New Center : Detroit Development News

Antonella Solomon and Roger Williams met as students at Bizdom U, the entrepreneurial boot camp founded by Dan Gilbert. Combining her insurance background with his educational one, the team created Launch Learning Group LLC, a business that provides interactive training courses for individuals looking to become licensed insurance agents. The company, located in TechTown's TechOne, will debut its first 40-hour course on March 15.

If building a business around adults passing a singular industry's licensing exam sounds like Solomon and Williams are thinking small, the realities of the insurance industry beg to differ. The fact of the matter is that Michigan has insurance jobs to fill and that many adults looking for a career in the industry have trouble getting passing the licensing exam -- up to half fail on their first try. Launch's courses are designed to work for all types of learners and for people who might have not had a test to take in years or even decades.

Launch is targeting students through job search sites as well as through insurance companies directly, many of whom are forced to hire employees prior to becoming licensed and are thus interested in them passing the exam quickly. This relationship will also help Launch place students with those companies that have unfilled positions.

Locating in TechOne made sense for may reasons. Solomon calls it a "brain hub" where ideas get bounced around and "outside eyes can pick out issues." Plus, Bizdom U's relationship with foundations helped them keep start-up costs low.

Courses will be held in Detroit, Farmington Hills and Livonia and range from $180 for 20 hours to $275 for 40. Register on-line at www.launchlg.com or call 313-202-6700 for more information.

Sources: Antonella Solomon and Roger Williams, Launch Learning Group
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

TechTown has purchased Dalgleish Cadillac at Cass and Amsterdam for an expansion of its TechOne business incubator, which is located nearby at 440 Burroughs. The 130,000-square-foot TechTwo will more than double the organization's space for small businesses and start-ups, bringing the total available square footage to approximately 200,000.

The building was built in 1902 as the first Cadillac plant, and the Dalgleish family has been selling Cadillacs there since 1964. The dealership was closed by General Motors in 2009, and they remain a tenant in it as "they wrap up business," says Henry Argasinski, TechTown's real estate and facilities manager. "We're looking at stepping into the building somewhere from 30 to 60 days from now."

TechTwo will be similar in character to TechOne, with office and lab space, with a "heavy emphasis on new entrepreneurial companies and SmartStart and FastTrac training (graduates)," says Argasinski. TechTown has already assembled a list of potential tenants comprised of some current occupants of TechOne that have outgrown their space as well as the aforementioned program graduates looking to hang a shingle in the neighborhood.

Companies interested in leasing space at TechTown should contact Argasinski at henry@techtownwsu.org or 313-483-1329. TechTown is sponsoring TechTown meets Hockeytown on Feb. 11 when the Red Wings take on the Sharks. Arganinski says the night will be chance to meet tenants in an informal setting. Watch a podcast interview in which he discusses the unique challenges of managing Michigan's largest business incubator here.

Source: Henry Argasinski, TechTown
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

Mosaic Youth Theatre has acquired a historic 40,000-square-foot building on Second Avenue in New Center, the former location of WTVS and WJBK. The plan is to renovate it as a permanent home for the program and a center dedicated to youth excellence with offices, studio and rehearsal space and a 180-seat black box theater. Mosaic is currently in discussions with several other organizations to partner in occupying the building. "This is really going to allow us to expand our programming," says Rick Sperling, Mosaic's founder. "This is going to change us from being a program to, really, an anchor organization for Detroit."

Mosaic is the only Detroit organization, out of 100 nationwide, to win the $25,000 Chase Community Giving "you decide what matters" Facebook campaign. Each of the selected organizations now advance to Round Two, where one organization will receive $1 million and the five runners-up will be given $100,000 each. For Round Two, participating organizations were asked to submit a "Big Idea" explaining how they would put the funds to use in service of the community; Mosaic's is the building renovation. Voting runs from January 15 to 22.

The building is located at 7441 Second Ave. Mosaic is working with Zachary and Associates to put together the package of state and federal historic, brownfield and New Market tax credits that will offset the overall cost of renovation.

A link to vote for Mosaic will be online beginning Jan. 15.

