[DetroitSky]

$6 million office, retail companion set to rise next to Detroit Shipping Co.

Another amalgamation of shipping containers is set to rise in the south part of Detroit's Midtown.

The developer that rehabbed 21 of them to make a food hall plans to add around 50 more to the mix in a $6 million companion project.

Detroit Rising Development announced Thursday its designs for a three-story building with office, "micro-retail" and possibly a brewery next door to Detroit Shipping Co., the restaurant hub and event space that opened in June 2018.

The planned 21,000-square-foot structure at 444 Peterboro St. near Cass Avenue is nearly twice as big as the original. It's owned separately from Detroit Shipping Co., but with some common partners,founding partner Jon Hartzell said.

Pending City Council approval of an approximately $360,000 land sale, Hartzell said he expects to start the 10-month construction process in November.

"Ultimately, we need more office, walkability, day crowd in the area," Hartzel said. "We looked at the land and did probably five to six iterations and mixes. Residential, residential-retail, more outdoor, and the answer for us, the best use at this time, was office and retail."

Comcast invests $1 million in renovation, expansion in Midtown Detroit

Comcast Corp. is completing $1 million worth of expansion and renovation at its Midtown Detroit store and business office.

The Philadelphia-based telecommunications giant remodeled and modernized its 1,800-square-foot Xfinity store off Woodward, which now sells cell phones, including Apple and Samsung products, for the first time since it opened in 2015, spokeswoman Michelle Gilbert said.

"It's a complete remodel of our space in order to make it more user friendly for our customers and be able to showcase all of our products and services," she said.

The business office next to it was doubled to around 3,000 square feet, and about 20 employees from the company's metro Detroit office transferred there. The expansion is nearly complete, but the company was still waiting for furniture. Employees at the business office consist of community account and direct sales representatives, as well as Comcast Business account representatives.

Gilbert said the company plans to open another Detroit store in the last quarter of 2020. Locations are still being considered.

^Sounds like a Comcast store is coming downtown. Would be nice if their local offices moved downtown too!



New details released for restaurants, bar atop RenCen to open in mid-November

The new restaurant space planned for the top of the Renaissance Center will feature four food, drink and event components when it opens November 15.

Called the Highlands, the highest restaurant in the state will take up the 71st and 72nd floors of the General Motors Co.-owned skyscraper in downtown Detroit, which the revolving Coach Insignia occupied until it closed in January 2017.

Details of the restaurant were released Friday by the owners, who include James Beard Award-winning chef Shawn McClain and his partners Sarah Camarota and Richard Camarota.

The four concepts are:
Highlands Steakhouse: A steakhouse with an "epic collection" of wine and "backdrop of blazing stoves." The sommelier is Nick Hetzel.
Hearth 71: A "funky, casual" restaurant with locally sourced dishes and local microbrews
High Bar: A bar and lounge with cocktails from mixologist Tony Abou-Ganim
Highland Events: A private event space filled with "highly-curated" events.

Six new ‘tiny homes’ financed, another six nearly complete

Detroit’s cluster of tiny houses is expanding.

For the last few years, nonprofit Cass Community Social Services (CCSS) has been developing the 250- to 400-square-foot homes for people who make between $7,000 and $15,000 a year between the Lodge and Woodrow Wilson Street. So far, it’s completed 13 with the goal of 25 in the first phase of development.

Impressively, CCSS has financed the homes without using any public funds. Support, materials and labor have come from grants, private donations, and volunteers.

At a groundbreaking ceremony on August 29, CCSS announced that the next six homes will be financed by Epitec, a Southfield-based tech staffing agency, and celebrated the completion of six more on Monterey and Elmhurst Streets.

City unveils plan for $800K upgrade of Spirit Plaza

Last month, Detroit City Council briefly failed to approve a five-year extension for the Woodward Avenue closure between Larned Street and Jefferson Avenue known as “Spirit of Detroit Plaza.”

One week later, after absent Councilmember Andre Spivey added his vote, the plaza was made permanent. City Council also approved $800,000 in additional funding.

Yesterday the city unveiled the upgrades to Spirit Plaza, which will include…

Removal of the Woodward Avenue median
Expansion of green space and landscaping
Creation of a performance stage
Installation of playground equipment and stationary musical instruments
Installation of new tables, chairs, charging stations, and drinking fountains