New Center is a commercial and residential historic district located uptown in
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...
, adjacent to
Midtown, one mile (1.6 km) north of the
Cultural Center
A cultural center or cultural centre is an organization, building or complex that promotes culture and arts. Cultural centers can be neighborhood community arts organizations, private facilities, government-sponsored, or activist-run.
Asia
* Ce ...
, and approximately three miles (5 km) north of
Downtown
''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
. The area is centered just west of the intersection of
Woodward Avenue
A woodward is a Game warden, warden of a wood. Woodward may also refer to:
Places
;United States
* Woodward, Iowa
* Woodward, Oklahoma
* Woodward, Pennsylvania, a census-designated place
* Woodward Avenue, a street in Tallahassee, Florida, which b ...
and
Grand Boulevard, and is bounded by, and includes the
Virginia Park Historic District on the north, the
Edsel Ford Freeway
Edsel is a discontinued division and brand of automobiles that was marketed by the Ford Motor Company from the 1958 to the 1960 model years. Deriving its name from Edsel Ford, son of company founder Henry Ford, Edsels were developed in an ef ...
(I-94) on the south,
John R Street on the east and the
Lodge Freeway
M-10 is a state trunkline highway in the Metro Detroit area of Michigan in the United States. Nominally labeled north-south, the route follows a northwest-southeast alignment. The southernmost portion follows Jefferson Avenue in downtown De ...
on the west.
[Randall Fogelman](_blank)
''Detroit's New Center,'' Arcadia Publishing, 2004, . New Center, and the surrounding areas north of I-94, are sometimes seen as coterminous with the
North End, while in fact separate districts.
The heart of New Center was developed in the 1920s as a business hub that would offer convenient access to both downtown resources and outlying factories. Some historians believe that New Center may be the original
edge city
''Edge city'' is a term that originated in the United States for a concentration of business, shopping, and entertainment outside a traditional downtown or central business district, in what had previously been a suburban residential or rur ...
—a sub-center remote from, but related to, a main urban core.
[ The descriptor "New Center" derived its name from the ''New Center News'', an automotive-focused free newspaper begun in 1933 that continues to operate under the name ''Detroit Auto Scene''. From 1923 to 1996, ]General Motors
The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
maintained its world headquarters in New Center (in what is now Cadillac Place
Cadillac Place, formerly the General Motors Building, is a landmark high-rise office complex located at 3044 West Grand Boulevard in the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan. It was renamed for the French founder of Detroit, Antoine Laumet de ...
) before relocating downtown to the Renaissance Center
The Renaissance Center (also known as the GM Renaissance Center and nicknamed the RenCen) is a group of seven connected skyscrapers in Downtown Detroit, Michigan, United States. The Renaissance Center complex is on the Detroit International Riv ...
; before becoming a division of GM, Fisher Body was headquartered in the Fisher Building
The Fisher Building is a landmark skyscraper located at 3011 West Grand Boulevard in the heart of the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan. The ornate 30-story building, completed in 1928, is one of the major works of architect Albert Kahn, an ...
. Both Cadillac Place and the Fisher Building are National Historic Landmarks
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
. In addition to the government and commercial offices along Woodward and Grand Boulevard, New Center contains the Fisher Theatre, the Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...
St. Regis, the Henry Ford Hospital
Henry Ford Hospital (HFH) is an 877-bed tertiary care hospital, education and research complex at the western edge of the New Center area in Detroit, Michigan. The flagship facility for the Henry Ford Health System, it was one of the first hos ...
, restaurants, and residential areas.
History
In 1891, Detroit mayor Hazen S. Pingree broke ground on the construction of Grand Boulevard, a ring road that wrapped around the city of Detroit.[Richard Bak, ''Detroit Across Three Centuries'', Sleeping Bear Press, 2001, , p. 60.] The Boulevard ran for , curving from the Detroit River on the west to the river on the east and crossing Woodward Avenue
A woodward is a Game warden, warden of a wood. Woodward may also refer to:
Places
;United States
* Woodward, Iowa
* Woodward, Oklahoma
* Woodward, Pennsylvania, a census-designated place
* Woodward Avenue, a street in Tallahassee, Florida, which b ...
at a point approximately from downtown. The Boulevard was originally thought to represent the absolute limit of the city's expansion, although tremendous growth at the beginning of the 20th century quickly pushed the city limits far beyond Grand Boulevard.
