This is an experiment.

We know that Detroit has the world’s finest collection of abandoned architecture. We know that these buildings are called the following:
blight, eyesores, beautiful, dilapidated, tragic, dangerous, worth saving.

Many of us used to work in Detroit.
Some of us once lived in Detroit.
A few of us live there now.

No matter where we live or work, we are quite passionate about the Motor City. That was made clear when seventy-five of us signed up for this project in twenty minutes. That’s faster than we’ve ever signed up for anything at Team Detroit (true, we did get paid to be outside that day…!).

On May 21, Team Detroit joined the University Cultural Center Association and Greening of Detroit to create the city’s first vertical garden. The site was the Forest Arms, a historic and handsome building that stands at the intersection of Forest and 2nd in Midtown.
It’s a fact that empty buildings can impact the psychology of a neighborhood. They cast a shadow that’s hard to shake off. The Forest Arms is one example of a fairly large building – standing four stories tall - whose history of fire damage in 2008 stands visible to hundreds of people each day. We don’t know whether flowers can grow bright enough to change the impression of the Forest Arms, or to help lift the shadow for a season. But that’s something we’d like to find out.