Drivers entering Birmingham along Woodward Avenue are now greeted by towering new signs proclaiming “Birmingham Welcomes You,” each topped with three spires and a sunburst pattern. The city installed the ground-mounted entry markers this summer at Woodward and Big Beaver Road on the north end and Woodward and 14 Mile Road on the south end, part of a broader wayfinding overhaul that's drawing both compliments and complaints from residents over its price tag.
According to CBS News Detroit, the two large gateway monuments cost about $43,000 apiece, an estimate drawn from the city's master plan, while two smaller pedestrian kiosks at City Hall and the corner of Maple and Old Woodward ran about $14,500 each, per C & G Newspapers. Reactions have been mixed. Resident Annie Chi told CBS News Detroit the signs create a welcoming entrance to Birmingham, while another resident, Seth Waterbury, called the project a waste of money even as he admitted the signs look good.
A $702,000 Plan Years in the Making
The gateway signs are only the first visible piece of a much greater effort. The full wayfinding project, which also includes parking identification signs and directional signage, is expected to cost roughly $702,000, per the same CBS News Detroit report. That figure traces back to Birmingham's Citywide Wayfinding and Signage Plan, adopted in 2023 with an overall budget in the $700,000 range, according to C & G Newspapers.
Planning Director Nicholas Dupuis confirmed to the outlet that officials split what was originally envisioned as a three-phase plan into four or five smaller phases specifically to manage the impact on the municipal budget. The design work itself has been in development since 2022, when city leaders began laying the groundwork for a broader visual identity overhaul that would eventually shape the signs going up along Woodward Avenue this year.
Spires Borrowed From a Local Sculpture
The three spires rising above the lettering on each sign are not an arbitrary flourish. They draw direct inspiration from Marshall Fredericks' bronze sculpture “Freedom of the Human Spirit” in Shain Park, according to the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum. The piece was originally created for the 1964 New York World's Fair before Fredericks donated a second casting to Birmingham in 1983 to mark the city's 50th anniversary.
Jeff Frank, who worked on the sign design, told CBS News Detroit that the spires represent rays of sun or the human spirit elevating and driving people forward. Frank said the design intentionally draws from elements already associated with Birmingham rather than inventing a new visual language from scratch. That same sculpture already lent its silhouette to the city's official logo, which the Birmingham City Commission unanimously approved in April 2022 after it was created by McCann Detroit, according to the City of Birmingham.
A Marquee From 1927 Shaped the Look
The signs' typography, sunburst motif and color palette were adapted from the marquee of the historic Birmingham 8 theater on South Old Woodward Avenue, a 1927 building currently operated by Emagine Entertainment, C & G Newspapers reported. Combined with the sculpture-derived spires, the result is meant to root the modern signage in imagery residents already recognize rather than importing a generic municipal look.
City leaders have said the goal behind the redesign is practical as well as aesthetic: the signs are meant to help people navigate the city, create a stronger first impression for visitors, and encourage them to spend more time exploring Birmingham's shops, restaurants and attractions. Corbin Design, the Traverse City-based firm behind the signs, brings 46 years of regional experience and has designed municipal navigation systems for more than 100 communities, including Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Holland, downtown Rochester and downtown Traverse City, according to the City of Birmingham.
Benchmarking Against Neighboring Suburbs
Birmingham's Wayfinding and Branding Committee also looked outward while shaping the project. Committee Chair Doug Fehan told CBS News Detroit that members benchmarked signage practices against neighboring Oakland County communities, including Bloomfield Hills, Royal Oak, Ferndale and Berkley, in an effort to establish a distinct visual identity relative to surrounding suburbs. Fabrication and installation of the first phase went to ASI Signage Innovations, which the committee selected in part for its prior experience building wayfinding systems for nearby Rochester and Oak Park.
The wayfinding overhaul extends beyond street-level signs, too. In August 2025, the Birmingham City Commission expanded its agreement with Corbin Design and BCT Design Group to redo wayfinding, LED lighting and interior signage across the city's municipal parking structures, including the Chester Street garage. Birmingham is an affluent Oakland County city of 21,923 residents with a median household income of $153,510, ranking ninth highest among Michigan's 225 largest cities, and a median home value of $698,300, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, context that has shaped how some residents weigh the project's cost against the community's tax base.
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