In the 1890s, major railroad infrastructure known as the Milwaukee Junction
Milwaukee Junction is an area in Detroit, Michigan, east of New Center. Located near the railroad junction of the Grand Trunk Western Railroad's predecessors Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railway and the Chicago, Detroit and Canada Grand T ...
was built just south of Grand Boulevard to facilitate industrial expansion in the city of Detroit. To take advantage of the rail line, industrial plants were built in this area on both sides of Woodward Avenue, with the automotive industry prominently involved. Part of this area east of Woodward is now the Piquette Avenue Industrial Historic District, while the area west of Woodward and south of the railroad tracks is the New Amsterdam Historic District
The New Amsterdam Historic District is a historic district located in Detroit, Michigan. Buildings in this district are on or near three sequential east-west streets (Amsterdam, Burroughs, and York) on the two blocks between Woodward Avenue and ...
. Most notably, in 1904, Burroughs Adding Machine Company
The Burroughs Corporation was a major American manufacturer of business equipment. The company was founded in 1886 as the American Arithmometer Company. In 1986, it merged with UNIVAC, Sperry UNIVAC to form Unisys. The company's history parallel ...
built a large factory on Third, and the following year Cadillac
The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...
built an assembly plant just to the east of Burroughs.
In 1915, Henry Ford
Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that mi ...
bought the financially struggling Detroit General Hospital and its lands on Grand Boulevard and Hamilton (just west of Woodward) and reopened it as Henry Ford Hospital
Henry Ford Hospital (HFH) is an 877-bed tertiary care hospital, education and research complex at the western edge of the New Center area in Detroit, Michigan. The flagship facility for the Henry Ford Health System, it was one of the first hos ...
with 48 beds.[Fogelman, pp. 9–20.] Soon after, Ford broke ground on a facility at the same location; the larger hospital opened in 1921.
Architecture
In the late 1910s and early 1920s, the automobile industry in Detroit grew rapidly. The economic surge made land in downtown Detroit difficult to obtain. The lack of suitable parcels frustrated William C. Durant
William Crapo Durant (December 8, 1861 – March 18, 1947) was a leading pioneer of the United States automobile industry and co-founder of General Motors and Chevrolet. He created a system in which a company held multiple marques – each s ...
in his search for the optimum location for his planned General Motors
The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
headquarters. Durant looked to the north, and settled on a location just west of Woodward Avenue on Grand Boulevard. At the time, the area was a residential district of private homes and small apartment buildings.[Fogelman, pp. 22–23.]
Durant hired Albert Kahn to design his building, and ground was broken in 1919. The building was originally to be called the "Durant Building", but Durant left the company before the building was completed, so when it opened in 1922, the building was called the "General Motors Building
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...
" (now the Cadillac Place). As General Motors continued to grow, the company required more space. In the later 1920s, they built a second building, the General Motors Research Laboratory (also known as the Argonaut Building
The Argonaut Building, renamed in 2009 the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education (originally the Argonaut, or General Motors Research Laboratory), is a large office building located at 485 West Milwaukee Avenue in the New Center area of D ...
), also designed by Kahn, directly south of their headquarters. The building was built in two phases, and was completed in 1930.
Around the same time, the Fisher Brothers of Fisher Body
Fisher Body was an automobile coachbuilder founded by the Fisher brothers in 1908 in Detroit, Michigan. A division of General Motors for many years, in 1984 it was dissolved to form other General Motors divisions. Fisher & Company (originally Allo ...
followed General Motors to the area. They broke ground on their eponymous Fisher Building
The Fisher Building is a landmark skyscraper located at 3011 West Grand Boulevard in the heart of the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan. The ornate 30-story building, completed in 1928, is one of the major works of architect Albert Kahn, an ...
in 1927, located across Grand Boulevard from the General Motors Building. The Fisher Brothers also hired Kahn, and spared no expense to construct their headquarters building. The followed this up with the construction of New Center Building (now the Albert Kahn Building), completed in 1932.[Fogelman, pp. 37–48.] The Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, however, forced the Fishers to break off their plans to construct a complex of buildings in New Center, including a grandiose three-towered version of the Fisher building.
In 1940 Saks Fifth Avenue
Saks Fifth Avenue (originally Saks & Company; Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street and ...
opened their fourth full-line department store in this building. The store closed in 1978 and relocated to Fairlane Town Center in Dearborn.
