Woodbridge : Detroit Development News

At a recent project launch event held at Next Energy in TechTown, members of the Three Squared management team as well as board members and partners on the project unveiled their new patented Cargolinc Systems technology.
 
Three Squared will be the first multi-family-living shipping container construction project in the country. Cargolinc is a comprehensive three-step system that accelerates green and sustainable construction with high quality standards at a fraction of the cost. Three Squared's proprietary Cargolinc Systems allow the heavy-gauge steel shipping containers used in their residential and commercial real estate construction to be engineered for strength, affordability, energy efficiency, and design aesthetics (samples shown were totally unidentifiable as shipping containers, with exterior finishes that mimic traditional commercial and residential construction).
 
Three Squared, using the patented Cargolinc Systems, aims to be the global leader in multi-family, mixed-use and commercial (including hotels and student housing) cargo container construction development, with $260 million already pledged in investments around the country.
 
Cargo containers are fire-resistant and strong enough to withstand hurricanes and earthquakes, and the adaptive reuse of these containers means both low-cost materials and exceptional sustainability. Around the world, shipping container construction is becoming increasingly popular for its durability, sustainability, and affordability, but in the United States the multi-family and commercial markets are still relatively untapped.
 
Major funding and partnership efforts are still underway, but Three Squared plans to break ground on its two-unit model site on Michigan Avenue in Corktown next to the Grinnell Place Lofts by the end of this month, while the main site at West Warren Avenue and Rosa Parks in Woodbridge, which will become a 20-unit condo complex, is anticipated to break ground this summer. Once ground is broken it will take only seven days to frame and six months to build. They also plan to add another six to eight units behind the model site in the future.
 
Source: Leslie Horn, CEO of Three Squared, Inc.
Writer: Nicole Rupersburg

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The Grand River Station in Woodbriidge, built in 1901 and formerly used as a police station, boys' home and bomb squad headquarters at different points in time, will now be the home of the Castle Lofts, a new mixed-use commercial and residential property operated by the Detroit Legacy Group.
 
According to Brittany Washington, co-founder of the Detroit Legacy Group, renovations have more or less ongoing for the past 20 years. They are now putting on the finishing touches and readying the property for future residents.
 
The first floor will be dedicated to commercial space for small "virtual" corporations and start-up companies. The companies will share common areas including a conference area, office center (with copy and fax machines), restrooms, a common entrance, and a reception area that services them all.
 
The remaining floors will be the Castle Lofts, which range from one to four bedrooms and can be one, two, or three levels (multi-level units feature spiral staircases).
 
"There are 15 units and all are different models with no set floorplan," says Washington. Units feature a variety of features including Jacuzzi tubs (in some), hardwood floors, exposed brick walls, stainless steel GE appliances, recessed lighting, and a heated parking garage (for an additional cost).
 
Renovations on the rental units are almost complete and tours to prospective renters start this week. They hope to start moving people in by mid-March.
 
The Detroit Legacy Group, a youth-oriented development group, took control of the property in January and hope to use this property to serve their mission to "provide luxury housing, entertainment (options), and business (opportunities) in the heart of the Creative Corridor" in the Midtown and Woodbridge neighborhoods.
 
Source: Brittany Washington, Co-Founder of Detroit Legacy Group
Writer: Nicole Rupersburg

Got a Development News story to share? Email Nicole here.

Detroit's first shipping container building is about to break ground in Corktown.

Three Squared (formerly Exceptional Green Living) plans to begin building a couple model units of the larger multi-family project destined for Woodbridge in early 2013. The two live-work units will be made of old shipping containers. The units will go up on Michigan Avenue next to the Grinnell Place Lofts.

"We will have this entire model center framed in four hours," says Leslie Horn, CEO of Three Squared.

Three Squared, and the six people working to make it happen, plans to build out two areas of multi-family shipping container developments in Corktown and Woodbridge. The Woodbridge development will go up on the southeast corner of Warren Avenue and Rosa Parks Boulevard. It will consist of 20 units ranging in size between 853 and 1,920 square feet.

The second development will consist of 6-12 units at Michigan Avenue in Corktown. The units will first be marketed as for-sale condos that Horn describes as "extremely competitive with market-rate sales." If condo sales don't work, Horn is ready to go forward with construction of the projects and marketing the developments as rentals.

