DETROIT
When people around here talk about “Midtown,” the discussion generally is about new condos, lofts, small business, lifestyle.
Not so long ago, the Detroit neighborhood separating Wayne State University’s campus from downtown mostly was a wasteland of ramshackle buildings and rat-infested alleys, notorious for its drug houses and rampant prostitution.
“We use the euphemism today and call it Midtown, but it was the Cass Corridor and everyone knew what the Cass Corridor was,” outgoing Wayne State President Irvin Reid said.
When Reid arrived in 1997, he set about transforming the look, perception and reputation of the faded community surrounding the 200-acre urban campus.
Iron chains, presenting more a symbolic than physical barrier to the campus, were swiftly removed and sold as scrap. And as developers added upscale condos and townhouses costing up to $600,000 per unit, the university also went to work.
Wayne State spent more than $1 billion over the past 10 years for on- and off-campus housing and building projects.