Henry Ford Hospital has continued to expand. The hospital has built numerous additions to their campus since its inception by Henry Ford, from the Clara Ford Nursing Home in 1925 to their high-rise clinic in 1955 to hospital apartments in 1976. In 1992, Henry Ford purchased the old Burroughs headquarters to the south and renamed it One Ford Place. The building is now the Henry Ford Hospital corporate headquarters.
In 1966, the Hotel St. Regis was built on the north side of Grand Boulevard near General Motors' headquarters. In 1988, the hotel was doubled in size. In 1980, General Motors built another addition to the heart of New Center, New Center One, located across Grand Boulevard from their headquarters. The new eight-story building housed retail stores, offices, and some divisions of General Motors.
In 1977, General Motors began refurbishing some of the residential neighborhoods north of Grand Boulevard. The result was the "New Center Commons", a collection of refurbished single-family homes on the north side of New Center. With the revitalization of Virginia Park, New Center has two distinct historic residential neighborhoods within its boundaries. General Motors also facilitated the rehabilitation of some multi-family dwellings. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, new townhomes and condominiums were constructed in what had been empty areas of New Center, including a section along Woodward just north of Grand Boulevard. Additional loft renovation (as well as TechTown
TechTown is an urban research and technology business park located just north of the Edsel Ford Freeway (I-94) in the New Center area of Detroit. The organization defines itself as "a community of entrepreneurs, investors, mentors, service provi ...
, the WSU research and business incubator hub) took place at the same time within the New Amsterdam Historic District.
Economy
New Center served as a kind of corporate campus for GM for 70 years. However, the company left the area in the 1990s, moving their headquarters to the Renaissance Center
The Renaissance Center (also known as the GM Renaissance Center and nicknamed the RenCen) is a group of seven connected skyscrapers in Downtown Detroit, Michigan, United States. The Renaissance Center complex is on the Detroit International Riv ...
downtown. The old General Motors Building—now called Cadillac Place—is owned and occupied by the State of Michigan.
The economy of the New Center area is largely dominated by the Henry Ford Health System, the Detroit Public School system with their headquarters in the Fisher Building, and more than 2,000 State of Michigan employees in the high-rise office complex Cadillac Place.
Shinola has its headquarters, and 30,000-square-feet in the College for Creative Studies
College for Creative Studies (CCS) is a private art school in Detroit, Michigan. It enrolls more than 1,400 students and focuses on arts education. The college is also active in offering art education to children through its Community Arts Part ...
, – CCS – (originally the Argonaut building, or General Motors Research Laboratory). In 2012, Shinola renovated the fifth floor and turned it into their corporate office as well as a watch factory and bicycle workshop.
In 2014, Shinola gifted the city of Detroit with four new 13-foot tall street clock
A street is a public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, ...
s, installed at Cobo Center, Eastern Market, in front of the College for Creative Studies at the corner of Cass and Milwaukee, and near Shinola's own first retail location, at the corner of Cass and Canfield.
''Midtown Detroit, Inc.''
has become a driving force behind the planning, investment, and future development north of Detroit's downtown area, and has expanded those area boundaries, and of the New Center area by going north to Philadelphia Street, east to the Chrysler Freeway (I-75), south to the Edsel Ford Freeway (I-94), and west to Rosa Parks Boulevard.
Districts
Structures
* Albert Kahn Building
The Albert Kahn Building, formerly New Center Building, is an office building located at 7430 Second Avenue in the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan completed in 1931. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 ...
(200 unit residential building)
* Argonaut Building
The Argonaut Building, renamed in 2009 the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education (originally the Argonaut, or General Motors Research Laboratory), is a large office building located at 485 West Milwaukee Avenue in the New Center area of D ...
(College for Creative Studies)
* Cadillac Place
Cadillac Place, formerly the General Motors Building, is a landmark high-rise office complex located at 3044 West Grand Boulevard in the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan. It was renamed for the French founder of Detroit, Antoine Laumet de ...
(GM Building / state office complex)
* Detroit Amtrak station (Adjacent to QLine Baltimore Street station)
* Fisher Building
The Fisher Building is a landmark skyscraper located at 3011 West Grand Boulevard in the heart of the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan. The ornate 30-story building, completed in 1928, is one of the major works of architect Albert Kahn, an ...
* Henry Ford Health System
Henry Ford Health (formerly the Henry Ford Health System) is an integrated, not-for-profit health care organization in Metro Detroit. The corporate office is at One Ford Place, in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. Henry Ford
Henry Ford (July 30, ...
