Mayor Hubert Yopp of Highland Park, MI knows where the city has been, and now he wants to know where it is going. In late 2016, he appointed Theresa Johnson, Chairwoman of the Tax Increment Financing Authority (TIFA) Board of Directors, to chart out a bold new course for the next two, five, and 10 years.

It is not a matter of "if," but how and when development pressure will come to Highland Park. Johnson says "this City has the golden opportunity to envision the outcomes it wants to see over the next decade." The growth of Ferndale and Royal Oak to the north and New Center, Midtown/Cass Corridor, Brush Park and Downtown to the south puts Highland Park not at the periphery of Detroit’s renaissance, but at the heart of it all. But it is not just along the Woodward Corridor — the Detroit Inner Circle Greenway will bisect Woodward along the northern end of Highland Park’s downtown. This "will put us at the intersection of 'Main' and 'Main' in the Detroit metro," Johnson says.

Once one of the country’s most prosperous cities, Highland Park now loses out on $22 million of annual retail spending that goes elsewhere in the region as most of the amenities that used to cluster along Woodward decamped to the suburbs. Johnson knows that to attract investment back to Highland Park, it will have to prove the demand for development in the community today and that its locational advantages, architectural heritage and diversity give it a bright future. There is widespread acknowledgement that investment in a thriving place is the best way to grow education, quality housing and employment opportunities.

Johnson will focus first on demonstrating that demand through community-driven, targeted, short term wins in multi-modal infrastructure, activated public spaces and popup amenities and experiences. This work will begin this summer. The activation work over the next few years will allow TIFA to shore up its assets and recruit development partners. As improvements to the Greenway and Woodward take shape over the next several years, new opportunities for development will be possible in the District’s core and along the Greenway.