The once-popular Monroe Street Midway in downtown Detroit could make a comeback.
Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock real estate firm, which operated the outdoor games and family fun attraction from its 2021 opening until its final 2023 season, is said to be in early discussions with the city to possibly bring it back.
The plan being considered would put the new Midway near where it was before, but on the northeast side of the superblock, across from Greektown.
The Midway was previously on the south side of the superblock, across from Campus Martius. Today, that side is occupied by an under-construction venue for immersive entertainment called COSM Detroit, which is set to open as soon as September.
COSM represents Phase 1 of Bedrock’s overall development plan for the big block, known as The Development at Cadillac Square. The original Monroe Street Midway had been a placeholder on the site until construction was ready to start.
In a June 1 interview, Bedrock CEO Jared Fleisher told the Free Press that they are in initial discussions with the city to possibly bring the Midway to the other side of the superblock.
“With the teen takeover situation, there’s been a great deal of focus on safe spaces for kids downtown,” he said.
Bedrock has been reserving that north side land for the future development of a 250-unit apartment building, but under the potential new plan, the Midway would go there instead. (Bedrock internally refers to the north side as “B Block.”)
Bedrock would still develop 250 or so mixed-income apartments, but instead of building a new apartment building, it would create those units as part of a residential conversion of the nearby 40-story Cadillac Tower, a vacant 1927 office building that the firm purchased in 2021.
“You basically get the same amount of units as you would on the B Block,” Fleisher said, “but (the plan) has the added benefit of bringing that vacant historic building, kind of in the center of the city, back to life.”
The Monroe Street Midway had different seasonal setups and featured roller skating, mini golf, basketball, LED swings and seesaws during summer seasons and arctic slides, bumper cars, an arcade and more during winter seasons.
Downtown Detroit has seen several large gatherings of young people this spring as part of a nationwide trend known as “teen takeovers.” During one such gathering on May 17, a 14-year-old boy was wounded in a shooting near downtown’s Gucci store.
Next for COSM
Bedrock still plans to build a Market Hall next door to COSM Detroit that would include various features of a food hall, a beer garden and a small music venue. Fleisher said they anticipate breaking ground on the Market Hall by the middle of 2027.
“It will be amenities for all of downtown,” he said. “If you work down here, if you visit down here, if you live down here, that’s an amenity and a bunch of options to get a quick, affordable bite to eat.”
The superblock includes the former site of the old National Theatre building, which was torn down in January 2024 to make way for that year’s NFL draft event and the future COSM. The theater’s historic facade was carefully dismantled and put in storage for future reuse.
The Development at Cadillac Square is a scaled-back version of Bedrock’s original plan for the area, known as “Monroe Blocks,” which originated before the pandemic and the resulting drop in demand for office space in Detroit and nationwide.
The original plan called for building a new 35-story office tower and over 480 units of new housing.
“We’re trying to reposition our downtown as a ‘Live, Play, Stay’ — that’s the key to long-term success of downtown,” Fleisher said. “It’s not just office workers; we’re in an era of hybrid work and remote work and AI — that’s not a recipe for success. A balanced downtown is the recipe for success.”
Cadillac Square is one of four Bedrock projects that have been awarded a state and local tax capture development incentive, known as a “Transformational Brownfield,” valued at about $592 million for the developer over three decades. The other projects are the Hudson’s site, the Book Tower rehab and the One Campus Martius expansion.
Contact JC Reindl: 313-378-5460 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on X @JCReindl
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Bedrock may bring back downtown Detroit’s Monroe Street Midway
Reporting by JC Reindl, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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