Rethink RO - 30 percent

We invite you to reimagine your downtown experience and “Rethink” Royal Oak as we embark on an exciting new development project to build a new city hall, police station, downtown park, private office building and 581-space parking deck. The project will transform the downtown area to a gathering place for the entire city as well as provide necessary updates to buildings designed more than 60 years ago.

There will be a variety of updates and new details to share with you throughout the process including changes to the current parking options. We’ve created this page to keep you up-to-date with all aspects of the project and provide you with the best parking solutions as we await our new downtown. Follow project updates on our social media channels using the hashtag #RethinkRO. If you have questions or concerns, please contact us at rethinkro@romi.gov for more information.

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PROJECT UPDATES

The Rethink Royal Oak development, which includes a new park, parking garage, City Hall and police station, is progressing.

Construction is well underway for the parking garage (due to open in June 2019).

The parking lot south of the Farmers Market is now closed, as construction has commenced for the new City Hall (projected to complete in 2020). Please note the Royal Oak Farmers Market is not closing – it will remain open all throughout construction. The hours and availability of the Farmers Market will not be impacted by the development. All scheduled activities and events are still happening during construction. Now available:

• FREE valet parking on Saturday for the Farmers Market.

• Large strolling shopping baskets for customers to store while they pull their car around, and volunteers to help customers with curbside loading and unloading.

• FREE parking for Market patrons at Superior Fish (40 spaces) during Market hours on Saturday.

• A new entrance to the west Farmers Market parking lot on 11 Mile for customers.

• 23 new on-street parking spaces on Third Street east of Troy.

• The P4 lot, which was created between the library and the police station with 20 spaces and additional handicap spaces.

The construction commencement date for the police station will be announced soon (projected to complete in in 2020).

The Royal Oak Public Library is getting a makeover, which includes a new ADA compliant ramp, railings, landscaping and more. The north entrance is expected to permanently reopen in the spring of 2019 after being closed to the public for nearly a decade. Decorative streetscape including ornamental street lights, trees with grates and stamped concrete will be put in place to match the looked of the work recently done on East Fourth Street. Library hours and programs will not be affected by the ongoing work on the Eleven Mile side of the building. The turn lane on 11 Mile north of the library will close and re-open intermittently during construction. The sidewalk along the soon-to-be north entrance is currently closed and is expected to reopen in early 2019.

Parking Decks

ROYAL OAK CITY CENTER (ROCC) ANNOUNCEMENT

Henry Ford Health System will occupy the new Royal Oak City Center once the building is completed in 2020. The six-story, 145,000 square foot, high-tech outpatient medical center is expected to attract thousands of unique visitors annually to Royal Oak. Learn more here: Henry Ford Health System moving into new Royal Oak City Center

ROCC-HFHS

Rethink RO News Briefs

  1. 5/25/18 - Rethink Royal Oak Development Begins Parking Garage
  2. 4/25/18 Royal Oak Begins Development Project
  3. 9/9/2018 Henry Ford Health System Moving into Royal Oak City Center
  4. 11/1/18 - City of Royal Oak Seeks Community Input for New Downtown Park
  5. 11-28-18 Royal Oak Way Now Open
  6. 11/30/18 - Royal Oak Farmers Market Offers Free Valet for Patrons
  7. 12/4/18 - Royal Oak Public Library Gets Upgrade Following Record Breaking Attendance
  8. 12/20/18 Royal Oak Implements Pilot Program for 30-Minute 'Quick' Spaces
  9. 1/9/2018 - Community Results Are in For Royal Oak’s New Downtown Park
  10. 1/22/2019 Royal Oak begins City Hall Construction

The Royal Oak Civic Center project consists of five public projects within the current city hall site and private Class A office building.

Watch Proposed City Hall Presentation

City Officials presented plans for the proposed police station facility in a Facebook Live presentation on June 7. If you missed it, you can watch the presentation by clicking on any of the following links. 

Watch on Facebook

Watch on YouTube

If you have questions for the chief regarding the presentation, please email them to judyd@romi.gov.