Detroit Neighborhood near river weathers economic storm Values of homes are down, but not as much as in other parts of town

By Corey Williams Associated Press Writer DETROIT (AP) -- Part of the appeal for James and Paulette Foster when they bought their English Tudor home in Detroit's Jefferson East 25 years ago was what the riverfront neighborhood one day would become. "Within a few years this would be a paradise; the new Detroit area over here," said Paulette Foster, a court stenographer. That has yet to happen. But as grand plans for the city's under-used and partly developed riverfront have been deep-sixed by a national recession, Jefferson East -- a neighborhood of wood and brick two-story houses, boat houses, marinas and high-end condos -- continues to bob around a mortgage collapse that has crippled much of the city. Values of many homes are down, but not so much as other parts of town. Vacant houses and empty lots that fill some neighborhoods are fewer in Jefferson East. Some streets have occupancy rates approaching 90 percent in a city that saw 250,000 people leave over the past decade. "Most of the people here are staying here. They are going to weather the storm," says 76-year-old Doris Fleming, who has lived in the same house with her husband, Daniel, since 1955. Their backyard runs into a canal. "If you don't have the water all you have is the cars racing up and down the street," she said. "We watch the boats go by. It's like living on the water. On some streets, sometimes people don't know their next door neighbor. We know one another. We are a community." Proximity to the Detroit River attracts people to the neighborhood and the value of being so close to the water has kept it afloat. "Everybody wants to be around water. Water is magical," said Rocky Marcoux, commissioner of Milwaukee's Department of City Development. "With the correct plan and correct execution of that plan you could easily get twice the value of riverfront property than elsewhere." Over the past 30 years, the Milwaukee River's shoreline has been transformed from a heavy industrial and manufacturing base to mostly residential. Last week, 200 additional high-end rental units were approved at time when many such developments in other cities, like Detroit, have been put on hold due to the recession and slow-recovery economy. "You'll have less of a drop in valuation along the river as you would citywide," Marcoux said. "Milwaukee has not been exempted from the downturn, (but) we held up pretty well. We have had an increase in the number of units being constructed along the river." In Detroit, development along the riverfront near downtown abruptly ended about two years ago when lenders made it more difficult to get financing. A $60-million development that promised 112 apartments, condos and townhouses has attracted weeds instead of buyers. Another $25 million condominium and retail project also appears to have died. A new state park and RiverWalk promenade brings down walkers, joggers and bicyclists. But a number of boarded up warehouses and empty lots still remain. "I've been active in the community for years and I think of how there were plans in place and nothing resulted from it ... nothing being accomplished except a lot of noise," Paulette Foster said. Propelled by businesses and foundations, attention now is focused more on building up the city's core, leaving it up to the residents and small shop owners in Jefferson East to mostly fend for themselves. Matching grant programs have paid for building façade work along Jefferson Avenue, while work on a streetscape -- including new streetlights -- has been going on since 2006, said Joshua Elling, Jefferson East Business Association executive director. "We have a $726,000 budget," Elling said. "We do a lot with a little. We do a crime patrol, a clean team. We do a ton of stuff ... services that the city can't provide. In a perfect world we'd be irrelevant." Faced with a $155 million city budget deficit, impending layoffs and cutbacks to some services, little, if any, help is expected from City Hall. "The city already has hit rock bottom," said Al Barrow, who owns a small, neighborhood hardware store on Jefferson. Barrow has been at the same location about 20 years and plans to expand after recently buying an adjacent building for $40,000. "There's only one way to go and that's up," he said. "I always think positive." Published: Tue, Jul 19, 2011