Detroit’s Eastern Market is one of the oldest wholesale fruit, vegetable and flower markets in the country. The district is both a vibrant cultural center and tourist destination, and a critical food distribution hub that represents an important center for job creation in the City. And yet, Detroit’s resurgence also threatens the Market’s authenticity, as a rising wave of investment brings more non-food businesses and residential development to the district.

The Detroit Eastern Market Corporation commissioned WXY, in partnership with Olin Landscape Architects, to lead an urban design and strategic planning process that will guide future economic and real estate development in the Eastern Market District. 

The 2025 Strategy Plan provides a roadmap for the creation of a new Food Industry Innovation District that will provide modern industrial space and upgraded infrastructure for small- and medium-scale food manufacturers and distributors that are currently being pressured out of the district.  The team also established an equitable development strategy that will guide economic development tactics for the coming decade, as well as a Public Realm Plan to guide urban design improvements in the Market itself.