Shipping container construction is considered one of the greenest forms of construction because it reuses so much material. Such construction has been proven not only viable across the U.S. and around the world but popular.

"We know they will be LEED certifiable, gold or maybe platinum," Horn says. "But we won't go for certification until we have our first units up. We want to prove our concept as soon as possible."

Source: Leslie Horn, CEO of Three Squared
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

The Lentine Group of businesses is making a homecoming of sorts to Detroit, bringing 150 new jobs to Woodbridge and expectations of another 50 hires.

"We just love being in the city," says Anthony Lentine, vice president of LeCom and Golden Dental Plans. "There is a real buzz in the city. It's a fun place to be."

The Lentine Group consists of LeCom Communications, LeCom Utility Contractors, Golden Dental Plans Marketing and UnionCircle.com. It has recently renovated a commercial building on Trumbull Avenue just north of I-94. That building is now the home to 100 jobs that were moved from the suburbs into the Motor City and another 50 hires. Lentine Group expects to hire another 50 people in the coming months.

"There is a lot of room there," Lentine says. "By the end of the year we expect to have 200 people working there."

Lentine's father built the structure on Trumbull in 1986 for an ambulance business the family once owned. Now the Lentine Group has invested $250,000 in renovating the building, including adding new fiberoptic lines in what Lentine describes as a "general upgrade to the property."

"It's really in an excellent location for our business," Lentine says. "It will reduce the travel time for our employees."

Source: Anthony Lentine, vice president of LeCom and Golden Dental Plans
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Detroit's newest tech company is moving to the Motor City by renovating one of the city's Victorian gems. The co-owners of Icrontic, a website that covers tech, gaming and Internet culture, have purchased the Sullivan House in Woodbridge and are in the early stages of renovating the 100-year-old mansion into its new headquarters.

"We have both been interested in Detroit for quite sometime," says Brian Ambrozy, a native Detroiter and co-owner and editor in chief of Icrontic. "The momentum has been building for a few years. The reason we chose Woodbridge is the momentum has been centered on the Midtown, Corktown and Woodbridge areas."

Ambrozy and Lincoln Russell, Icrontic's other co-owner and lead web developer, have been building the geek-lifestyle-oriented website community from Ambrozy's home him in Warren since the early 2000s. They are now turning the seven-room mansion at the corner of Calumet and Avery streets into not only Icrontic's new home but also the home for both of their families. They also plan to use the sprawling Victorian mansion as the base for Icrontic's events, which attract dozens of tech enthusiasts at a time.

"The place we stay has to have space so 30 of our friends can crash here," Ambrozy says.

And then there is the 'Wow' factor. That's what the new owners of the Sullivan House, named for Detroit coal magnate Daniel Sullivan, couldn't stop saying when they first saw it. There is so much 'wow' to the structure's fireplaces, pocket doors, wrap around porch and corner tower that it overcame the house's significant renovation needs. Russell says he always wanted a house with a turret so that he could look out at the neighborhood while he codes.

"I love the architecture," Russell says. "I was going to be a history teacher before I went into web development. I love finding out everything about this house."

The circa-1899 Victorian needs significant upgrades in its core systems, exterior and a growing list of other places. However, Ambrozy and Russell are aiming to do everything right the first time, such as installing a super-energy-efficient boiler system. The business partners expect to spend this year getting all of the core systems online, and then taking their time with the rest of the restoration to make sure it is done right. You can read more about their renovation experiences at Icrontic's new blog, IntoDetroit. Not to mention even more on the "wow" factor at Curbed Detroit. 

Source: Brian Ambrozy and Lincoln Russell, co-owners of Icrontic
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Down at the newly-imagined Lincoln Street Art Park, bridging New Center and Woodbridge, the Oct. 29 dedication ceremony will be both a celebration of local funders and believers, and a chance to find out what lies ahead for one of the city's most exciting new community spaces.

The Lincoln Street Art Park is a collaborative project between Detroit Synergy, Recycle Here! and Midtown, Inc., funded with the help of a grant from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs (not to mention 44 art-lovers who ponied up Kickstarter funds to help make the park a possibility). This community space, designed by James Willer on land donated by Recycle Here!'s Matthew Naimi, will feature plenty of recycled and re-imagined materials, not to mention the works of Lincoln Street Art Park's founding artists -- Marianne Burrows, Amanda Box, John Suave, Lindsay Harnish, Sarah Gavie, Carl Oxley III, and graffiti artists Fel3000 and BrownBag -- from murals and paintings to sculptures, and even a garden of wishes.

