DETROIT | Development & Construction: Motown Lowdown

[Matthew]

I was reading earlier today about efforts to stop the demolition order on the Del Bene Building and inspect the reinforced concrete structure. There is a possibility it "could" be saved?

[DetroitMan]

Midtown to welcome Mexican restaurant

A relatively new restaurateur is leaning on her roots for her first concept.

Mexican restaurant Vecino, originally announced in summer 2019, is slated to open in November at 4100 Third St. in Midtown Detroit. The restaurant is a venture from Adriana Jiminez, who established Midwest Hospitality Group earlier this year.

Her first restaurant pays homage to Jiminez's early upbringing in Mexico City and her time working in her parents' restaurants. Jiminez moved to Detroit as an 11-year-old. Her parents owned and operated two restaurants in Waterford — Tapatio Mexican Grill and Arandas Restaurant & Bar.


The 3,000-square-foot restaurant will feature upscale Mexican dishes with handmade tortillas. Tequila will be the focus of the beverage menu.

Jiminez will leave her role as a lawyer with Troy-based Michigan Injury Advocates to run the restaurant. She is working with co-founders Colin Tury and Michael Haener, who own Detroit-based branding and interior design studio Midwest Common.

Little Liberia finds permanent home

African fusion pop-up Little Liberia has found a more permanent home.

The 7-year-old food business will open sometime in the latter part of 2024 at 6513 Woodward Ave. in Detroit's New Center area, according to a Monday news release from Little Liberia founder Ameneh Marhaba.

Marhaba, who in 2022 won the $100,000 grand prize in the Comerica Hatch Detroit contest, has signed a lease with Midtown Detroit Inc. Terms of the lease and the financial investment were not disclosed.

Little Liberia serves authentic Liberian dishes, a cuisine whose heritage is a mixture of African, Caribbean and Antebellum-South African American influences. The restaurant will feature a halal menu being put together in part from customer feedback and tasting events set to take place prior to the opening. The Little Liberia menu will also include cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks.

Marhaba in 2010 immigrated to Detroit from Liberia.

"I am excited to bring Little Liberia's flavors to a permanent location in the heart of Detroit," Marhaba said in the release. "The support and love we've received from our community has been overwhelming, and I'm excited to create a space where our guests and fellow immigrants can experience the essence of West Africa whenever they please and feel safe doing so."

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/restau...ria-finds-home

[deja vu]

Originally Posted by Matthew

I was reading earlier today about efforts to stop the demolition order on the Del Bene Building and inspect the reinforced concrete structure. There is a possibility it "could" be saved?

Yes, it sounds like there's some hope -

Owner appeals demolition order on Eastern Market building amid collapse
Sarah Rahal | The Detroit News
September 20, 2023

[DetroitMan]

$35M in new investments revive Detroit's East Warren/Cadieux neighborhood

More than $35 million in new development is transforming Detroit's East Warren/Cadieux neighborhood, reviving a historically disinvested area on the city's east side.

Work is underway at eight buildings on East Warren, including Smoken Aces, a city-owned building that will be marketed for renovation; Terri's Cakes, recently opened Morningside Cafe and Next Chapter books, three Motor City Match winners; The Ribbon apartments; Woo's Chop Suey building; The Arthur Murray; The Deco; East Warren Farmers Market; and Baobab Fare II.

In addition to a new $8.8 million streetscape and improvements to Balduck Park, the city has spent $1.2 million on the Courville Parking Plaza and bus stop upgrades. Mayor Mike Duggan, Public Works Director Ron Brundidge and community leaders celebrated the neighborhood's comeback Thursday with a ribbon cutting for the new streetscape, the grand opening of two Motor City Match businesses and a festival featuring three stages, 35 vendors and a kids' zone. In total, $35.5 million in development is being pumped into the East Warren corridor, $21 million of which is provided by the Strategic Neighborhood Fund. The fund is a $130 million public-philanthropic venture to grow opportunity in seven selected neighborhoods. Invest Detroit is the fiduciary for the fund.

The neighborhood just east of the Stellantis Assembly Complex has no anchor institutions besides Ascension St. John Hospital and has seen decades of disinvestment. The area is home to a handful of churches, auto repair stores, fish and chicken shops and plenty of shuttered storefronts.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/bu...t/70499565007/

[DetroitMan]

Ilitch-backed redevelopment project in District Detroit gets $6.5M loan from state

Plans call for the billionaire Ilitch family's real estate development arm, Olympia Development of Michigan, along with Lansing-based housing finance firm Cinnaire Solutions to redevelop a total of "170 residential units into a mixed-use, mixed-income project in the Midtown neighborhood of Detroit," according to a briefing memo from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. to the Michigan Strategic Fund, which controls the state's economic development funding.

