28 August 8 • 2019
jn

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