"Lindsay Harnish did this installation/exhibition at Figment on Belle Isle this year, where she made this handmade paper with wildflower seeds in it, and invited people to write wishes on the paper," says Michelle DiMercurio of Detroit Synergy, who serves on the park planning team. "Then, for Figment, she strung them up on a tree, so she had a tree of wishes. So we took the wishes, and we actually planted them in the garden."

The dedication ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 29 kicks off at 4:30 p.m., though the bonfire will last till 10 p.m. Make sure to drop by for hot apple cider, s'mores and the inside scoop on plans for the park's second phase of development.

"It's a chance to do something permanent and have that be something that people can enjoy," says DiMercurio. "And it's a way to establish connections between the neighborhoods," she says, noting that the Lincoln Street Art Park is a "connection point" between many other local green spaces, like the Woodbridge Community Garden, New Center Park, Anna Scripps Park and Sprit of Hope. "It's connecting dots on the map that are about a mile and a half to two miles apart, so it makes this little chain of green spots throughout the neighborhoods."

Click here to RSVP to the dedication on Facebook.

Source: Michelle DiMercurio, Detroit Synergy
Writer: Ashley C. Woods

Bike-sharing companies, which offer 24-hour access to bicycles for short trips around cities, have popped up in Europe, and along the East Coast; DC, Boston and New York City. If three CCS grads have their way, Detroit will be the next city to offer visitors and residents a network of two-wheeled transportation stations throughout the greater downtown district.

The Detroit Bike Project is the brainchild of Victor Quattrin, Stephanie Lucido and Jenna Przybycien. The three college friends have spent the past year working on the first phase of their plan, which they will submit to Hatch Detroit by the Sept. 1 contest deadline. No matter what happens with Hatch, the three say they're committed to launching the company within the next year.

Their plan involves building park-and-ride bike stations in the Renaissance Center, Wayne State's campus, the Detroit Institute of Arts, Woodbridge, New Center, Grand Circus Park, Corktown and Eastern Market, as a public transportation alternative "Sometimes, there's a little distance between the main veins of Detroit," says Quattrin. "Nothing is really that walkable," says Przybycien, comparing Detroit's layout to that of more densely-populated cities like New York. "If someone parks downtown and wants to head up to Wayne State, it takes a lot of time to get there. Bike sharing allows you to see a lot more of the city, and to get places quicker, because it's so spread out."

With a swipe of a credit card, customers will be able to rent a bike from any station and take a spin through the city -- then drop it off at the closest bike rental facility upon completion.

The Detroit Bike Project will operate as a nonprofit, and they hope the promise of increased mobility from residents and visitors throughout the greater downtown will inspire local companies to lend their support, through advertising or sponsoring a bike station on their properties. They're also committed to purchasing bikes made from recycled materials. The team estimates they'll need $137,000 in investment dollars to launch the first phase of the program.

Lucido says the team is encouraged by the immediate feedback, all of it positive, from the first 48 hours of their viral campaign, which launched last week. "In the first 48 hours, we had 500 page views on our website and 150 likes on Facebook," she says. "We know this can work."

"Our goal is to not let them down, and make things happen," Przybycien says.

Become a fan of the Detroit Bike Project on Facebook, and read more about the team's proposal here.

Sources: Jenna Przybycien, Victor Quattrin and Stephanie Lucido, co-founders, Detroit Bike Project
Writer: Ashley C. Woods

The only museum devoted exclusively to multimedia and light art exhibits in America opened its doors June 10 in the historic former Comerica Headquarters building on Grand River at Warren on the western edge of the Woodbridge neighborhood.

In Germany, where the term originates, a kunsthalle is more than just a gallery. Around the world, kunsthalles operate as exhibition halls and community centers for temporary art exhibits, unlike museums, which host permanent collections. And Kunsthalle Detroit director Tate Osten says the organization hopes to be more than just art space to the city.

"Why Detroit? Everything is ready to go here," Osten says, comparing Detroit's potential to that of New York City's Chelsea meatpacking district in the late 1990's. "These ideas, of Detroit becoming an international center for the arts, this is not my idea. It's been brewing. It's been up in the air. A lot of people have been talking, thinking and writing about it," she says. "And I thought, it's just time to act. Somebody has to take the first step. And the first step is to add something that's missing from Detroit's art scene."