The redevelopment of the seven buildings near Henry Street and Cass Avenue, within the Ilitches' long-stalled District Detroit development would include 84 apartment units reserved for those making 60% of the area median income — about $39,780, according to figures from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority — with the rest of the units being rented at market rates. The $6.5 million loan from the state's Michigan Community Revitalization Program would add to the capital stack for only the market rate component of the redevelopment, according to the memo.

"Market conditions in the City of Detroit continue to make development challenging," reads the briefing memo, explaining the "demonstrated need" for the public funding. "Market rate rents have continued to lag construction inflation costs."

Henry Street Renaissance LLC, an Ilitch-owned entity, would wholly own the market rate component of the planned project.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-e...65m-loan-state

[DetroitSky]

I definitely thought this one was a goner. Glad to see a positive outcome.

Repairs can begin on partially-collapsed Eastern Market building, city says

The City of Detroit is allowing contractors to re-enter and stabilize the Del Bene building in Eastern Market after it suffered a partial collapse earlier this month.

The city's building department accepted a plan submitted last week by the owner to re-stabilize the building after originally planning to demolish it.

It houses several businesses including Jab's Gym, Beyond Juice + Eatery, Detroit vs. Everybody and more.

[towerpower123]

Originally Posted by DetroitSky

I definitely thought this one was a goner. Glad to see a positive outcome.

Repairs can begin on partially-collapsed Eastern Market building, city says

That's a major shift from the "demolish everything" attitude from before

[DetroitMan]

Delay, decay, repeat. How Develop Detroit's Hive project turned into a rat's nest

The Hive sure looks good in artist's renderings, where a century-old industrial site known for street art and the former Busy Bee Hardware warehouse is transformed into an urban oasis full of color and life — a veritable beacon welcoming residents and shoppers to a triangular hunk of heaven across from Detroit's Eastern Market.

But real life in the Big City rarely lives up to the prospectus. It wasn't until bricks rained down from the top of a warehouse in Eastern Market last month that anyone other than Eric Grosinger and city inspectors had paid much attention to the decrepit buildings along nearby Gratiot Avenue. Now, Develop Detroit, a nonprofit with an otherwise admirable track record of building affordable housing, is the target of two lawsuits seeking to finish the work that time, nature and neglect started.

Grosinger's company, Kap's Wholesale Food Services, sued in July asserting that one of Develop Detroit's buildings was "structurally unsound, lacks a functional roof and harbors rodents and other likely vermin." Grosinger wants the buildings razed. The city sued a month later, branding the site a public nuisance and asking a judge to appoint a receiver to oversee the properties or hand them over to the city for cleanup or demolition. A city lawyer wrote that "not only have defendants failed to cure or remediate the blight at the subject properties, but defendants have taken the remarkable position that they will do nothing to remediate the blight or tear down the dangerous structures, but will merely pay the blight tickets as they accrue."

The city lawyer's use of bold, italic and underline in the lawsuit is one measure of the city's ire. Another may have been including Develop Detroit CEO Sonya Mays as a defendant in the lawsuit. If Mays' name sounds familiar, it could be because she has twice been elected to the Detroit Public Schools Community District school board.

https://www.freep.com/story/news/col...t/70991322007/

[DetroitMan]

Vision realized: Pieces of Detroit's Paradise Valley district set to come together

When a group of local businessmen announced plans for the Paradise Valley Cultural and Entertainment District nearly a decade ago, part of that vision included a performance and arts-focused cocktail lounge.

Realization of that vision will come when the 2,200-square-foot Vinyl Society venue on Randolph Street opens in November. To the east: the upcoming reconstruction of Interstate 375 is expected to connect downtown to the neighborhoods. “We ensured that the history of the people, the culture, the music, the clothing, the hairstyles, everything about that period when this was a very rich and vibrant area — it comes out in what we’re doing in the space,” said Dennis Archer Jr., owner of Congress Hospitality.

The lounge sits in an area developers say will become a rejuvenated historic entertainment district along Randolph and Monroe streets downtown. It is among other projects underway in an area near Bedrock’s planned Development at Cadillac Square project, a 1.5-million-square-foot mixed-use phased development between Monroe and Randolph streets, adjacent to Campus Martius Park and Cadillac Square. The area will also see new dining options with soul food restaurant Fixins Soul Kitchen on Randolph, which former NBA All-Star Kevin Johnson expects to open later this year, and housing options with Basco's upcoming Broadway Lofts development on Broadway. “We believe this area will undergo a true renaissance while paying homage to the African American roots of the neighborhood with many new Black-owned businesses opening in the area, including Fixins and The Vinyl Society,” said Nevan Shokar, vice president with Basco.

