28 August 8 • 2019
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ESTHER ALLWEISS INGBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
A Capital Time in
Capitol Park
Food tours let you eat your way through a revitalized Downtown.
A
Downtown Detroit tour
with eating or eating with a
Downtown Detroit tour? The
first was more my impression when
Linda Yellin, founder of Feet on the
Street Tours, took a group of 18 to see
everything happening in and around
Capitol Park.
Her strolling brunch, “
Come Hungry,
Leave Happy,
” offered on select dates
through Dec. 8, takes its name from
Yellin’
s popular eating tour in Detroit’
s
Eastern Market. Her decision to create
a new tour was sparked by the recent
transformation of Capitol Park, once a
city transit hub. The triangular-shaped
public park on Griswold Street is loosely
bounded by State Street, Washington
Boulevard and Grand River. It’
s a block
west of Woodward.
Our morning started with hand-
crafted coffee at Dessert Oasis Coffee
Roasters Detroit, a large, informal
hangout space in the renovated Albert
Building, constructed in 1929 by archi-
tect Albert Kahn.
Most of the high-rise buildings
here date from the 1900s-1920s. Their
appearance today is a far cry from the
not-so-distant past. During Detroit’
s
decline in population and abandonment
of buildings, many homeless and men-
tally ill people congregated in Capitol
Park.
“
At one time, these buildings couldn’
t
sell, but with the city’
s redevelopment,
a bidding war broke out 10 years ago,
”
Yellin said. “Now this is one of the most
expensive places to live in Detroit, and
the prices just keep on going up.
”
She noted monthly rents of $1,400 at
the Albert and up to $5,000 at the Stott,
the luxurious redo
(2018) of the 1929-
built David Stott art
deco skyscraper.
Under auspices
of Quicken Loans
CEO Dan Gilbert’
s
real-estate firm
Bedrock Detroit,
Sachse Construction
is renovating most
of the buildings on
Woodward, turning
them into offices
and retail space.
Downtown apart-
ments and lofts,
hotels, stores, bars
and restaurants are being added at a fast
clip.
“It’
s exciting to see what’
s happening
here,
” Yellin said.
It was a dry day for our 2½-hour
exploration of Capitol Park and envi-
rons. A now-cleaned-up statue of Gov.
Stephens T. Mason is a reminder that
Capitol Park was the site of Michigan’
s
first state capitol, relocated to Lansing in
1847. A historic marker commemorates
Finney Barn, a stop on the Underground
Railroad for slaves fleeing to Canada.
Downtown Detroit
Partnership provides
maintenance, security
and programming
for Capitol Park and
other spaces, including
Campus Martius and
Grand Circus Park.
Capitol Park’
s pleasant
environment includes
shade trees, benches,
moveable red tables and
chairs, and even a small
dog run.
We noticed finishing
touches being added
to the coming outdoor
Capitol Café. The
owner is Eatori Market, an upscale spe-
cialty grocery store in the Malcomson
Building. Coming in late summer will
be Leila, a casual Lebanese restaurant in
the long-vacant Farwell Building. Prime
+ Proper steakhouse, Griswold at State,
is a notable restaurant in the Capitol
Park Lofts building, built in 1912.
Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue, a
Conservative Jewish congregation since
1921, resides in the former Fintex men’
s
clothing store on Griswold at Clifford.
Behind the building, IADS admin-
istrative assistant Elizabeth Kannon
pointed out features of the fanciful, folk
art mural that Bunnie Reiss completed
in 2018. Just beyond was a glimpse of
Charlie McGee’
s 11-story abstract mural
in black and white, on a side of the
28Grand building.
arts&life
TOP LEFT: The Mural at the Isaac Agree
Downtown Synagogue. TOP RIGHT: The
Shinola Hotel and its in-house restaurant
are included on the tour. ABOVE: La Lanterna
can be found in the Albert Building.
FUTURE FOOD TOURS
“Come Hungry, Leave Happy” in
Capitol Park will run 10:30 a.m.-
1 p.m. Sundays, Sept. 15 and 22;
Oct. 13; Nov. 10 and Dec. 8, and
Wednesday, Sept. 11. Tickets are
$31, and tours continue rain or
shine. For information about public
and private tours, visit
enjoythed.org.
continued on page 30
PHOTOS BY DAVID DUCKWORTH