A rotating gallery of multimedia projects, film and light installations is certainly something new to the area.  It's also an opportunity to see a dozen of the nation's preeminent multimedia artists, most of them more accustomed to solo exhibitions at museums around the world, sharing 4,000 sq. ft. of space and a collective theme. With the museum's first exhibition, Time & Place, Osten says, "We're trying to connect video and light-based arts to visual arts in general."

Osten says the Kunsthalle has received enthusiastic welcome from both art insiders and neighborhood residents.

"Everyone understands film," she says. "It's the most understood and accepted medium for the widest audiences."

She found the building, which is around 100 years old, driving around Detroit. "We don't want to be where things are already done," she says. "We want to bring art education to where they are most needed. And people have never seen anything like this. That's the idea."

Kunsthalle Detroit is open Tuesday thru Saturday from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Source: Tate Osten, Director, Kunsthalle Detroit
Writer: Ashley C. Woods

The greenhouse and garden at the corner of MLK and Trumbull in North Corktown known as the Spirit Farm will soon become ground zero for a series of intensive workshops dedicated to increasing knowledge and awareness about urban sustainability, food justice, community art and grassroots community building.

"The DUST workshops have grown out of what I've been doing the past few years with teenagers," says organizer Kate Devlin. "And I thought, wouldn't it be cool if adults came and camped out and learn about sustainability?"

The DUST: Detroit Urban Sustainability Training bills itself as "10 Days in Detroit learning urban sustainability from Detroiters living it." The activity list is an urbanist's dream. Spend a week and a half visiting Brother Nature Produce and the Heidelberg Project, checking out urban farms keeping everything from baby ducks and chickens to bees. Community art and the Green Garage. The curriculum will dip into deeper processes, depending on community wants, on subjects as broad and diverse as bioremediation, grey water systems and natural building techniques.

"It's really geared to bringing people from the outside of Detroit in to see what we're doing. As it grows, we pick what subjects we want to tackle, and pick a project we want to work on together," Devlin says.

The workshops begin June 1, June 20, July 10, Aug. 1 and Aug. 20. The cost is $1,000, and includes lodging at the Spirit Farm, food and the workshop series. There's a sliding scale for low-income people and a few scholarships are available, with preference to Detroiters and Michiganders.

"I don't think there's any city in America doing the stuff we're doing on this scale. And we're also learning at a really incredibly fast rate," Devlin says. "And Detroit's a cool place to be. We've got some of the coolest things and I think we're an under-appreciated city. We've got great music, we've got great art, and we've got the green thing going on."

Sign up for DUST or find out more here.

Source: Kate Devlin, Spirit Farm
Writer: Ashley C. Woods

Scripps Park, located at the corner of Trumbull Street and Grand River Ave. in Woodbridge, could soon see new life as a community gathering space and site for local art installations.

The park, which is adjacent to the Douglass Branch of the Detroit Public Library, began its life as the gardens of George Booth, founder of both Cranbrook and the Detroit News. While redevelopment efforts in 2001 added benches, walking paths and shade pergola to the greenspace, the new framework envisions more synergy between the library and the park, as well as a performance stage, improved outdoor lighting and a toddler playscape.

Woodbridge resident and volunteer Mike Spence, who heads the Friends of Scripps Park, is helping Forward Arts raise $4,000 to donate to the Woodbridge Neighborhood Development Corporation. The WNDC, in council with Forward Arts, will bring two large scale art exhibitions to Scripps Park, as well as four youth art workshops this summer. Following the example of successful online campaigns like Robocop, these groups together have turned to the Web to help raise funds and awareness.

"Scripps Park is kind of the southern welcome mat of Woodbridge," Spence says. "It's a really important space to have maintained and look inviting for kids and people who are visiting the neighborhood."

He says they also hope to reach out to churches and community groups who can utilize the park for gatherings during the summer months. The Friends of Scripps Park will maintain a community events calendar for the park that will be houses at the Douglass Branch library, while providing residents with city materials if they wish to program an event.

"The interest has always been there," Spence says. "We're really trying to engage as many community stakeholders as possible to keep up the momentum."

