If you haven’t been to Detroit in a while, you probably should. A lot’s changed and it hasn’t even been a year since the city pulled itself out of bankruptcy.
Construction hoarding is up all over town: Streetcars are returning to Woodward Avenue and more and more of the city’s famed stone skyscrapers designed by Gilded Age architects – the place is lousy with National Historic Registry buildings – are coming back to life. Neighbourhoods such as Corktown, East Market and Greektown are vibrant with good restaurants, cafés and shops to explore. Hit the CBD on a weekday lunch hour and you’ll find line-ups in food truck alley, but lots of bistro tables in Campus Martius Park where there’s a beach and grassed area to enjoy it in.
Look up in the downtown core and you’re surrounded by eye-popping art deco, Romanesque façades, neo gothic spires and Renaissance revival craftsmanship. The architecture takes your breath away, doubly so if it’s been restored. When Aloft Hotels moved into the David Whitney Building late last year, it brought a youthful laid-back vibe to a historic landmark.
DESIGN
The $92-million (U.S.) redevelopment of the David Whitney building is impressive. The exterior, with all its terracotta and glazed-brick neo Renaissance style, shines. Inside, the four-storey, white-marble lobby atrium glows; in fact, it’s hard to believe how much marble there is – hallway floors, railings, water fountains. This is no ordinary hotel. Opened in 1915, the 19-storey skyscraper was named after one of the richest businessmen in town and housed a busy mix of retail and medical offices. Hard times in the past few decades emptied the building, then closed it until it was purchased in 2011, cleaned up and turned into a hotel (10 floors) and residences (top nine floors). Original carved detailing remains, right down to the mail slots on many room doors. Inside the rooms, a modern, unstuffy aesthetic reigns with nods to the past in prints of old Detroit and original sash windows.
LOCATION LOCATION
On the corner of Park and Woodward avenues, on the northern edge of downtown Detroit, you overlook Comerica Park, the Tigers’ home stadium. The grand old Fox Theater and Park Avenue bars and clubs are only a short walk away. You’ll arrive by car (valet parking is $30 a day, and frankly there’s no other choice) but getting around downtown is easy on foot or on the elevated train, the People Mover (at 75 cents, it’s a cheap tour, too). A 15-minute walk south takes you to the Central Business District (and its eye-popping architecture) and maybe another 10 minutes to reach the Detroit River esplanade. Some time next year, an overhaul of Woodward Avenue will be completed, making it easier to reach the Detroit Institute of the Arts (Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry murals are a must-see) and, when it’s finished in 2017, the Red Wing’s new midtown arena.
IF I COULD CHANGE ONE THING
Front desk staff were unfailingly pleasant and cheerful and happy to fulfill every housekeeping request. But when it came down to the nuts and bolts of the hospitality business – getting our bill right or providing local maps (“Oh, we don’t have any tourist maps.” Really? In a city that’s struggling to reassure visitors it’s safe to explore?) – they failed to deliver.
ROOM WITH A VIEW?
Rooms from the third floor up have views of Comerica Park. Corner suites overlook the stadium and up into Midtown; on the 19th floor, we could see the stadium, right into room in the apartment building right the street, and the 1926 Wurlitzer building, which is also expected to become a boutique hotel.
EAT IN OR EAT OUT?
Currently, guests can have a made-to-order breakfast sandwich and other snacks from the Re:Fuel commissary in the lobby (a full service restaurant will likely open in the lobby in the fall). After 4 p.m., the lobby’s WXYZ bar lights up with just the right kind of music to draw in the hotel’s younger guests, and you can order snacks. But for a meal, you’ll have to head out.
BEST AMENITY
Many at the bar take their drinks into the soaring lobby to socialize surrounded by the marbled architecture of another era. And beyond the conveniences and fun of the Aloft brand, that’s really why you want to stay here: to soak up the history.
Aloft Detroit at the David Whitney, One Park Ave., aloftdetroit.com, 136 rooms from $169 (U.S.).