A Private Boom Amid Detroit's Public Blight

Detroit's Government Might Be In Dire Straits, But Biz Is Booming
DETROIT, UNITED STATES: Fireworks fired from barges on the Detroit River as part of the International Freedom Festival light up the Detroit, Michigan skyline 30 June 1999. Reports estimated the crowd at over 1,000,000 people who lined both the Detroit and Windsor, Canada sides of the river to watch the fireworks. AFP PHOTO/Jeff KOWALSKY (Photo credit should read JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP/Getty Images)
DETROIT, UNITED STATES: Fireworks fired from barges on the Detroit River as part of the International Freedom Festival light up the Detroit, Michigan skyline 30 June 1999. Reports estimated the crowd at over 1,000,000 people who lined both the Detroit and Windsor, Canada sides of the river to watch the fireworks. AFP PHOTO/Jeff KOWALSKY (Photo credit should read JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP/Getty Images)

DETROIT — Private industry is blooming here, even as the city’s finances have descended into wreckage.

In late 2011, Rachel Lutz opened a clothing shop, the Peacock Room, which proved so successful that she opened another one, Emerald, last fall. Shel Kimen, who had worked in advertising in New York, is negotiating to build a boutique hotel and community space. Big companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield have moved thousands of workers into downtown Detroit in recent years. A Whole Foods grocery, this city’s first, is scheduled to open in June.

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