Downtown Living

[dnast]

Rosewood says that they've had almost 700 people inquire about the Rosewood Riverside Townhomes. The homes in University Park Estates were all reserved before any house was finished (if I recall correctly). Uptown Development was getting phone calls every day about First Street Lofts before construction was even started. I believe even Manhattan Place received a lot of interest even though it seems to be on hold indefinitely.

Unless these were all lies, it seems like downtown should be able to support a lot more residents than it currently has. How long do you all think it'll be before there is new residential mid-/high-rise construction?

There needs to be a study done on this. The handful 2 to 16 unit developments around downtown don't seem like they'll make much of a difference besides putting vacant buildings and parts of building to use.

Also, I was wondering if anyone has ever seen a quote on downtown Flint's population. I have yet to find any numbers...

At first look it seems like nobody at all lives downtown, but if you look closer you'll see several small apartment buildings and even some single family homes scattered around downtown. I'm not sure how many units there are, but there are a lot more existing units than the number planned and under construction. It seems like they don't get any attention at all.

I happened to get photos of some of the residential buildings when I was on my photo binge a month ago:

Sylvester Manor:

Hardy Apartments:

Not sure what the name is. It's possibly a retirement home:

Another building I don't know the name of. It appears to be mainly used by UM-Flint students:

Bermean Apartments:

Apartments on Grand Traverse:

YWCA (do people still live there?):

Technically not downtown, but sits just past its boudaries. Besides, it's what connects the University Park area to downtown. The River Village towers and the surrounding apartment buildings and townhomes probably make several hundred units:

[RustTown]

I just did a quick little census factfinder thing and found that greater downtown Flint (the census tract is slightly larger than downtown including areas north of the Flint River) currently has a population of 2,595 in what seems to be an area of 1 square mile or slightly less. In comparison:

Downtown Lansing - 4,900 (in one square mile), Greater Downtown - 6,159

Detroit's CBD - 6,141 (nearly a square mile), Greater Downtown - 33,000

Downtown Grand Rapids - 4,775 (CBD and Heritage Hill)

[dnast]

Thanks. The Census Tract is pretty accurate. The farfetched part that extends northeast doesn't affect anything since there's no housing there, and downtown's boundaries go north of the river (either to 3rd or 5th Ave.)

Even though the downtown population is very low, it's still more than you'd think by just looking. You can clearly see that lack of mix-used buildings by looking at the thematic population map; All of the yellow (little to no residents) is where the offices and shops are.

[RustTown]

That's true of most American city's downtowns. For instance, in Lansing's office core as of 2000 (as shown by the maps) the population was only 45, and that's all lofts. It's a smaller census tract, though.

[VeeFan]

I wish Flint had more buildings like Sylvester Manor. If only that part of Court could become like a Venician sector.

Maybe the residential demand for downtown could finally be a way to put the Genesee Towers back to good use.

[Allan]

I wish Flint had more buildings like Sylvester Manor.  If only that part of Court could become like a Venician sector.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sounds good to me! There was an article about the Sylvester & one other apartment near there in the paper a couple years ago. I actually have it here at school, although it's probably burried in the gigantic pile of crap I've taken from abandoned buildings in Detroit.

I do remember that the article said that it was restored a couple years ago, and that there is a waiting list to get into the building. Apparently people like living there so much that they just don't want to leave. One of the people interviewed in the article had lived there 12 years. Usually people living in apartments stay about two years.

[VeeFan]

If the interior has the same quality as the exterior, I can see why people wouldn't want to leave. I wouldn't mind getting an apartment there myself. lol

[tropolis]

this is a good find. I didn't know there was that much demand for residential units downtown.

[dnast]

I love coming down that part of Court from the east. I'd love to see more buildings Sylvester-like buildings, myself.

And it's no surprise there's a long waiting list there. $600/month gets you 1,000 sq. ft (with water and heat provided) and parking is only $25/month. If those prices were feasible for new construction, we'd have quite the downtown population.

[VeeFan]

Aren't the First Street Lofts supposed to be around 1,500 sq. ft? I wonder what the price is for those apartments.

[dnast]

^ I think so. I remember them giving an estimated rent, but I don't remember what it is at all. I do know that the apartments are supposed to be market rate, so they'll cost you.

I wish I never lost all of my Flint Projects & Construction info last year...