Source: Ricks Sperling, Mosaic Youth Theatre
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

Local historic preservation efforts got a boost when Public Act 192 was signed into state law on Dec. 22, 2009. The bill, which was introduced by State Rep. Bert Johnson (D-Detroit), will provide historic rehabilitation tax credits for the redevelopment of, in Detroit, the David Broderick Tower downtown and the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education (formerly called the Argonaut Building) in New Center, as well as a rehab of Grand Rapids' Federal Building.

Johnson says he was inspired to sponsor the bill because of his belief that historic preservation is integral to a city's rebirth. "These projects really add to the fabric of a city," he says. "When I travel around the country, it's evident to me."

The Broderick Tower, known as one of the country's tallest vacant buildings, has had numerous development fits and starts since it became mostly vacant in the 1980s. Current plans call for a mixed use of rental apartments and retail and entertainment tenants.

The restoration of the Argonaut Building was completed by the College for Creative Studies in 2009. Read more about that project here.

Source: State Rep. Bert Johnson
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

TechTown ties up a busy 2009 with a bow with the recent announcement of two new tenants. Kansas City-based Kauffman Foundation and the Michigan Small Business and Technology Development Center have established satellite offices there that will both work to promote entrepreneurship.

The Kauffman Foundation's Detroit office will focus solely on its Urban Entrepreneurial Partnership (UEP) program, which will operate under the name UEP Detroit 150. This name references its mission of providing 150 of Detroit's displaced minority auto suppliers intensive one-on-one coaching, with the idea of "retooling" their skills into other industries, including including aerospace, alternative energy, medical devices, military and homeland security. UEP will hire three to five locals to staff the office. The program is funded by a $3 million grant from the New Economy Initiative.

The Michigan Small Business and Technology Development Center provides counseling, training, research and advocacy for new ventures, existing small businesses and innovative technology companies. It has offices statewide.

Source: Allison Lumb, TechTown
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

New Center Council is well underway with a project that includes improving the pocket park at Second and West Grand Boulevard, as well as acquiring and upgrading the neighboring building and parking lot at 2660 W. Grand Blvd.

New Center Park is being outfitted as a performance venue with a stage, conservatory building for concessions, lighting, landscaping and wrought iron fencing. The Boulevard West Building is being improved with a new facade and signage as well as interior renovations; existing tenants will remain and the Council's operations will relocate into the building in 2010.

This project has been in the works for about five years, estimates New Center Council president Michael Solaka. The organization's goal, he says, is to "create some cultural events, some special events -- and to generate some revenue." He envisions regular concerts and movie screenings that will enhance New Center's livability.

Phase One is being funded by United Way Nonprofit Facilities Center, The Kresge Foundation, Detroit LISC and the State of Michigan's Cool Cities program. The project architect is Steven C. Flum Inc.

Phase two of improvements to New Center Park will include a roof over the stage, and sound, lighting and projection equipment. New Center Council is finalizing details of this phase and will begin raising funds shortly.

Source: Michael Solaka, NCC
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

In August, artist Katie Craig and a crew of young people began working on a mammoth (100-feet-by-125-feet) mural on a nine-story vacant building on E. Grand Boulevard at Beaubien. The North End building was selected because it "kind of links Youthville, Vanguard (Community Development Corporation), the new CCS and Russell Industrial," says Craig. "It's in the middle of things happening in that neighborhood."

The mural, entitled "The Illuminated Mural," is nearly complete; the dedication is set for Nov. 20 at 5 p.m. with a reception to follow at Vanguard's offices. Craig says its design is intended to "translate to all people in the neighborhood." It utilizes drips of paint flowing down the wall into "abstract explosions of paint spatters and cross-hatching." The mural is "about action and movement, (which) represents the North End: it's a constantly going neighborhood, there's a real fast pace up there," she says.

Craig and some other artists are now occupying the ground floor of the building as studio space, all with the cooperation of the building's owner, the Boydell Group. A recent graduate of CCS, she is also currently teaching art classes to youth at Vanguard. "We're really trying to teach them the business of painting murals and also give them skills," she says. "Everything around us at one point -- except for nature  -- was a drawing, someone's concept. (We're teaching them to) create their own surroundings."

The Illuminated Mural is part of the community+public arts:DETROIT (CPAD) program. Other CPAD projects include installations at Rouge Park, Gigante Prince Valley Supermercado, Patton and Clark parks and, in Brightmoor, Talking Fence. It is facilitated by College for Creative Studies.

