Curbed Cup 1st round: (4) Downtown vs. (13) Bagley

The Curbed Cup is our annual award for the neighborhood of the year. We’re starting with 16 neighborhoods (with some close ones combined), and we’ll vote over the next few weeks until we’re down to one. Polls are open for 24 hours. Let the voting commence!

Downtown

If you’re looking at development in Detroit, downtown is where you’ll find most of it. While it’s still more of a place to rent instead of own (hopefully more condos will become available in the coming years), residents watch their streets change daily. Three new hotels will open in the next year. Ground is set to break on the biggest construction project on an iconic block in the heart of it all. And more buildings are being renovated, bringing more offices, retail, and apartments online every day. Should it be considered as the neighborhood of the year?

Bagley

Photo by Michelle & Chris Gerard

Bordering Livernois and 6 Mile, the Bagley neighborhood has seen a lot of changes itself in the last few years. More storefronts continue to fill with local businesses along the Avenue of Fashion, and many homes and duplexes have been renovated in recent years. The adjacent Fitzgerald neighborhood is about to undergo a big transformation, and the city could be improving more commercial corridors in the neighborhood. Bagley had many write-in nominations this year; here’s one from a resident.

"Bagley has beautiful homes and diverse architecture, incredibly friendly residents—many of which have been around for decades, and things are very exciting in the area. So much development is happening in the neighborhood, especially with the help of Live6.”