Station Meadow:
Movement x Meadow
Reimagining legacy land as living infrastructure
Station Meadow sits in plain sight.
A nearly acre-sized lot stretching along parts of the Bagley Street Bridge, across from the Brooke Apartments and Honey Bee Market - highly visible, highly trafficked, and yet largely overlooked. For years, the land functioned as little more than an in-between space: underutilized, visually harsh, and vulnerable to dumping. It offered neither beauty nor ecological value, despite sitting at the heart of a highly populated neighborhood.
With major development unfolding nearby, the question wasn’t whether the area would change - but whether this particular piece of land would continue to be left behind.
Location
1600 17th St in Hubbard Richard, Detroit, MI
Partners
Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), Brooke on Bagley, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Timeframe
May 2025 - Present
Brightside’s Role
Lead strategist, convener, and curator
Project Focus
Land transformation - meadowscaping/urban meadow establishment, urban nature, private property owner community engagement
The Insight
Before design, we listened. What emerged was a simple but powerful reframing:
What if legacy-owned land didn’t have to be developed to be valuable?
Rather than pushing for ownership transfer or conventional redevelopment, Brightside recognized an untapped alignment. CPKC (often perceived as an unapproachable landowner) was actively advancing a climate and sustainability agenda.
The land didn’t need to be sold or built upon to serve that mission. It needed a new story.
By treating the site as climate infrastructure - rather than surplus property - we could create something mutually beneficial: a nature-first meadow that restored ecological value, honored operational constraints, and offered the surrounding community something beautiful to live alongside.
The Insight
Before design, we listened. What emerged was a simple but powerful reframing:
What if legacy-owned land didn’t have to be developed to be valuable?
Rather than pushing for ownership transfer or conventional redevelopment, Brightside recognized an untapped alignment. CPKC (often perceived as an unapproachable landowner) was actively advancing a climate and sustainability agenda.
The land didn’t need to be sold or built upon to serve that mission. It needed a new story.
By treating the site as climate infrastructure - rather than surplus property - we could create something mutually beneficial: a nature-first meadow that restored ecological value, honored operational constraints, and offered the surrounding community something beautiful to live alongside.
