Detroit — Super Bowl XL banners hang from new light posts above repaved streets. They cling to windows of fledgling downtown businesses. The Super Bowl logo dominates the face of the renovated Renaissance Center, now the relocated headquarters of General Motors Corp.
The frills and ornaments for the Super Bowl are the icing on top of a city trying to make over its entire downtown.
Since winning the bid for Super Bowl XL in November 2000, Detroit officials have been trying to upgrade the downtown area with projects that total billions of dollars. The motivation is just as great: The event is expected to bring in more than $300 million and 100,000 visitors, according to the Super Bowl XL Host Committee. Detroit officials hope the renovations will change perceptions of the city and help attract business investments and residents.
For some, it's working.
"It really looks like a new city," said Erica Madajczyk of Sterling Heights as she watched her son skate around the ice rink in Campus Martius Park in downtown Detroit on Saturday. It was Madajczyk's first time at the park, which opened in November 2004 as one of many downtown renovation and revitalization projects completed in the last five years. In addition to Campus Martius Park, the city improved roads, refurbished building exteriors and attracted nearly 25 new restaurants and 60 businesses, including Hard Rock Cafe and Detroit Beer Co. In addition to GM, Compuware Corp. also transplanted its headquarters downtown, constructing a new building near Campus Martius Park.
"There has been a ton of investment in the city in the last five or six years," said Peter Zeiler, the business development representative for Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, or DEGC. The organization aids in business attraction, retention and economic development in the city.
"The Super Bowl has served as a lightning rod to get projects funded and completed," he said.
As the final touches on projects are made, the city prepares for the flood of fans and revelers, but some doubts still remain.
"They still need to do more work, but Detroit is a lot more family friendly now," Madajczyk said. "This was the change that Detroit needed."
Laying groundwork
City leaders planned many of the renovations before the Super Bowl buzz began, Zeiler said.
The challenge came in trying to find the funds to complete the projects during the city's budget deficits. When Detroit won the bid for the Super Bowl, the anticipated national attention became a catalyst for businesses and organizations to realize Detroit's possibilities, Zeiler said. Donations from corporate groups and foundations provided a majority of the funding for the new projects, he said.
Zeiler said he hopes the renovations and new businesses will entice more positive attention to Detroit.
"If we can show people Detroit has a great downtown, it will make the job of attracting investments in the city easier," he said.
The city of Detroit spent about $60 million on renovations, mostly through the DEGC's Lower Woodward Improvement Program, said DEGC President George Jackson. The city's money was obtained through a downtown development authority tax on businesses, he said. Additionally, more than $1.5 billion came from corporate and nonprofit investment in large projects such as the completion of Comerica Park, Ford Field and Campus Martius Park.
The Lower Woodward Improvement Program was designed to reconstruct downtown streetscapes, demolish or redevelop old and abandoned buildings and encourage business owners to restore building facades.
"We've tried to address abandoned buildings as much as possible, but you can't take care of all of them in 36 months," Jackson said. "People are still going to see the old with the new, but visitors will notice Detroit's positive transformation."
So far, the corporation's project to redevelop old or abandoned buildings has transformed 12 into loft apartments.
Jackson said those who have rented lofts downtown will likely stay long after the Super Bowl has ended. The new lofts will be available for purchase in two years and will cost as much as $3,000 a month.
The facade program has processed nearly 119 applications in three years. The program offers grants of up to $150,000 and has helped to refurbish 65 buildings downtown, one of which was the Detroit Opera House, Jackson said.
The renovations are planned to continue even after Super Bowl celebrations die down, Zeiler said.
"We have several major projects that are going to occur regardless of the Super Bowl and keep cranking forward," Zeiler said.
The corporation also is assisting in efforts to redevelop the riverfront. An expanse of dirt and rubble along the Detroit River east of the Renaissance Center will become 31 acres of urban park land and a 5-mile river walk pathway. The rest of the riverfront will be devoted to residential and retail developments. The construction on the revamped riverfront will begin this summer, Jackson said.
"We've had more construction downtown than we've had in the past 50 years," he said.
Resident reaction
While many city officials are excited about Detroit's recent transformation, some residents remain skeptical.
Jenon Lipsey, an MSU mechanical engineering sophomore, said the renovations won't have lasting benefits.
"It's like Detroit is just trying to diet, not change their lifestyle," he said. "(City officials) are trying to fish for people by showing them the nice roads and pretty buildings in the places they expect them to be at."
The Detroit native said if people stray from the renovated downtown areas and see the rest of Detroit, then few people will want to move in after the Super Bowl.
"The only way you can get people into the city is with the promise of a better future," he said. "If Detroit can't provide that portrait — that we offer something other than the Super Bowl — then nothing is going to improve."
Lipsey said the majority of the money for renovations should have gone to improving the schools and police force before focusing on downtown improvements.
"(City officials) are not taking care of the citizens that are paying right now, the ones that have been there, because they see an opportunity for expansion," he said.
Jamese Edwards, a 25-year-old Detroit resident and security guard at Campus Martius Park, said the downtown needed to change. She hopes they will continue. Edwards said she is disappointed, however, that it took the Super Bowl to force the renovations to completion.
"It's good that they're doing all of this, but it's sad that it's all been for the event, not for the people who live here," Edwards said.
Downtown experience
The city is holding some of its biggest Super Bowl events downtown. In addition to the new restaurants, clubs and retail businesses, Detroit will offer visitors a variety of events complementing the Super Bowl.
The Motown Winter Blast starts tomorrow and takes advantage of Detroit's cold weather. The event will be held in the center of downtown and feature a variety of winter-themed activities including a 200-foot snow slide, dog sled races and snowmobile demonstrations. The Winter Blast debuted last year and is expected to attract more than 200,000 people, according to the event Web site.
"We're not pretending we're something we're not, like a warmer destination," said Colin Utley, spokesman for the Super Bowl XL Host Committee, noting that the game is typically held in warmer areas.
"People can still have fun in the cold weather as long as it's done right," he said.
Visitors can also participate in the "NFL Experience," an interactive theme park hosted by America Online at the Cobo Center. The event opens today and lets visitors to dress like their favorite football star, obtain autographs from more than 50 NFL players and participate in games.
"People will be pleasantly surprised at what they see downtown," said Utley. "We've been continually told that downtown looks better than it has in half a century."
Surrounded by the glinting new exteriors of towering buildings, Campus Martius Park is a central hub of activity downtown. The streets are packed with new restaurants offering visitors a diverse choice of cuisine. Some stores remain vacant, except for piles of Super Bowl souvenirs seen through the glass windows, waiting for Sunday's fans.
"We're starting to see more people who are proud we're hosting the Super Bowl, and many people can't believe all of the changes Detroit has made," said Jackson of the DEGC.
The game presents Detroit with the opportunity to continue building on the momentum created leading up to the event, said Carolyn Artman, a spokeswoman for the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau.
"The world's eyes will be on metro Detroit, and it's a good time to show what Detroit has to offer," Artman said.
On Sunday, the nation will see the beginning of the results.
For more information about Detroit or Super Bowl events, visit www.visitdetroit.com or www.sbxl.org.
Holly Klaft can be reached at klafthol@msu.edu.