On April 16, the Friends of Scripps Park will host their first park cleanup -- think litter and trash removal, lawn maintenance and wall repairs. You can also make a donation to the online campaign.

Source: Mike Spence, Friends of Scripps Park
Writer: Ashley C. Woods

Mondays just got a lot more exciting around here, with the introduction of Neighborhood Noodle, a dinner pick-up joint operating out of a Woodbridge home one day a week.

Jess Daniel relocated to Detroit just this summer and is already hard at work shortening the local food chain. As someone that's been involved with cooking -- primarily Asian, as befits her half-Singaporean background and time spent in Cambodia -- as well as farming and local food policy efforts in her home state of California as well as Washington, D.C., she ended up in the 313 because of her interest in burgeoning food entrepreneurship and urban agriculture efforts here.

With grand plans that include the pursuit of a thesis at Michigan State University that will develop a business plan for a Detroit food incubator and the operation of one or more food trucks in the coming years, Daniel got started small and realistically, with a once-a-week noodle bowl enterprise that, in its first week on Aug. 23, served 92 plates of food and is already poised to double.

Neighborhood Noodle keeps it simple by offering two entrees with available add-ons and potentially one extra -- this past week, non-dairy coconut-tamarind ice cream from another local foodie start-up, Suddenly Sauer. Prices are reasonable, starting at $5 a serving, and all the while Daniel is closely monitoring her income and expenses with plans to extrapolate those numbers into a sustainable full-scale business.

Part of Daniel's goals in studying a legitimate food incubator in Detroit is to help other like-minded foodies, but it is also to prove that ideas like hers are legitimate -- even after labor, licensing and equipment expenses.

Neighborhood Noodle will take Labor Day, Sept. 6, off, but will return on Sept. 13. Order the week prior to ensure availability.

Source: Jess Daniel, Neighborhood Noodle
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

The arrival of spring heralds the digging of dirt, if The Greening of Detroit's ambitious 2010 schedule has anything to say about it. From April 10 to June 5, about 1,750 trees will be planted citywide in 14 separate plantings. Greening, in partnership with the City of Detroit's General Service Department, will plant 680 trees that will reforest neighborhoods affected by the Emerald ash borer infestation; And about a thousand trees will be planted with over 16 community groups and block clubs.

The schedule is as follows: April 10, University District and Annchester street tree plantings; April 17, Warrendale and E. Outer Drive; April 24, Trumbull and Corktown tree nursery; April 20, East English Village; April 22, Grandmont Rosedale tree nursery; April 25, Creekside; May 1, Boston Edison and Virginia Park; May 8, Beresford Block Club and Osborn Neighborhood; May 15, Hartwell and West Grand Boulevard; May 22, Ecclesia and Pallister Park; June 5, Ferdinand.

More than 1,000 volunteers will be needed; contact Greening at 313-237-8733 to sign up for a planting.

Greening's annual Tree and Shrub Sale will take place on Saturday April 24, from 9 a.m. to noon at Eastern Market's Shed #6. Trees are $30 and shrubs are $20, with special rates offered to Greening members. Pre-orders are being taken now; order forms can be found at www.greeningofdetroit.com.

The Greening's urban agriculture initiative, the Garden Resource Program Collaborative provides training and resources to individuals, community groups and families that grow vegetable gardens. Interested individuals should contact Lindsay Turpin at 313-237-8733.

Source: Monica Tabares, Greening of Detroit
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

Woodbrigians now have a new outdoor space to pull up a chair and grab a bite or quaff a brew. Just in time for warmer weather, the Woodbridge Pub has a new patio facing Merrick St. that seats 16. The eight-by-30-foot space is enclosed with a wooden fence, and owner Jim Geary plans to build tables and chairs for the space. (He's leaning towards picnic tables at the moment.)

Geary wanted patio space for his restaurant since day one, but permit delays kept it from becoming a reality until now. "It's a neighborhood bar, a neighborhood restaurant, nestled in a neighborhood," he says, as to why he was determined to go through the bureaucratic process. "Being able to sit outside on a nice sunny day is a luxury, and (with that is the) potential for more profitability."

Woodbridge also recently changed up its menu to put an emphasis on fresh preparation and local sourcing, with products from Avalon International Breads, Mexicantown Bakery, R. Hirt Jr. and Detroit Wholesale Produce. The lunch menu is geared toward the business crowd -- i.e., less expensive and quicker -- and the dinner menu features bistro-style entrees. Plans are to change it up every season, so expect a new spring menu at the end of March.

