By Gina Cavaliere
Chief Community Impact Officer, Downtown Detroit Partnership
Executive Director, Downtown Detroit Business Improvement Zone
In the heart of Downtown Detroit, there is a team that quietly but profoundly has shaped the landscape of the community. It has fostered growth and prosperity while remaining largely unsung beyond its key stakeholders and supporters. In April, the Downtown Detroit Business Improvement Zone (BIZ) celebrated 10 years of service to the Downtown community, signaling the start of a new decade of stewarding and propelling Downtown’s vibrancy.
The BIZ, made possible by the contributions of Downtown property owners with its engaged and active volunteer Board of Directors, is committed to nurturing a vibrant urban hub. The team is often looked to by peers locally and across the nation as a leader in maintaining a clean, safe, and welcoming community. Its unique and multifaceted approach is supported by diverse businesses, property owners, and stakeholders, which only drives home the BIZ’s indispensable role in shaping the Downtown Detroit experience for all.
Demonstrating the Value
The 2006 Superbowl in Detroit is often heralded as a pivotal point in Detroit’s resurgence. Downtown was starting to experience a critical mass of investment, from new stadiums to visionary business leaders moving their corporate headquarters and hundreds of employees to the urban core. Efforts funded by a small group of committed stakeholders through a voluntary business improvement district housed within and managed by the Downtown Detroit Partnership addressed foundational needs of the business community beyond what the city provides, such as placing and tending to extra trash cans, enhancing landscaping on street medians and in parks, and installing a winter lighting display. The value of a coordinated effort for enhanced care of the public realm was evident, so property owners established the Downtown Detroit Business Improvement Zone as the central vehicle for delivering on their shared vision for a Downtown that is clean, safe, and welcoming.
The BIZ as a Vehicle for Sustained Investment
In April 2014, the inaugural Downtown Detroit BIZ Plan was approved for a 10-year term by vote of Downtown property owners with the concurrence of City of Detroit leadership, defining projects, creating a special assessment district to fund them, and electing a volunteer Board of Directors to govern the effort. The BIZ Board of Directors sets priorities as representatives of property owners and contracts with the DDP to carry out the day-to-day operations of the BIZ.
Committed to transparency and accountability, BIZ Board meetings are open to the public. Every independent annual audit has been entirely clean, and the BIZ allocates no more than 20 percent of revenue to administration and overhead, with 80 percent or more directly funding projects that were defined by property owners, a best practice. Supporting a vibrant Downtown not only creates a place people want to visit, live, and work, but it also protects and enhances property values for the benefit of the entire community.
Year after year, data shows that the BIZ has delivered as promised and that stakeholders agree. In late 2023, Downtown property owners unanimously voted “yes” to renew the Downtown BIZ for another ten years, and the City of Detroit, through a vote of City Council, concurred with the extension.
The Secret Sauce
The BIZ leverages the power of a coordinated effort of property owners to collectively contract for activities in the public realm such as keeping sidewalks along their property clean. The BIZ also augments services provided by the City of Detroit with ancillary cleaning, safety, landscaping, lighting, and infrastructure improvements, as well as urban planning, data, and stakeholder engagement. Through the BIZ, Downtown property owners have defined a high standard for a Downtown that is clean, safe, and welcoming, and they efficiently and effectively pool and deploy their resources to deliver results.
The most visible project is the BIZ Ambassadors. Approximately 100 dedicated team members, more than 90 percent Detroit residents, provide concierge-style hospitality services and keep our sidewalks and public spaces clean and free of debris. Ambassadors train directly with partners such as the Detroit Police Department on the best communication protocol for public safety and mental health first aid.
The Ambassadors work every day of the year. They maintain the Downtown geography bound by the Lodge freeway on the west, I-75 on the north, I-375 in the east, and the Detroit River on the south. A large portion of the Detroit Riverfront is located within the BIZ – from Riverfront Drive to Rivard – and is maintained as part of the base BIZ services. The infrastructure of this flagship program is leveraged through fee-for-service contracts where Ambassadors work special events and in areas outside the BIZ such as the Dequindre Cut and the Jefferson East, Live 6, and Midtown neighborhoods.
As of April 2024, BIZ Ambassadors have collected more than 5,500 tons of trash, removed more than 25,000 instances of graffiti, and assisted more than 220,000 Downtown patrons over 800,000+ work hours.
Other initiatives that the BIZ delivers in collaboration with DDP include an award-winning holiday and winter lighting display; The Spirit Card, a Detroit-wide community e-gift card aimed at keeping local dollars in Detroit; and Project Lighthouse, Downtown Detroit’s Neighborhood Watch and a nationally recognized, innovative safety program that connects Downtown patrons to a network of safety partners.
What’s Next
The BIZ remains focused on its mission to keep Downtown Detroit clean, safe, and welcoming for the benefit and enjoyment of all stakeholders and patrons. While day-to-day work never stops, the BIZ is forward-thinking. It continuously refines services as it seizes opportunities to innovate, achieve efficiencies, leverage new technologies, and strategically deploy resources to meet the changing and growing needs of the community. It shares knowledge among its stakeholders and keeps communication channels open to their input.
The BIZ has effectively delivered on the promises upon which it was formed with consistency, accountability, and transparency. It has proven itself a powerful tool for Downtown stakeholders to establish, fund, and achieve a shared vision. The true value lies in its collaborative framework, shown through its formation story – built by business and community leaders who shared a vision and agreed to collectively invest in Downtown Detroit. Thank you to those visionaries including our committed Board of Directors who contribute their time, resources, and talents, the members of the team tending to Downtown every day, and to Downtown property owners who voted unanimously to fund this work for another 10 years. Working together toward a common goal accomplishes powerful results.
On Thursday, June 20, the Downtown Detroit BIZ will celebrate/celebrated 10 years of service in Campus Martius Park. Happy 10th Anniversary to the Downtown Detroit BIZ and thank you to everyone who Makes it Happen Together! The work of the BIZ is made possible through the contributions of Downtown property owners and the leadership of its volunteer Board of Directors.
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