DETROIT, MI – If you were walking down Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit Thursday night, you might not have recognized the city. The city sparkled under a light drizzle of rain as spotlights blazed into the night sky. And most of the buildings — empty or blighted not so long ago — were filled and lit up.
Quicken Loans Founder Dan Gilbert, the man responsible for filling almost every building along the Woodward Avenue corridor and the John Varvatos store at 1500 Woodward Ave., said the sight was awesome. Flying into the city just in time to make the black carpet walk with Detroit natives Alice Cooper and John Varvatos was breath-taking, he said.
Cooper was in town for a pop-up, private concert inside Woodward Avenue’s new high-end retailer. A handful of local and international stars walked the black carpet (black to keep with Cooper’s “goth” stylings).
Former University of Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner, Michael Bolton, Detroit artists and musicians, Chrysler executives and higher-ups from some of Gilbert’s companies were among the attendees. Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander and supermodel Kate Upton made an appearance, too.