With change -- no more pizza, for instance -- came some grumbling, but mostly praise. "The response to the new menu has been really strong," says Geary. "For the most part, once we explain to (customers) what we're doing, they're really happy -- it's fresher food, it's better for them and it tastes better than it would if it wasn't good for them."

Woodbridge Pub is at 5169 Trumbull. Call 313-833-2701.

Source: Jim Geary, Woodbridge Pub
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

Community Development Advocates of Detroit (CDAD) is comprised of community development organizations from across the city. They built houses before lofts were all the rage, paving the way for for-profit market-rate ventures and, now that the housing market is kaput, they've turned their sights on talking about what's next for Detroit. About a year ago, they formed a Futures Task Force, and the first deliverable is a document entitled "Neighborhood Revitalization Strategic Framework." It looks at the concept of right-sizing, down-sizing or reinventing Detroit -- whatever you want to call it -- and makes a set of recommendations that, hopefully, will guide policy-makers, elected officials and the funding community when they start tackling the heated issue.

"(The strategic framework) is about reinventing Detroit so that it is a better place for people to live in," says Tom Goddeeris, executive director of Grandmont Rosedale Development Corporation and a Futures Task Force participant. "It's how to think about how to improve it in a way that recognizes that there is lots of vacant land, (there are lots of) vacant buildings and we don't have the population that we once had...We wanted to put forward an idea about the city that says that it can be a better place, a greener place, a more economically viable place."

The community development community has always operated on the notion that rebuilding a city means building more houses. The strategic framework they've released abandons that principle, instead looking at numerous different ways -- be that open space, greenways, urban farms or even traditional neighborhoods -- that Detroit might evolve. "These are concepts to get people thinking a different way as opposed to going back to some previous time where (success meant) more people and more businesses," says Goddeeris. Along with drawing other stakeholders into the conversation, he says a goal of the collaborative is to show that "there can be a vision for reinventing the city in a way that is looking to make it a better place, not as an exit strategy or a sign of defeat."

While the concept of right-sizing holds allure in some camps and -- shades of Poletown -- horror in others, Goddeeris stresses the point that much work can be done before relocation is even close to a reality. "There are parts of the city that we can immediately start strengthening and some that we can immediately start greening without having to displace a bunch of people," he says.

Source: Tom Goddeeris, Grandmont Rosedale Development Corp. and CDAD
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

The Data Collaborative, a joint effort by the Detroit Office of Foreclosure Prevention and Response, Community Legal Resources and Data Driven Detroit, has completed a landmark survey of residential properties in Detroit, and the results indicate that 86% of the city's single-family homes appear to be in good condition and another 9% generally only need minor repairs -- meaning that more than 218,000, or 95%, of the city's single-family homes appear to be suitable for occupancy.

While this number sounds heartening, Heidi Mucherie, executive director of Community Legal Resources, urges some restraint in interpreting the numbers. "We have some good-condition housing stock, an asset that we don't fully realize as an asset, and I'm glad that the study substantiates that," she says. However, she points out that large areas of the city have nowhere near these statistics. "This is a citywide aggregate number, and while we might be tempted to say things aren't as bad as we thought they are, (conditions have) changed over the last 10 years, even in traditionally stronger neighborhoods, and I worry about the aggregate figures painting too rosy of a picture."

A statistic that bears out Mucherie's temperance is that 26% of the city's residential parcels -- or 91,000 lots -- are now vacant. But she believes that knowing the good and the bad of where the city currently stands is empowering. "The way I've been thinking about it is that it paints a picture of a moment in time. ... It's only the start, not the ultimate answer," she says. "(These communities are) changing daily, especially neighborhoods hit by foreclosures."

Mucherie says the data collected is only as good as its upkeep and the community's buy-in, as in getting the "community engaged to collect updated information and track how it changes over period of time," she says. "One snapshot in time is not going to provide the answer for very long, but I'm excited about it changing the conversation."

Interested in checking out information about your house, block and neighborhood? Information is easily accessed by visiting www.detroitparcelsurvey.org and typing in a residential property address.

Source: Heidi Mucherie, Community Legal Resources
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh