Wayne State University researchers will analyze the economic and social impacts that U-Haul® corporate sustainability initiatives are having on the New Center neighborhood, and how these impacts interact with larger redevelopment trends in Detroit. The focus of the study will be on the adaptive reuse of the former Nabisco® factory at 899 W. Baltimore St. in Detroit's Midtown district. The research will be conducted during the next 18 to 24 months. The agreement constitutes Phase II of a U-Haul commissioned study. Phase I built the context by examining the ingredients and effects of adaptive reuse projects in the U.S. and around the world. Wayne State University's research will be led by Professor Robin Boyle and Associate Professor Rayman Mohamed of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning. "This project will allow us to understand how sustainability can be linked at the building, neighborhood, district and city levels," Mohamed said. Boyle added: "There is very much an ethnographic study: we will embed ourselves in the neighborhood to understand how change can spread outwards from a single location to influence changes in the larger midtown area."

http://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/15/08/n5774261/u-haul-wayne-state-proceed-with-sustainability-study-in-detroit#ixzz3jCHtpFii
http://www.bizjournals.com/prnewswire/press_releases/2015/08/18/LA81298