ABSTRACT
The last few years have witnessed two significant developments: corporate relocations, especially by high-tech firms, into downtown Detroit and the use of financial incentives to encourage repopulation. The corporate moves will probably help retailers along a key section of Woodward Avenue, assist selected areas of the residential market, and raise revenues from the commuter tax on nonresidents who work in Detroit. However, the relocations did not significantly impact on the city’s joblessness, because most businesses brought existing workers in from the suburbs. If the repopulation incentives generate sufficient density, visions of downtown and certain other areas as the lively core of a revitalized city may come to fruition. Whole Foods’s opening of a store in Midtown represents an encouraging trend.