* Henry Ford Hospital
Henry Ford Hospital (HFH) is an 877-bed tertiary care hospital, education and research complex at the western edge of the New Center area in Detroit, Michigan. The flagship facility for the Henry Ford Health System, it was one of the first hos ...
* Hitsville U.S.A.
* Hotel St. Regis, Detroit
The Hotel St. Regis is a luxury boutique hotel in New Center, Detroit, Michigan. The hotel connects to Cadillac Place and the Fisher Building, both on the list of National Historic Landmarks in Michigan. The hotel has of meeting space. The hote ...
* Metropolitan United Methodist Church
The Metropolitan United Methodist Church is a church located at 8000 Woodward Avenue (at Chandler) in the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan. It was completed in 1926, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, and designated ...
New Center One
(Henry Ford Medical Center)
* New Center Park
Gallery
File:New Amsterdam streetscape - Detroit Michigan.jpg, Streetscape on Cass, looking north, in the New Amsterdam Historic District
File:Fisher Building Detroit.jpg, The Fisher Building
The Fisher Building is a landmark skyscraper located at 3011 West Grand Boulevard in the heart of the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan. The ornate 30-story building, completed in 1928, is one of the major works of architect Albert Kahn, an ...
, which has the headquarters of Detroit Public Schools
Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) is a school district that covers all of the city of Detroit, Michigan, United States and high school students in the insular city of Highland Park. The district, which replaced the original Detr ...
File:WoodwardatGrandBoulevardDetroitMI.jpg, Woodward Avenue looking north just past Grand Boulevard at the
Lakeshore Global Building
File:NewCenterTownhomes.jpg, New Center townhomes on Pallister
File:HenryFordHospitaldetroit.jpg, Henry Ford Hospital
Henry Ford Hospital (HFH) is an 877-bed tertiary care hospital, education and research complex at the western edge of the New Center area in Detroit, Michigan. The flagship facility for the Henry Ford Health System, it was one of the first hos ...
File:Henry Ford Health System Headquarters June 2008.jpg, The Henry Ford Health System
Henry Ford Health (formerly the Henry Ford Health System) is an integrated, not-for-profit health care organization in Metro Detroit. The corporate office is at One Ford Place, in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. Henry Ford
Henry Ford (July 30, ...
Headquarters Complex in New Center
File:Detroit St regis Hotel New center area.jpg, Hotel St. Regis, Detroit
The Hotel St. Regis is a luxury boutique hotel in New Center, Detroit, Michigan. The hotel connects to Cadillac Place and the Fisher Building, both on the list of National Historic Landmarks in Michigan. The hotel has of meeting space. The hote ...
File:General Motors building 089833pv.jpg, General Motors Building
(now Cadillac Place)
File:Detroit December 2021 23 (Pallister Street).jpg, Homes on Pallister, a pedestrian only street in this block.
File:ApartmentsonSewardDetroitMI.jpg, Apartment building (Wellington Place) at 59 Seward Avenue on the north side of New Center under renovation in 2017 for 91 senior apartments.
File:WJBK-TV Studios Building Detroit MI.jpg, The former WJBK-TV Studios Building (on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
) sold to developers in late 2019.
Culture and contemporary life
New Center has a retail section, primarily along the Woodward and Grand Boulevard corridors. The Cadillac Place
Cadillac Place, formerly the General Motors Building, is a landmark high-rise office complex located at 3044 West Grand Boulevard in the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan. It was renamed for the French founder of Detroit, Antoine Laumet de ...
state office complex and the Fisher Building
The Fisher Building is a landmark skyscraper located at 3011 West Grand Boulevard in the heart of the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan. The ornate 30-story building, completed in 1928, is one of the major works of architect Albert Kahn, an ...
are National Historic Landmarks
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
in the area.[Fogelman, pp. 67–71.] An area south of Grand Boulevard along Woodward contains some retail stores in the district which have existed at their present location since the 1920s. The boutique Hotel St. Regis, Detroit
The Hotel St. Regis is a luxury boutique hotel in New Center, Detroit, Michigan. The hotel connects to Cadillac Place and the Fisher Building, both on the list of National Historic Landmarks in Michigan. The hotel has of meeting space. The hote ...
is adjacent to the Fisher Theatre.
The Consulate-General of Lebanon in Detroit is located in Suite 560 in the New Center One Building.
New Center hosts the annual summer-long series of events in New Center Park and includes a 1,000 person outdoor concert venue with a center stage capable of hosting national acts.
