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If you’ve spent any amount of time in Detroit’s Brush Park area since early 2024, you’ve probably seen the signs of it changing fast.
What was once a smattering of empty lots that were the former home to old mansions will now be a hub of townhomes, restaurants, and new apartments, including the recently opened AC Hotel and the restoration of the old Bonstelle Playhouse.
The AC Hotel has 154 rooms and a clean, modern design that is already attracting business travelers and out-of-towners who want to be central to downtown.
As for the Bonstelle, this historic synagogue turned theater turned Wayne State performance hall for student productions was sitting vacant and closed off for years prior to its restoration.
Considering the fact that Detroit tends to let old buildings rot until there’s no saving them, any second chance a historic property like the Bonstelle gets is considered nothing short of a miracle.
After all, this isn’t some random relic – it’s one of Detroit’s most beloved cultural backbones – and it being lit up and accepting patrons again means Brush Park has a real entertainment anchor beyond just the usual restaurants and coffee shops.
Another huge plus is that Brush Park is located close to Detroit’s most beloved arenas and stadiums, making it a very high-traffic area for sports fans, concert-goers, and visiting families alike.
The AC hotel gives them somewhere to lay their heads, but the Bonstelle theater feeds their souls.
The Balance
As uplifting as the AC Hotel and the Bonstelle renovation may seem, there’s been grumbling already:
“Oh greattt…another hotel, another revitalization project…”
It has many Detroit locals wondering who benefits: locals, or tourists?
After all, many Detroit natives can’t even afford to live in the Brush Park area, and another boutique hotel and a fancy theater certainly won’t improve matters any.
That said, many other Detroit natives are hopeful, viewing the Bonstelle restoration in particular as the city saving something iconic that may have otherwise been lost to time – a place for locals to attend the theater in the same historic space where their parents and grandparents did decades ago.
In short: Brush Park just got a major boost…only time will tell if these two projects will prove to be the success developers were hoping.