[AdemH]

Southfield wants after-work downtown vibe and nightlife | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

Southfield wants after-work downtown vibe and nightlife

With its Northland shopping mall and its many suburban office parks on acres of asphalt, Southfield typifies the sprawling low-density suburbs of Detroit. It’s the sort of landscape that met the needs of businesses and residents leaving Detroit for suburbia a generation or two ago.

[Arthur Digby Sellers]

That's nice and all, but if they don't start improving their schools a city center will amount to nothing. People moved out to places like Southfield initially to flee DPS. As Southfield and other inner-ring school districts began to decline, young families stopped moving there. Trying to build a shopping/nightlife district to attract new residents is the equivalent of putting a band aid on a broken arm.

Livonia is attempting the same thing with their "Livonia Tomorrow" initiative.

Livonia Tomorrow > Home&

[AdemH]

I think their aim is to get the people that work in Southfield to move and live in Southfield instead of traveling back and forth.

Having a nightlife there might help it.

[Jwo85]

They have a long way to go. I have never heard any good reviews about Southfield from all age ranges 18-60+

[AdemH]

Originally Posted by Jwo85

They have a long way to go. I have never heard any good reviews about Southfield from all age ranges 18-60+

Four of my friends moved there and love it. I've visited them 3-4 times and enjoyed my stay there.

[animatedmartian]

There's a lot of great mid-century architecture in Southfield. Better than many other suburbs that were developed around the same time.

According to city-data, crime in Southfield has actually been going down and now it's still about the same as other suburbs adjacent to 8 Mile. If there was a bad time to be in Southfield, I clearly missed it because all the times I've been there it felt like just another suburb.

I also think their plan to make a 'downtown' is pretty tame. There's a lot of space that they can fill with dense development if those renderings are all they have planned for now.

[AdemH]

Originally Posted by animatedmartian

There's a lot of great mid-century architecture in Southfield. Better than many other suburbs that were developed around the same time.

According to city-data, crime in Southfield has actually been going down and now it's still about the same as other suburbs adjacent to 8 Mile. If there was a bad time to be in Southfield, I clearly missed it because all the times I've been there it felt like just another suburb.

I also think their plan to make a 'downtown' is pretty tame. There's a lot of space that they can fill with dense development if those renderings are all they have planned for now.

I agree. When my friend bought his house, it was vandalized right before closing. When he got there and realized, he immediately called the police. He said their response time was better than the NYPD response time here in NYC. lol He was actually really surprised how fast they came.

[Arthur Digby Sellers]

I'm always skeptical when cities announce plans to reverse engineer a downtown.

[Republic of Michigan]

Southfied however is one suburb that really should have capitalized on its highrises. Imagine if the people mover was expanded to go down the center median of the Lodge Freeway and stop at civic center and then continue down Northwestern Highway and end at Orchard Lake Road. So many businesses, corporations, and people. It could connect the business districts of Farmington Hills, Southfield and Downtown Detroit with mass transit. It would help solidify a downtown pedestrian Southfield as it would be a major metro stop.

[DTWflyer]

Southfield reminds me of a failed version of Tysons Corner, VA outside of DC