Who are those people, anyway?
"Those people" are condo dwellers. Especially now that Royal Oak is likely to have another 350 condo owners in the next 18-24 months, more attention than previously is paid when representatives of the Skylofts Co-owner association, for example, come before the city commission to comment or complain about this or that.

In July 2004 I wrote: Of Condos & Class. Those Royal Oak "No Condos" signs of several years ago are history. The West of West group and its allies lost that battle. Despite dire warnings about an undesirable impact on property values, traffic problems, and the like, condos are part of the attraction of Royal Oak to many. Nationwide, condos are increasingly considered a desirable component of urban environment – by individuals, families, communities. Not always spoken aloud was, is, an uneasy fear that condos attract undesirable people.

To help bring "those people" into focus, I had a group conversation with four Skylofts co-owners, in one of their units, to get a sense of their demographics and of how they describe the pluses and minuses of condo-living in Downtown Royal Oak. My four interlocutors were:

Judy Ansuini, Training Manager
Cindy Broxton, Loan Consultant
Thomas December, Executive
Carol Vondale, Retired Attorney

Two are married, two are single. Their ages range (not in the order they are listed!) from 49 to 64.

As we took the elevator and walked down the halls to go from Vondale’s to December’s unit, the women talked among themselves and guessed that of the 120 or so Skylofts residents, "half are over 40 and half are younger. Recently, we had our first baby born."

I began my conversation with the four Skylofts co-owners by telling them they have been labeled "chronic bitchers" by some City Hall observers and City Commission attendees. Vondale, especially, has drawn praise and criticism for her repeated challenges to proposed developments in the retail space below the condos and in the historic Fourth & Main Bank Building.

Where did "those people" come from, and why?
From places like Troy ("nice, but no downtown"), Bloomfield Hills, Birmingham, elsewhere in Royal Oak. Why? Speaking of themselves and for some of their fellow co-owners, my conservationists offered a cluster of reasons: empty nest; becoming bored with a subdivision environment; living in only three rooms of an 8-room house; needing to update an old house, again.

Do Skylofts co-owners feel they are part of Royal Oak? Do they care about the community in which they live?
Consider: The Skylofts association adopted Grant Park for this year’s Spring Cleanup . . . The association participates in meetings of neighborhood associations . . . They ask, "Why are there no speed limit signs on Main Street, south of Eleven Mile to the railroad tracks" . . . They agree with Royal Oak residents who are urging the city to do more to protect pedestrians in crosswalks . . . They have worked with the Historic District Study Committee . . .They ask meaningful questions about the DDA and about distribution of the 37 mils that they, as CBD property owners, pay.

Asked to assign an academic grade to the City’s performance in helping resolve condo-related problems, Tom December offered "C-minus," but the group as a whole expressed appreciation for the efforts of commissioners Ginotti, Hallock, and Capello. "The commissioners listened to co-owner concerns and assisted us by encouraging commercial tenants and the developer to live up to promises made to the Plan Commission." The group also praised city manager Tom Hoover and Building Official Kelly Winters for their help concerning commercial tenant issues.

It is largely the co-owners’ sustained visible efforts to involve city officials in resolving their problems which has led some City Hall observers to label them "chronic bitchers," as mentioned at the opening of this summary.

They simply haven’t done a big building before." The Skylofts experiences should make matters easier during the new condo developments, they suggested. About remaining Skylofts issues, "We feel that the developer, the contractor, and our group are working well together toward a resolution."

The city’s political leaders understandably give greater weight to the needs of their tens of thousands of long-time constituents than to 120 newcomers, the co-owners agree. "Gaining acceptance by long-time Royal Oakers will be an uphill battle to change the status quo mindset."

How much do they like condo-living in Royal Oak? How long will they stay?
"We ain’t goin' nowhere," ungrammatically but accurately paraphrases what I heard, as they cited the reasons they like urban living.

"We use downtown a lot – on foot."

"Store owners know us when we walk in. They greet us when we encounter them on the street."

The Skylofts community expects, hopes, that one result of the erection of the 300-plus new condos will be to increase downtown population density enough to encourage more shops and stores. "I can’t wait for a real butcher shop."

The increase in condos, the return to urban living, is a national trend. To that point, co-owner December recommended that I buy a copy of "The Rise of the Creative Class," by Richard Florida, for each member of the city commission. Well, I know they’ll read this, so they can buy it for themselves!

What’s life like inside Skylofts?
Apparently it’s a paradox. "The sense of community co-exists with the experience of privacy." (I was reminded of visiting colleagues in Manhattan when – as the co-owners and I were walking down a hall – a 30-ish man came out one door, crossed the hall in front of us and entered another unit, but no greetings were exchanged.)

Except for a fitness center, Skylofts has no common area, but there are special events, annual meetings, committees, so clusters of co-owners come to know each other. Ansuini and Broxton agreed that, as is true of all groups, a minority really gets involved, and the chronic concern is how to expand the pool of participants beyond the dedicated cadre. So, the association leaders are thinking of developing several smaller, special interest communities.

Except that they all live in the same building, I suspect that the demographics and range of interests and attitudes of Skylofts co-owners match those of the hundreds of Royal Oak residents who own homes in Vinsetta Park.

Standing Outside
I deliberately arrived 15 minutes early for my 6:30 conversation at Skylofts, and I stood outside the Fifth Street lobby entrance until the co-owner association's president came down to greet me. During those 15 minutes:

One female jogger entered, after ending her jog by running fast across Main Street.

Seven cars entered the parking structure. Most of the drivers approached slowly, a couple even waiting for sidewalk pedestrians to pass. Two drivers came roaring the short distance from Main Street, did a tire-squealing turn, braked to a jerky stop, and waited for the overhead door to open.

Two cars came slowly out of the parking structure and turned right, onto the 1-way street.

A pretty normal cluster of people.

The Aesthetics of Skylofts
Let me begin by mentioning that in terms of visual aesthetics I am tone-deaf, to mix metaphors. As one example, I would describe the lobby as dull and monotonous, neither colorful nor inviting. Politely suggesting, "We do not feel your description is accurate," the co-owners counter with: "The lobby has a bright yellow accent wall with black and yellow modern furniture that contrasts with the other green walls and earth-tone accent drapery hung near the elevators."

I asked the two condo-owners whose units I visited to edit my descriptions of their units. The results: