Luxury Real Estate

Courtesy of Carolyn Bowen-Keating of Hall & Hunter Realtors

Living in the Detroit Metropolitan area we know this is a great place to live, raise a family and work. We are also ambassadors to help people enjoy their experience in Detroit, because if they enjoy their time here maybe they’ll come back another time or decide to live and work here. Or maybe they’ll simply say something nice about Detroit next time it comes up in conversation. Each of those scenarios is good for Detroit and the region.

Downtown Detroit is making a comeback so the Relocation Department of Hall & Hunter Realtors arranged for a three hour field trip to tour Detroit and see the revitalization first hand. We picked a beautiful afternoon to take a tour narrated by Jeanette Pierce, the founder of Inside Detroit. Pierce’s goal was to show the many interesting and beautiful sites of Detroit from an insider’s prospective. Pierce shared the political history of the city and its buildings including the Guardian Building with its beautiful woodwork and tile map of Michigan outlining the history of our great state through illustrations of the agriculture and manufacturing.

The national perception of Detroit was once filled with fear for a person’s safety but when we were at Campus Martius there where hundreds of people enjoying their lunch and reading a book in the sunshine of the park. This midtown area is rich with new buildings and park benches for summertime enjoyment as well as the Motown Winter Blast in January. There are statues that tell the history of the politicians and sports figures that made Detroit the highlight of the nation.

Later we enjoyed Tyree Guyton’s Heidelberg Project, which looks very different in person and has much more meaning when you see it through the eyes of Jeanette Pierce. Guyton’s project started as a way to take trash on vacant lots and turn it into art…to some this would be an “in your face” type of art but to see it in person gave me a new appreciation for this new beauty.

Formerly a Grand Trunk Railroad line, the Dequindre Cut is a below-street level path that runs parallel to St. Aubin Street, providing a greenway featuring a 20-foot-wide paved pathway, which includes separate lanes for pedestrian and bicycle traffic. You can follow the Dequindre Cut to the Eastern Market before strolling along the five mile long Riverwalk. There’s so much to see and do once you hop in your car and make your way to Downtown Detroit.

We must remember that we are all Detroit ambassadors. It is not a choice; it is a fact. We all are Detroit ambassadors because we all represent our region, and we all want it to succeed. So find something that you get excited about and be ready to share it with someone next time you’re on a plane or get stopped for directions or asked for a restaurant recommendation. We have plenty of things to be excited about, and we’d love to share them with you.