Which Detroit suburb is in the worst shape? (Warren, Flint: real estate, bankruptcy)

[eskrib]

The city is emptying out. Some of the suburbs will too -- which ones are in the weakest shape?

[Dexterguy]

Mainly the inner ring suburbs, the suburbs such as Eastpointe, Warren, Harper Woods, Hazel Park, Oak Park, Southfield, Redford, Garden City, River Rouge have all seen population decreases in the last decade or more. Some of that is just because of an aging population, but in some areas it's decline. It's most significant in areas of River Rouge and the surrounding areas.

If you consider Highland Park or Hamtramck suburbs, they are by far in the worst shape. Areas of Highland Park are worse than Detroit, and the city even had to file for bankruptcy in 2001. I believe that gov. leaders were talking about annexing it into Detroit, but in the end they remained seperate, yet bankrupt.

Hamtramck grew 25% in 2000, but since then has been in decline. Hamtramck was part of "America's fastest dying cities" in 2008.

They suburbs with a large automotive presence always get hit hard when lay offs come around from GM, Ford, and Chrysler.

[Coldjensens]

It will depend on what happens with the Big 3. There are a lot of really nice communities in North Oakland County that depend entirely on Big 3 white collar or professional jobs.

[Cato the Elder]

Entirely? I can't really think of any Oakland County towns that are like Hershey, Flint, or even Dearborn. Auburn Hills and the Chrysler Headquarters? Chrysler could go belly up and Auburn Hills will still be the quiet suburb with the small downtown. Many of these towns will feel the pinch, but there's more to them than Big 3 money. The smart companies are reinventing themselves. I know the CEO of a metal manufacturing company who's largely given up on the Big 3 and makes armoring for Hummers and limos around the world. They've more than doubled in size during the last 5 years. There are surely more Big 3 dependent towns around the country and Canada than those in Oakland County.

[ErikU19]

Chrysler rents nearly all of Auburns office space....i forget the statistics but it is an alarming number...If Chrysler goes under you would see a HUGE shift in real estate prices through out the metro area..

[hemmie]

Since the other thread I started isn't really going the way I was hoping... what suburbs are more protected against the Big-3-Only problem? I'm intrigued by this idea of the metal manufacturing company - what and where are other similar examples? Are there any hopeful signs, and where are they? Do we know yet where Granholm/Obama plan to aim any potential stimulus shots-in-the-arm, aside from the Big 3 rescue monies? I'm talking about green industry or job retraining or something like that.

I didn't want to steer this thread away from its original intent, but the other thread is being misinterpreted.

[Dexterguy]

Originally Posted by hemmie

Since the other thread I started isn't really going the way I was hoping... what suburbs are more protected against the Big-3-Only problem? I'm intrigued by this idea of the metal manufacturing company - what and where are other similar examples? Are there any hopeful signs, and where are they? Do we know yet where Granholm/Obama plan to aim any potential stimulus shots-in-the-arm, aside from the Big 3 rescue monies? I'm talking about green industry or job retraining or something like that.

I didn't want to steer this thread away from its original intent, but the other thread is being misinterpreted.

There really is no Suburb that is "protected" against the big 3 problem. Every single one has auto connections, it can be a blue collar suburb, to white collar exec living in Bloomfield Hills or Birmingham, we are all held up by the big 3 in this area, no matter how you cut it.

[Cato the Elder]

Originally Posted by hemmie

Since the other thread I started isn't really going the way I was hoping... what suburbs are more protected against the Big-3-Only problem? I'm intrigued by this idea of the metal manufacturing company - what and where are other similar examples? Are there any hopeful signs, and where are they? Do we know yet where Granholm/Obama plan to aim any potential stimulus shots-in-the-arm, aside from the Big 3 rescue monies? I'm talking about green industry or job retraining or something like that.

I didn't want to steer this thread away from its original intent, but the other thread is being misinterpreted.

The diminishing of the Big 3 has been a continuing saga with metro Detroit, but I think Dearborn and GP would be the most vulnerable. The former is a large city significanlty dependent on Ford to stay afloat. Auburn Hills is dependent on Chrysler, but not nearly as much and it's not nearly as large. GP has a bunch of GM execs and there's not much else there since they are largely dependent on jobs in downtown Detroit, which is not nearly the business as in most cities. Even then, many people who work downtown live elsewhere. On the flipside, very few people live in GP and work in places like Troy or Farmington Hills.

The area around Troy, Birmingham, Bloomfield are the most diversified after A2. The headquarters of national companies such as Olga's, Kelly Services, and BD's Mongolian BBQ are there. People like Meg White (White Stripes) move to places like Royal Oak FROM GP to get started, not the other way around. When someone like Jeffrey Sebelia (Project Runway) returns to the metro to show his wares, he doesn't do so in GP, Dearborn or downriver, he goes to Royal Oak. When Google establishes offices in metro Detroit, they do so in A2 and Birmingham. Etc., etc., etc. Oakland County is the fourth wealthiest county in the US and it's not just because of the Big 3.

[Cato the Elder]

[Dexterguy]

Originally Posted by Cato the Elder

The diminishing of the Big 3 has been a continuing saga with metro Detroit, but I think Dearborn and GP would be the most vulnerable. The former is a large city significanlty dependent on Ford to stay afloat. Auburn Hills is dependent on Chrysler, but not nearly as much and it's not nearly as large. GP has a bunch of GM execs and there's not much else there since they are largely dependent on jobs in downtown Detroit, which is not nearly the business as in most cities. Even then, many people who work downtown live elsewhere. On the flipside, very few people live in GP and work in places like Troy or Farmington Hills.

This is true, Grosse Pointe is for sure at risk if GM would go under, as you said there are many GM execs and white collar workers that live there who commute to the Ren Cen everyday. As you also said, Dearborn, because many Ford execs live and work in Dearborn. Auburn Hills, as you said, is dependent on Chrysler but really only the Tax Revenue generated by Chrysler. The white collar execs don't live in Auburn Hills, many of them live in the Birmingham/Bloomfield area, I can't speak for them all though.