RAW Detroit

RAW Detroit Covering the heartbeat of Detroit through stories, businesses, food, and events. Independent media built to keep you connected to the city.

Lee Plaza on West Grand Boulevard has been empty for about 30 years. The first 117 apartments, all for income-qualified ...
08/22/2026

Lee Plaza on West Grand Boulevard has been empty for about 30 years. The first 117 apartments, all for income-qualified seniors, are targeted to open in the fourth quarter of this year.

Residents will pay no more than 30 percent of their income in rent, and the affordability is locked in for at least 45 years. Most projects like this expire after a decade or two.

Thieves pulled more than 50 terra cotta lion heads off the building in 2000 and 2001. Six turned up embedded in $600,000 condos on West Bryn Mawr in Chicago, bought for under $1,000 each. The FBI got involved because they crossed state lines. Twenty-four lions and three griffins came back in 2002, most of them anonymously, and nobody was ever charged.

The lion heads are being recreated for the restoration.

08/21/2026

Just 40 minutes from Detroit, Kensington Metropark has everything you need for a full day outside. 🌳☀️

The 4,481-acre park surrounds Kent Lake and has two beaches, kayak and paddleboard rentals, Splash ‘n’ Blast, miles of paved and nature trails, a Farm Center, Nature Center and plenty of picnic areas along the water.

Spend the morning exploring the trails, rent a kayak, cool off at the beach or make an entire day out of it.

Comment PARK and we’ll send you all the details.

08/20/2026

Detroit’s WNBA team is real, and its first home is locked in. City Council approved a $50 million practice facility and headquarters on the former Uniroyal site at 6000 East Jefferson, on the east riverfront.

Inside: two full-size courts, locker rooms, strength and conditioning space, and team offices, with a phase-two youth development academy and outdoor fields for regional tournaments. It’s being built by an ownership group formed by the Detroit Pistons, with $40.6 million in brownfield incentives covering cleanup of the long-vacant site.

Construction starts in 2027, with doors opening by early 2029, in time for the team’s first season.

The $1.6 billion Renaissance Center redevelopment is official. Tower 300, Tower 400 and the podium come down starting su...
08/18/2026

The $1.6 billion Renaissance Center redevelopment is official. Tower 300, Tower 400 and the podium come down starting summer 2027, right after Detroit hosts the Final Four.

The center tower becomes an 858-room hotel with a public observation deck, and a 30-acre riverfront park is planned next door.

Bedrock is letting Detroiters vote on what goes in the park. A Ferris wheel, a marina and a floating swimming pool are all on the table.

Michigan won $145 million in federal money to fix the rail line between Detroit and Chicago. $98 million goes to the tra...
08/18/2026

Michigan won $145 million in federal money to fix the rail line between Detroit and Chicago. $98 million goes to the track between Dearborn and Kalamazoo, $29 million rebuilds four bridges, and $18 million replaces the Blackman Road Bridge in Jackson.

The new trains are a separate pot. Federal equipment grants are buying 43 trainsets nationally, and Michigan's share covers all three Amtrak routes: the Wolverine, the Blue Water, and the Pere Marquette.

Officials haven't put a number on travel time improvements yet.

Arboretum Detroit has planted more than 1,800 trees across 55 formerly vacant lots in Poletown East since 2019, between ...
08/17/2026

Arboretum Detroit has planted more than 1,800 trees across 55 formerly vacant lots in Poletown East since 2019, between East Grand Boulevard and Warren.

The lots form a network of small forests connected by footpaths, with native trees and fruiting shrubs. Circle Forest and Sequoia Forest anchor it, and the spaces are open to walk any day, free.

The nonprofit buys the lots outright, through the Detroit Land Bank and donations, so the forests can't be mowed over, sold, or built on.

Henry Ford's Fair Lane estate in Dearborn reopens in late June 2027, after more than 13 years and roughly $50 million of...
08/16/2026

Henry Ford's Fair Lane estate in Dearborn reopens in late June 2027, after more than 13 years and roughly $50 million of restoration. The 56-room National Historic Landmark has been closed since 2010.

Every room is being rebuilt to how it looked in 1919, down to the rug patterns and the paint colors on the walls.

You don't have to wait for the house. The gardens and grounds at 1 Fair Lane Drive are open every day, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., free.

The restoration is partly funded by a sweepstakes. The prize is a Ford Mustang.

08/15/2026

The Woodward Dream Cruise draws about a million people and 40,000 classic cars to 16 miles of Woodward every August, from Ferndale to Pontiac.

It started in 1995 as a fundraiser to build a soccer field in Ferndale. Organizers expected 25,000 people. Nearly 250,000 showed up.

Now it’s the largest classic car event in the world and brings more than $56 million into Metro Detroit in a single weekend.

Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Charlie Parker all played the Blue Bird Inn, a neighborhood bar at 5021 Tireman on Detro...
08/15/2026

Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Charlie Parker all played the Blue Bird Inn, a neighborhood bar at 5021 Tireman on Detroit's west side, and more than $2 million in grants is now rebuilding it.

The Detroit Sound Conservancy bought the building, put a new roof on in 2021, and broke ground on the renovation in September 2023. The funding includes $1.9 million from the Mellon Foundation and another $100,000 announced this week. The plan is a working music venue, not a museum, though there's no opening date yet.

In 2016, they went into the abandoned building and pulled the original stage out. They've kept it ever since.

The Woodward Dream Cruise draws about a million people and 40,000 classic cars to 16 miles of Woodward every August, fro...
08/15/2026

The Woodward Dream Cruise draws about a million people and 40,000 classic cars to 16 miles of Woodward every August, from Ferndale to Pontiac.

It started in 1995 as a fundraiser to build a soccer field in Ferndale. Organizers expected 25,000 people. Nearly 250,000 showed up.

Now it's the largest classic car event in the world and brings more than $56 million into Metro Detroit in a single weekend.

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