Rivertown

Rivertown's housing stock is unlike anything else in Detroit, featuring former manufacturing warehouses converted into loft apartments and condominiums with soaring ceilings, original brick walls, and river or park views that remind you every morning that you live somewhere special. Options range from modest one-bedrooms in converted warehouse buildings to full-floor penthouse condos at Great Lakes Tower, with modern additions like Orleans Landing rounding out the mix. With the WNBA facility set to transform the eastern corridor, property values are in the early stages of a significant upward move.

The Rivertown Detroit Association holds monthly public meetings, runs the annual Riverfront Kids Fishing Fest, and has been the connective tissue between businesses, residents, and city partners for years, most recently advocating for the Rivertown Business Improvement Zone. Residents consistently point to the Riverwalk as the space that turns neighbors into regulars. CRED Café, which hosted the public WNBA facility meeting, is fast becoming Rivertown's community living room.

Rivertown's story begins along the water, where this stretch of East Jefferson served as Detroit's 19th-century industrial center filled with busy shipping operations, manufacturing, and warehouses. The riverfront also held profound cultural importance as an essential hub on the Underground Railroad. Proximity to Canada made Detroit one of the most vital gateways to freedom for enslaved people, supported by an active local network of Black and white abolitionists who worked together along the water to assist freedom seekers crossing into Windsor. By the Prohibition era, the area evolved into a bustling entertainment district, setting the stage for its modern chapter. The 2007 opening of the Detroit Riverwalk transformed Rivertown into one of Michigan's most active and beloved waterfront destinations, where historic purpose meets contemporary community life.