a massive $1.5 billion proposal was announced for part of Downtown and Midtown Detroit.

The area surrounding downtown Detroit has gotten much busier, and congested - so how much more can it take?

It's one of the things Midtown area residents like Harold Thomas say they would need to see in the District Detroit area if the $1.5 Billion Ilitch-Ross development gets planned out over the next five years.

FOX 2: "Transit’s the big thing?"

"Yeah. We definitely need more of that," Thomas said. "More Q Line extension like on Michigan Avenue, Jefferson, maybe Gratiot."

The District Detroit developers made their case to the public at Cass Tech Tuesday night, unveiling the plan which includes about 10 projects for the area, ranging from a major hotel to large office spaces, shopping centers, luxury apartments, and affordable housing - all in the spirit of what they call mixed-income neighborhoods.

But county leaders voiced some concerns about transit and parking in the already bustling corridor.

"Most or a lot of the projects that will be built, are going to be constructed on existing parking lots," said Jonathan Kinloch. "And so will that add to more need for parking."

Kinloch is a Wayne County Commissioner from District Two and says he wants to make sure residents don’t get left out of the big development talks - which would have to include infrastructure.

"I did not hear whether or not there would be any additional parking structures to try to alleviate some of the existing congestion that is already occurring inside of the neighborhood," he said.

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The executives from the development agencies told residents in the first public forum earlier this week, they intend to work with the public in addressing all concerns so that no one feels left out of the process.

"We’ve built these across the country, and we really believe that this type of mixed-income housing is critical to the fabric of strong communities," said developer Andrew Canton.