While America’s Motor City maintains its stronghold in the automotive industry, what with General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) still producing cars since dominating the industry as the “Big Three” in the 1920s, Detroit is enjoying a renaissance.

Take the iconic Beaux-Arts-style Michigan Central Station, for example. In its heyday, the 18-story train terminal and tower, built in 1913 by the architects who created New York City’s Grand Central Station, served more than 4,000 train passengers daily, not to mention the thousands who worked in its offices. The building, in Corktown, Detroit’s oldest neighborhood, closed in 1988 and was threatened with demolition before Ford Motor Co. had a vision to restore it to its former glory. After an extensive renovation, Michigan Central Station reopened in June 2024 and serves as the centerpiece of Michigan Central, Ford’s new technology hub, named one of Fast Company’s The World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2025.

Michigan Central Station is just one of the remarkable transformations happening in Detroit. When asked what is new in the city, Claude Molinari, president and CEO, Visit Detroit, shared a list about a mile long, including additional buildings from the late 1800s and early 1900s undergoing transformations and “new skyscrapers coming up.”

© Visit Detroit

With a 360-degree view from his 10th-floor office in downtown Detroit, Molinari said, “I cannot not see a crane. I think nothing speaks to the success and the growth of the city like cranes in the air building things. I’m watching out my window every day as a new 600-room JW Marriott that will be attached to the convention center right on the riverfront is going up before my eyes. It’s remarkable.”

The construction of the JW Marriott is a direct result of business travel demand, said Molinari.

“When it comes to hotel room development, we’re not even close to done,” he said. “We have the 16th-largest convention center in North America, and yet our lack of hotel rooms downtown precludes us from meeting some of the [clients’] criteria.

“We’re going to continue to invest to build up the inventory so that we can continue to host major events,” Molinari continued. “We want to lead the nation in hotel development because there’s a need here. We’re meeting with developers all the time who are very interested in continuing this resurgence in Detroit.”

Detroit’s resurgence is happening in once-crime-ridden areas, too, like Capitol Park.

“When I first moved here, one of the first things I was told was, ‘Stay out of Capitol Park; it’s nothing but drug dealers and prostitutes,’” recalled Molinari, who was born and raised in New York. “Now, Capitol Park has been transformed right in the heart of downtown with high-end restaurants, a patisserie, a bicycle store and more retail. It is just a complete transformation.”

© Visit Detroit / Huntington Place

Upon its completion, the 27.5-mile pedestrian- and bike-friendly Joe Louis Greenway will connect Capitol Park to Detroit’s neighborhoods and other public spaces, like Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park, a 22-acre green space on the riverfront that opened this fall, and Campus Martius Park, named the No. 1 Best Public Square in the United States by USA Today for the third consecutive year. Cosm Detroit, similar to The Sphere in Las Vegas, is under construction in the square, adding to Detroit’s already impressive entertainment venue lineup. In fact, only London, New York City and Las Vegas have more seats than Detroit, which boasts venues ranging from intimate clubs to massive stadiums.

Molinari acknowledged perceptions about Detroit sometimes skew negative, with a note. “Detroit is a safe place,” he emphasized. “The city of Detroit — downtown, midtown, the suburbs — there’s incredible amounts of things to do.

“I’ve fallen in love with this place because of the people, the energy, the swag. This authentic energy that comes from people who are from Detroit and Michigan is really exceptional; there’s a friendliness and a coolness about Detroit. You’re a Detroiter; you feel it.

“And you don’t have to live here to be a Detroiter because it’s about an attitude and about a feeling of ‘We hustle hard.’ We’ve got that grit. Nothing stops us.”

SCENIC DRIVES
Detroit’s proximity to the Great Lakes and the  Canadian border — not to mention all of Michigan — affords ample opportunities for daytrips from the city, with scenic drives along the way. Carve out about four hours or more to really appreciate the ride to scope out a handful of covered bridges in and around Detroit. Begin by driving about an hour north of the city to Bruce Township, where you will find the Zappella Covered Bridge, and then to the northeast to Hadley and the Mill Creek Covered Bridge. From there, head south to the town of Walled Lake and the Robert H. Long Nature Park Bridge, and then the Huroc Park Covered Bridge in Flat Rock.

End the drive by looping back toward Detroit, stopping at the covered bridge in Dearborn’s Ford Field Park before arriving back to The D. Get a taste of Germany about an hour and a half from Detroit in Frankenmuth. Founded by German missionaries in 1845, Michigan’s Little Bavaria overflows with Bavarian-style architecture, German-inspired restaurants and more. Or drive about an hour across the Canadian border into Ontario. and spend the day hiking and birding at Point Pelee National Park, the country’s most ecologically diverse national park.