The entertainment offerings and beautification projects planned for the area "will help us thoughtfully curate programming that stays true to the neighborhood,” he added.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/bu...t/70913027007/

[DetroitSky]

Michigan's 1st 3D printed home is in Detroit — and almost complete

A house that is billed to be Michigan's first 3D-printed home is nearly complete.

The two-bedroom, one-bath home, with its green stucco exterior, sits in Detroit's Islandview neighborhood. Citizen Robotics, the nonprofit behind the 1,000-square-foot single-family home, aims to wrap up construction by the end of the year and welcome a homeowner soon after. It has been in the works for about three years, and printing started last October. There are dozens of similar projects across the country, including a 100-home development in Texas.

The industry in the U.S. is new, but proponents say using 3D printing for building homes is the future of construction. The method, builders say, is less expensive at scale and can reduce energy costs in the long run for homeowners.

Pretty cool!

[DetroitMan]

Detroit district builds around design

Then Detroit-based Method Development stepped in to create what it calls the Detroit Design District. The company purchased the entire block in 2019 with an ambitious redevelopment plan. “This block was basically a barren wasteland of obsolete buildings enclosed in a fence with barbed wire,” Method Development co-founder Amelia Patt-Zamir said. “But we really felt palpable vibes in the neighborhood of artists being in here … and we really thought that this was the right home for the Detroit Design District. And that was our vision. So that's what we were hoping to curate.”

After undergoing $12 million in redevelopment, the former auto center and an adjoining building now house 15,000 square feet of occupied retail space and 18 loft apartments. Method Development’s work isn’t done. It plans a $15 million second phase that includes rehabilitating buildings on the block.

The project is among the latest to emerge in the Milwaukee Junction neighborhood in recent years. Down the street, there’s the Platform’s Chroma building and other business ventures, such as the neighborhood bar Kiesling and Milwaukee Caffé. It all sits near other upcoming projects, such as the Platform’s redevelopment of the Studebaker building into the Piquette Flats, expected to meet the demand for workforce housing. In the distance, one can see the former Fisher Body Plant that's slated to become a mixed-use development.

The businesses join others with long tenures in the neighborhood, including Tangent Gallery on Milwaukee and Parks Old Style Bar-B-Q on Beaubien.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne...n/70913998007/

[gratiotfaced]

https://www.bridgedetroit.com/commun...-housing-plan/

A couple new(?) details in here, including the hospital tower being taller than the Fisher Builder down the street. I still don't see anything about reconnecting Holden, however

[animatedmartian]

Holden is a long-term project that is being done by MDOT in connection with widening I-94. I don't know the exact timetable, but the Holden bridge probably be built after the I-94/M-10 interchange is redone, so quite a few years away.

[DetroitSky]

Duckpin bowling comes to downtown Detroit: What to know about grand opening

For those looking to lace up their bowling shoes and get a few strikes, this new addition to the downtown area of Detroit is the perfect fit.

Detroit Duckpin, a new entertainment experience offering duckpin bowling, is offically launching downtown next Monday inside the Cambria Hotel, with an affordable rental rate for opening week.

From next Monday through Oct. 20, lane rentals by the hour are available for $3.13. The space has eight lanes, each of which accommodates up to six players.

Duckpin bowling is a variation of traditional bowling making it more difficult to achieve a strike. According to a news release, duckpin bowling features a shorter lane, smaller bowling ball without finger holes and lighter pins attached to strings.

[DetroitSky]

Finally!

Detroit ready to revamp iconic Dodge Fountain in Hart Plaza

The city of Detroit has begun prepping for the renovation of Hart Plaza’s historic Dodge Fountain, which has been turned on only intermittently in recent years.

Fences are up and preparations for repairs began Tuesday, the city said in a news release.

“Restoring the iconic fountain and revitalizing this historic space is not just about bricks and mortar; it's about preserving our heritage, honoring our past and embracing a vibrant future,” said LaJuan Counts, executive director of Detroit’s construction and demolition department, in the release.

The restoration of the fountain is the centerpiece of a $9 million project to upgrade Hart Plaza. The funding is coming from the American Rescue Plan Act, a COVID-19 relief bill passed in 2021.

[DetroitMan]

Detroit’s old State Fairgrounds bandshell will finally find home in Palmer Park in 2024

The old Michigan State Fairgrounds bandshell was starting to feel like forgotten history. Not much has been said about the historic gem after it was saved from demolition following the City of Detroit's decision to sell the site to Amazon to build a distribution center in 2020.Years after a plea to save the bandshell published in Metro Times, which sparked a successful petition in 2020 to save this piece of Michigan music history and plans to move it to Palmer Park, we finally have a glimpse of the bandshell’s future.
People for Palmer Park released new renderings showing the bandshell’s restoration in the park, funded by President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act [[ARPA). It will be located in the Northwest portion of Palmer Park off Seven Mile Road. A sign for the rehomed bandshell in Palmer Park reads, “coming summer 2024 Palmer Park Bandshell.”

https://www.metrotimes.com/news/detr...-2024-34351973

[DetroitSky]

'A daughter of Detroit' leads new housing development in her former Virginia Park neighborhood

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Sauda Ahmad-Green is a lawyer, wife, mother, and developer who grew up in Detroit's Virginia Park neighborhood.

