I was there in 2012 and it was still in the housing crisis issues. Wasn't a hell of a lot going on downtown but was interesting to see. Only had the 2 full days including going to Ann Arbor for the Football.Yeah i had the same thing, even locals were flabbergasted that an aussie was travelling to detroit.
I really liked it, it's on the way up
Wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless they had a purpose to go like a sporting event.