Detroit's well-publicized bout with municipal bankruptcy is masking some positive trends taking place in the teetering city. Among the most important: technology firms are flocking to its downtown core, bringing an influx of young workers and remaking many of its older 20th-century buildings into high-tech havens.

From two- or three-person startups to mortgage giant Quicken Loans, companies of all sizes have set up shop in long-neglected structures. Some are embracing the gritty industrial buildings by preserving rugged finishes, taking up the mantle of toughness and quality they embody. Others are turning to the showpiece offices of previous eras while gutting the interiors to suit a new generation of digital industrialists. These projects have given rise to a series of slogans that capture some of the city's new energy and its hoped-for revival: “Detroit 2.0,” “Outsource to Detroit,” and, in a nod to the main boulevard, Woodward Avenue, “Webward Avenue.”