Downtown Northville Testing Out Throne Restroom w/90 Day Pilot

Downtown Northville exams throne rest room with 90-day pilot

(Lilly Crossley, November 8, 2025)

Northville, MI – The Northville Downtown Growth Authority is partnering with Throne for a 90-day public restroom pilot program.

This huge, blue and white, luxurious port-a-potty is situated on the Mary Alexander Parking Deck. The Northville Design Committee chosen this location in order that it was accessible to folks visiting downtown, however didn’t take up priceless parking areas. Customers scan a barcode on their cell phone to entry the house, and ten minutes are allotted per go to. This deters abuse and helps monitor customer utilization to find out if the throne is an funding that’s getting used.

“Bigger downtowns are inserting their Throne items proper on the road as an alternative of a parking zone. It is an acceptable public use, however our district is just too small to help dedicating a first-rate spot to one among our important corridors,” stated Kate Knight, the chief director of the Northville DDA.

Though not within the middle of pedestrian visitors, there may be signage all through the downtown space directing customers to the throne.

The Northville DDA was on this program after seeing constructive outcomes from different communities reminiscent of Ann Arbor, Detroit and Royal Oak.

Prospects supplied constructive suggestions concerning the Throne’s lodging, together with ADA (People with Disabilities Act) accessible ramps, altering tables and turn-in elements for strollers and wheelchairs.

“We’ve decided that it is a pretty complete and quick resolution to the continual scarcity of public restrooms we expertise right here in Northville. The quantity of foot visitors we obtain in our walkable downtown space year-round, particularly through the hotter months, is a serious burden on non-public property homeowners,” Knight defined.

The price of the Throne program is less expensive than constructing an infrastructure rest room, but additionally ten instances costlier than common port-a-potties. Due to the associated fee, Throne pitched the 90-day pilot program to the DDA.

“The 90-day timing aligned with our busiest season, after we host 1000’s of tourists on the finish of our summer time live performance sequence, and have our Skeletons are Alive program all through the month of October,” Knight stated. This system will even entice some vacation visitors in November.

Whereas the DDA has not signed an annual settlement for this program, utilization knowledge and public suggestions after the 90 days will assist decide whether or not to proceed utilizing Throne.

To date, the Northville DDA is seeing good outcomes for this pilot interval. There are a mean of 20 customers per day and peak utilization days vary from 50 to 95 customers. Though costlier, the Throne program is a significantly better different to port-a-potties as a result of they’re cleaner, bigger, and provide a sink for hand washing. With the quantity of constructive suggestions it has obtained thus far, such advantages may outweigh the prices, and communities may lengthen their trial intervals.

Extra info:

Throne info in downtown Northville

Troon Labs

Associated story:

Royal Oak is including Thrones, also referred to as Good Restrooms, for a six-month trial interval

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