At least three boutique hotels are coming to Detroit, bringing a dose of luxury to still-gritty parts of the city. The Mid will take shape next to the old hammer-and-nail building on Woodward, while the West Elm Hotel will incorporate the old Bonstelle Theater several blocks south. And downtown, there are plans for a new 154-room hotel at 600 West Lafayette, plus the old Park Hotel downtown just sold to a hospitality company, suggesting yet more hotel rooms could be possible. Most of the hotels include mixed-use space, including some high-end “luxury” housing. On today’s show, we talk about what’s driving that, and why the spate of recent hotel development still isn’t enough to start landing us the really big mega-conventions and sportsball events. And on a tangent, we also dive into the idea that Detroit needs more Kroger or Meijer stores. FYI, there are some solid grocery stores here. In other news, Sterling Heights has announced the five finalists for naming the so-called “Golden Corridor Icon” of Hall Road. Also: Ferndale’s metered parking rates, and hours of enforcement, will go up April 1 — no April Fool’s joke here And drinking aficionado website Liquor.com has named two Detroit bars at the opposite end of the spectrum among the best places to drink around the world Thanks for listening to Daily Detroit. Find us, leave a review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, and consider supporting us on Patreon.