Grand Boulevard, along its entire extent, became an attractive residential address at the beginning of the 20th century. This was also true in the area that was to become New Center. At the turn of the century, a number of private homes were built along Grand Boulevard and in the neighborhoods to the north, notably including what is now the Virginia Park Historic District on the northern edge of New Center.[Fogelman, pp. 87–100.] Interspersed in the area were small apartment buildings. Larger apartment buildings were constructed in the area in the 1920s to serve the population of workers and visitors to the area after larger office buildings had been built on Grand Boulevard.
Revitalization
The 2010s have seen a growth of new development in the New Center area. One of the first major projects, begun in 2010, was by the Henry Ford Health System
Henry Ford Health (formerly the Henry Ford Health System) is an integrated, not-for-profit health care organization in Metro Detroit. The corporate office is at One Ford Place, in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. Henry Ford
Henry Ford (July 30, ...
of a $500 million revitalization effort of 300 mostly blighted acres for hospital expansion and neighborhood redevelopment just south of the main hospital campus on the western edge of New Center. The first development on the new South Campus site was the construction of a $30 million, 275,000-square-foot, Medical Distribution Center on 18-acres, built for Cardinal Health, Inc.
Cardinal Health, Inc. is an American multinational health care services company, and the 14th highest revenue generating company in the United States. Its headquarters are in Dublin, Ohio and Dublin, Ireland (EMEA). The company specializes in ...
Further plans were announced in 2017, with the construction of a new $155 million, 187,000-square-foot, six-story, Brigitte Harris Cancer Pavilion, along with a skywalk across West Grand Boulevard to connect it to the Henry Ford Hospital, scheduled to open January 2021.
Additional new construction in New Center includes Wayne State University
Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...
's, $92 million Integrative Biosciences Center (IBio), the 2015 M-1 Rail Penske Tech Center, the $60 million, 231 apartment & retail space complex, The Boulevard, the Detroit Pistons
The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at Li ...
practice, training, and team headquarters building, known as the Henry Ford-Detroit Pistons Performance Center, and the WSU Computing & Information Technology (C&IT) new Data center
A data center (American English) or data centre (British English)See spelling differences. is a building, a dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunic ...
attached to the current Computing Services Center, along with a new Pocket park along Cass Avenue.
New Center has also seen redevelopment of existing structures. This includes U-Haul
U-Haul is an American moving truck, trailer, and self-storage rental company, based in Phoenix, Arizona, that has been in operation since 1945. The company was founded by Leonard Shoen in Ridgefield, Washington, who began it in the garage owned ...
's 2013 restoration of the 250,000-square-foot, seven-story historic NBC-Nabisco Building, built in 1920 at 899 W. Baltimore St. and, in 2014, the conversion of the Hotel St. Regis annex into a 58-apartment residential building, now known as Regis Houze. In 2015, Central Detroit Christian Community Development Corporation announced a $10.2 million plan to renovate the four-story, 44-unit, 42,200-square-foot ''Casamira Apartments'' at 680 Delaware St., built in 1925. In 2018, a local investment group purchased the 125-room Hotel St. Regis, and plans a $6 million modernization,
and that was followed by the purchase of the Albert Kahn Building by a joint venture with a $58 million plan to convert it into 211 apartments, and more than 75,000 square feet of retail and office space, and renamed, The Kahn. In 2022, the former WJBK-TV studios building was purchased, and donated to the nonprofit Midnight Golf Program to become their new headquarters. A $10-12 million
reconstruction is planned.
In the Greater New Center area, the 1913, nine-story, so-called Rainbow Building, now known as, ''Chroma'', completed a $16 million redevelopment with large floor-to-ceiling windows all around the building. Further redevelopment was underway at 3040 E. Grand Blvd and John R St, on the Albert Kahn historic 1901 designed sandstone constructed residence for Robert Robertson.
Education
New Center is within the Detroit Public Schools
Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) is a school district that covers all of the city of Detroit, Michigan, United States and high school students in the insular city of Highland Park. The district, which replaced the original Detr ...
district. DPS has its headquarters in the Fisher Building
The Fisher Building is a landmark skyscraper located at 3011 West Grand Boulevard in the heart of the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan. The ornate 30-story building, completed in 1928, is one of the major works of architect Albert Kahn, an ...
