After over a year and a half of construction, Greektown’s Monroe Streetscape is officially complete. To mark the occasion, community members were joined by local politicians to celebrate the end of the $20 million project on Wednesday (Oct. 14).
After delivering speeches, they all broke a plate and yelled “Opa!” to christen the newly improved district.
“As a lifelong Detroiter, I’ve had so many memories here in Greektown,” Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield told the crowd. “It’s a part of the culture of our city, and to be here to elevate this area to its next chapter is truly an honor.”
State representatives Will Snyder (D-Muskegon) and Joe Tate (D-Detroit) also delivered remarks. The two supported the effort to secure state funding that made the project possible.
What’s New
Previously a continuous road, Monroe Street is now divided into car-free areas, paved over with about $2.4 million of granite. This allows for expanded restaurant patios and easier pedestrian access.
The improvements include 50 new trees, 50 smart lampposts equipped with security cameras, public Wi-Fi, and a speaker system. Additionally, the street now has a stormwater drain.
“It feels a lot safer and it’s a lot calmer,” says Tasso Teftsis, vice president of the Greektown Neighborhood Partnership. “It’s curbless, where you can come down with a wheelchair and go anywhere that you want.”
The two summers of construction weren’t easy for local businesses. Teftsis — who is also the owner of Astoria Pastry Shop, which has operated on Monroe almost 60 years — estimates business was down 40% to 50%. But now, he says he’s seen an uptick of 10 to 15% since Monroe Street has begun to open up.
“This is kind of a legacy project for us older business owners,” says Teftsis. “So, our hopes are that the younger people continue it and keep it maintained.
The Purpose Behind the Internet Infrastructure
The free Wi-Fi comes from local service provider Cronus Internet, which it powers through fiber optics and its localized data center. But it’s not just for working on your laptop.
Cronus CEO Tom Paparaptis, who was present at the event, told Hour Detroit that the elaborate internet infrastructure under the street was designed for potential future integrations, such as drone deliveries.
In Greektown, there are now 124 security cameras that are connected to the internet via Cronus’s network. They feed into the Detroit Police Department’s Real Time Crime Center.
“It runs through a Genetec system, which is [DPD’s] system,” says Paparaptis. “We have future plans to do gun detection…so if a gunshot goes off, the police will be alerted at the command center. We have an AI model for mass congestion. If there’s 100 people coming down the street, [the police will] get alerted. …We took a lot of things that we learned from the Homeland Security apparatus.”
When asked how he’d respond to someone who had privacy concerns about the camera system, Paparaptis says, “There’s probably 1,500 cameras downtown. Everywhere you go all over the nation, you can walk a downtown street and you’ll be hit by 50 cameras. There’s no privacy anymore to begin with.”
Events and Activations
The new streetscape allows the Greektown Neighborhood Partnership to host outdoor events. These events include live entertainment, festivals, game-day activities, and other programming — which it has already started this summer. However, not all business owners have been pleased.
Hour Detroit spoke to Ather Butris, who has owned and operated Athens Liquor since 1997. Last month, he told WXYZ that he lost traffic due to security fencing being placed near his entrance during summer events, and he was seeking legal action against the Partnership.
“I wasn’t happy with that, and it is what it is,” Butris tells Hour Detroit. “Hopefully, this will get resolved, and everybody will prosper from this.”
When asked what he thinks of the Monroe Streetscape being complete, he had this to say:
“I always been dreaming to have this here. I’ve been planting this seed for years to come to see it like this. …I always look forward to good things, not bad things.”
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