"I am a proud Detroiter - I am an even prouder product of this neighborhood," she said.

Now she's breaking ground to build new apartment homes there.

"A daughter of Detroit - building new housing in Detroit for Detroiters," said Mayor Mike Duggan."This is how we're going to turn this city around when those who are from this city, and love this city, decide to put themselves in the city."

The Merrill Place II building will provide 27 one and two-bedroom apartment homes - 14 of those units are affordable housing - for families at or below 60 percent of the area's median income.

source

[PhilliesPhan]

I visited Detroit for the first time this weekend. I was in town from Philadelphia for the Detroit Free Press International Half-Marathon, with my stay lasting from Friday night to Sunday afternoon. I have to say that Detroit both shattered and exceeded every expectation I had about it! I was impressed by how nice my AirBnB in New Center was, I had fun dancing at The Marble Bar, seeing Brush Park coming back to life was great, Eastern Market was exciting, each of the breweries I visited across the city (Rivertown, Corktown, Midtown, and Piety Hill) had great beer, and I still can't get over the Detroit style pizza I had from Pie Sci, Buddy's and Tenacity Craft (the best I've ever had TBH).

I am looking forward to my next visit (especially since I couldn't get into the Motown Museum)! Detroit has a great energy that reminds me a lot of my home city.

[Velvet_Highground]

Glad to hear you came through everything was smooth and it was a good time. It’s really exciting for me to being in areas that were either stagnant or declined all my life and in such a short period of time there’s been a proliferation of change big and small. With the core urban area growing, having rebounded or in various stages of revitalization it put the city in a new perspective as the opportunity that seemed almost intangibly distant for so long is within reach. It’s cool you got the opportunity to check out each wing of the upside down T it’s a good sampling of the city.

I highly recommend Motown it’s finally getting the expansion it deserves, we had it as the main event when my family got our on again off again reunions to be in Detroit. There’s really not another great cultural icon like it with the way it’s preserved and not commercialized. If you want to see a cool area outside of the center of town the University District centered along Livernois Ave from 8 mile bordering Ferndale in the north to the University of Detroit Mercy in the south. It’s worth it if you’re in that area or just interested in seeing Detroit away from downtown though I wouldn’t say it’s a draw itself but nice with boutiques, restaurants, bars and next to the the greatest residential architecture in the city Palmer Woods.

As for a good time imo the after hours spots are fun they’re not really advertised they come from the old school tradition of the blind pig if you end up getting to know some people see if they know a good one if your into that kinda scene. I wouldn’t recommend just hey mistering because they’re essentially private clubs. Being part of a group with good vibes and who knows what’s up is important. It’s all about that Goldilocks zone not expensive and stuck up or a buck wild rave with some sus folks.

[DetroitMan]

University of Michigan board OKs construction of $250M Detroit satellite campus

During its meeting on Thursday, which was held at the UM Flint campus, the board took key steps needed for the University of Michigan Center for Innovation to become reality. The approval was not on the board's agenda. There had been no indication during the meeting that a vote or discussion had been planned until it started around 5 p.m., an hour after the meeting began.

UM would not answer why the public was not notified the votes were taking place today, or why the votes were held in Flint, more than 55 miles from Ann Arbor and nearly 70 miles from the proposed Detroit campus.

The regents signed off on the construction of the UMCI, as well as accepting a $100 million donation over 10 years from developer and mega-donor Stephen M. Ross and accepting a land donation from the Ilitch family to build the UMCI. Board documents say $3 million has already been paid on the planning and design of the school, so $97 million remains to be paid over 10 years starting on or before Jan. 31.

In addition, the board signed off on the university paying the Ilitches $9.57 million for a 1.18-acre chunk of land on which a student parking structure would be built. The university would not say whether there was an appraisal done on that land, or the size and cost of the parking garage. The regents also agreed to hiring Kohn Pederson Fox to design the new building. Groundbreaking is still expected by the end of the year.

"Making the most transformative projects a reality is never easy," Ross said in a statement. "We've traveled a long road together to arrive at this important moment. Bringing the UMCI to life has taken the hard work of so many—elected officials, the leadership at the University of Michigan, and the people of Detroit, especially the mayor. I look forward to our continued collaboration and Detroit's role in Michigan's bright future."

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-e...-gets-board-ok