. The district paid the owner of the Fisher Building $24.1 million in 2002 so the district could occupy five floors in the building. Officials claimed leasing the Fisher Building as its headquarters was more economical than a remodel of the Maccabees Building
The Maccabees Building (sometimes called Wayne Tower) is a historic building located at 5057 Woodward Avenue in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, and is currently owned by Wayne State U ...
in Midtown where the district previously had its headquarters.
Three schools, Golightly K-8, Loving Elementary, and Thirkell Elementary, serve sections of New Center for elementary school. Golightly K-8 and Durfee K-8 serve sections of New Center for middle school. All residents are zoned to Northwestern High School.
In addition, the New Center area houses the administrative offices of the University Prep Schools system, along with the following schools:
* Ellen Thompson Elementary School
* Mark Murray Elementary School
* University Prep Academy High School (New Center)
The College for Creative Studies
College for Creative Studies (CCS) is a private art school in Detroit, Michigan. It enrolls more than 1,400 students and focuses on arts education. The college is also active in offering art education to children through its Community Arts Part ...
(CCS) is a private, fully accredited college with campuses in Midtown and New Center, that offers Bachelor and Master of Fine Arts degrees . The New Center campus contains the Henry Ford Academy: School for Creative Studies, an art and design charter school for middle and high school students.
Beginning in the 1970s Wayne State University
Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...
held its criminal justice program classes in the Criminal Justice Building, designed by Albert Kahn and built in 1920. By 2016 the university stopped use of the building, then used by the Detroit Police Department
The Detroit Police Department (DPD) is a municipal police force based in and responsible for the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. Founded in 1865, it has nearly 2,500 officers, making it the largest law enforcement organization in Michigan.
Histo ...
for training purposes. WSU sold it to real estate firm The Platform for $2 million and it will become a mixed-use development.
History of schools
Previously Sherhard K-8 served sections of New Center for elementary and middle school. Previously Hutchins Middle School served sections of New Center for middle school. Previously Murray-Wright High School and Northern High School served sections of New Center, while at the time Northwestern High School did not serve New Center.
Media
During the 1950s and 1960s, the studios of WJBK
WJBK (channel 2) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government o ...
(then a Storer Broadcasting
Storer Broadcasting, Inc. was an American company which owned several television and radio stations in the Northeastern United States. It was incorporated in Ohio 1927, and was broken up in 1986.
History 1920s–1940s
In 1927, George B. Storer ...
-owned CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
affiliate) were on Second Avenue in New Center. After WJBK moved to Southfield in 1970, WTVS
WTVS (channel 56) is a PBS member television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, owned by the Detroit Educational Television Foundation. Its main studios are located at the Riley Broadcast Center and HD Studios in Wixom, with an addit ...
(Detroit Public Television), the city's PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
station, took over the New Center site and operated there until 2008.[Frequently Asked Questions]
" WTVS
WTVS (channel 56) is a PBS member television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, owned by the Detroit Educational Television Foundation. Its main studios are located at the Riley Broadcast Center and HD Studios in Wixom, with an addit ...
. February 4, 2005. Retrieved on December 8, 2012. "Detroit Public Television 7441 Second Avenue Detroit, MI 48202".
See also
* Woodward Corridor The Woodward Corridor is the stretch of neighborhoods and suburban communities located along Woodward Avenue within metropolitan Detroit, Michigan. Woodward Avenue is often called Detroit's Main Street. Woodward starts in the center of Downtown Det ...
* Woodbridge Woodbridge may refer to:
Places
Australia
*Woodbridge, Western Australia formerly called ''West Midland''
*Woodbridge, Tasmania
Canada
*Woodbridge, Ontario
England
*Woodbridge, Suffolk, the location of
** Woodbridge (UK Parliament constituency ...
* North End
* Lee Plaza
* Motown Museum
"Hitsville U.S.A." is the nickname given to Motown's first headquarters and recording studio. The house (formerly a photographers' studio) is located at 2648 West Grand Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan, near the New Center area. The house was pur ...
* Milwaukee Junction
Milwaukee Junction is an area in Detroit, Michigan, east of New Center. Located near the railroad junction of the Grand Trunk Western Railroad's predecessors Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railway and the Chicago, Detroit and Canada Grand T ...
* Neighborhoods in Detroit
A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...
References
External links
*
New Center Council
{{Coord, 42.3693, -83.077, type:city_region:US-MI, display=title
Historic districts in Michigan
History of Detroit
Neighborhoods in Detroit
Culture of Detroit
Edge cities in Metro Detroit