[animatedmartian]

Opened in 1968 after 2 years of construction, the Genesee Towers housed the Genesee Merchants Bank & Trust Company. During 1985, the National Bank of Detroit purchased Genesee Merchants, and in 1997 the had vacated the building. Years afterwards the building stayed mostly vacant with little maintenance. After a costly and lengthy legal battle, the city of Flint bought the building in 2010 and infamously sold it to the Uptown Reinvestment Corporation for $1 in 2012. A year later, the building was imploded with plans to turn the lot into a downtown park.



Raw: Flint, Mich.'s Largest Building Imploded - YouTube


More Genesee Towers Implosion - YouTube

See Genesee Towers implode: The best of The Flint Journal's photos, videos | MLive.com

[Republic of Michigan]

Maybe this may help downtown become revitalized.

[DONNIEANDDONNA417]

Originally Posted by Republic of Michigan

Maybe this may help downtown become revitalized.

i think so

[michigan83]

Sounds like it will be a good thing for the downsized version of Flint. Also, really cool video. I need to make a trip to downtown Flint one of these days, it's on my to-do list.

[animatedmartian]

I drove through Flint going up Saginaw street one day over the summer. The few blocks along downtown look pretty decent but it's pretty obvious the city has seen better days. But with the right planning and investment, I could see Flint become a pretty good small town if not at least a pretty decent downtown.

[MSwartz]

There were some projections on Mlive recently that saw Flint losing something like 30k more residents in the next however many years (the pop was 196k in 1960). I think that barring some kind of economic revitalization in industry, which isn't going to happen except for the temporary pipe casting operation for the new water line out to the lake, Flint is going to continue to face hardship. The population is definitely going to keep falling since the housing stock isn't that great in many areas, services aren't all that, and violence is too common. Downtown might see a period of respite with the new urbanism thing that is happening but there is really only so much that can be done there. Flint does not have the same facilities to rebuild on that Detroit does (except U of M Flint and Kettering being well located) so rebuilding will be that much harder. The downtown is decent and its nice to see people putting heart and soul into it, but it is still pretty woeful.

I really do not see how any municipality can stand to lose as much population as Flint has (and is projected to) and retain any semblance of normalcy. I am sure the federal dollars allotted for demo of decrepit structures this year will not be enough. Given a few decades I do not think that things will look very different and we will probably have just as many decrepit homes in the state as we do now, although I could be wrong. I actually asked Dan Kildee what would be done to make sure the situation does not repeat itself, but there was no real answer, which I can understand. I know that new anti-blight bill was passed in MI recently too but not sure how much good that will do.

I am sure Flint will keep up with the Crim and Back to the Bricks which are great community events and I hope things get better (and for more than just the downtown) but obviously it's going to take a herculean effort. I am going to remain weary for the time being...

[Nephler]

Here's something I found today about Flint. Not very pleasant.

This is America's Most Apocalyptic, Violent City

[chiroptera]

Originally Posted by Nephler

Here's something I found today about Flint. Not very pleasant.

This is America's Most Apocalyptic, Violent City

Phht. Those of us who live and work near or in Flint know it's not that bad. I'm no Flint apologist but thousands of people live perfectly fine, safe lives in and near Flint. I lived there for seven years with absolutely zero problems; I don't live in Flint now. I went for frequant walks and bike rides and rowboat rides along the Flint River Trail. Still do, actually. It's just fine. As an unarmed, petite female (although usually with large dogs.)

Anyone could put together a photo essay like that from any one of hundreds of rust belt towns. Note that seven other cities are ahead of Flint in population loss. And the violent crime in Flint is concentrated in a relatively small area. It's easy to avoid.

[jmlowman]

Originally Posted by chiroptera

Phht. Those of us who live and work near or in Flint know it's not that bad. I'm no Flint apologist but thousands of people live perfectly fine, safe lives in and near Flint. I lived there for seven years with absolutely zero problems; I don't live in Flint now. I went for frequant walks and bike rides and rowboat rides along the Flint River Trail. Still do, actually. It's just fine. As an unarmed, petite female (although usually with large dogs.)

Anyone could put together a photo essay like that from any one of hundreds of rust belt towns. Note that seven other cities are ahead of Flint in population loss. And the violent crime in Flint is concentrated in a relatively small area. It's easy to avoid.

Same old problem from the 50s and 60s. People are too PC to comment about the elephant in the room.