Source: Katie Craig
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

The Detroit Office of Foreclosure Prevention and Response has a tough job: keeping residents in their homes during an unprecedented mortgage meltdown coupled with record unemployment. In the years 2005 to 2008, it is estimated that 51,000 1- to 4-unit residences completed the foreclosure process in the city. "It's not over yet," says Diane McCloskey, the initiative's director of community initiatives. "We're hoping we are through the worst."

To accomplish its goal the Office of Foreclosure, while working closely with banks and community funders like Skillman Foundation and Detroit LISC, aims to be the Detroit clearinghouse for all things foreclosure-related, meaning research, advocacy and relationship- and capacity-building for other community groups helping their residents avoid foreclosure.

A top priority is letting people know their options, which is where ForeclosureDetroit.org comes in. McCloskey says the website is intended to be user-friendly for people of varying levels of computer savviness. "Foreclosures affect people of all economic, racial and social backgrounds," she says. "People make assumptions that people know where to go (for help), but they have no idea where to reach out (to) -- we needed a way (to give them information) quietly, in the privacy of their own home...sitting at a friend's house or the library."

The site details resources for people in various places on the spectrum of foreclosure trouble -- from someone who hasn't even missed a mortgage payment yet to someone who has already lost their home.

Community meetings on the foreclosure issue are headed to various Detroit neighborhoods in the coming months, with planning underway for a larger summit before the end of the year.

Source: Diane McCloskey, Office of Foreclosure Prevention and Response
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

"It just feels terrific," says College for Creative Studies president Rick Rogers. What is he so happy about? School is in session at the college's redeveloped Argonaut Building in New Center.

The floors and halls of the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education, as it has been renamed, have been bustling since its opening on September 8. "The first day of school was actually a really emotional experience," says Rogers. At an assembly in the gymnasium, undergraduate and graduate CCS students gathered with the middle and high school students attending the Henry Ford Academy: School for Creative Studies, which also housed in the building. "It was an entirely new experience for me...all these years I've been running a college, not a middle school or high school!"

Although the educational component of the complex is active, there is still work to be done on some of its other aspects. "There are number of features that will act to draw the public into the building in the near future, including retail activity on the first floor and a conference center, that will be completed by the end of December, that is going to be available for outside organizations to use for big events," says Rogers. "Also, a couple of organizations are pondering possibly developing a creative business accelerator -- there are some pretty serious conversations under way."

The reach of CCS is poised to expand significantly with the opening of this campus, explains Rogers. "If we can tie some professional business activities into the creative and educational activities already going on in the building, we could have a really powerful model... of what might be able to be developed in terms of innovation, a generation of new businesses, products, research, collaboration and mentoring," he says. "It's going to be very beneficial to Detroit's economy as well as to the educational needs of Detroit students."

Read about the capital campaign for the Argonaut redevelopment here and watch a Model D TV piece here.

Source: Rick Rogers, CCS
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

Community Development Advocates of Detroit (CDAD) is a trade association for the city's more than 60 community development corporations. At the end of 2008, the group decided to create an emergency task force to help its members deal with the financial crisis through advocacy, resource identification and technical assistance.

Growing from that work, the committee, now called the Futures Task Force, has released a set of land use recommendations for Detroit that include some concepts that are being discussed by many -- such as the repurposing of vacant land -- but with an added focus on the importance of community development organizations in the work to be done. "What we're saying is not radically different (than what others are saying)," says Tim Thorland, CDAD's chairperson and executive director of Southwest Housing Corp."(Our vision) is nuts and bolts, what organizations with resources that they have identified think they can accomplish based on practical ideas from people that live in these neighborhoods."

CDAD's recommendations call for a bold new vision for Detroit, one that targets resources into denser neighborhoods and requires unprecedented collaboration. And what community development corporations bring to this table, besides a proven track record of real estate development, is the voice of the community, says Thorland. "(It's) necessary to the success of whatever plan you want to implement and it's the one asset we have that nobody else does," he says. "It's in an honest and meaningful way, not window dressing...We've been doing this for 30 years in the best interest of the community, what the community has told us that they want."

CDAD plans to shop its plan to city officials and foundations. Read the entire set of recommendations here.

Source: Tim Thorland, CDAD and Southwest Housing Corp.
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

The College for Creative Studies (CCS) has launched a $55 million capital campaign to support the redevelopment of the Argonaut Building called "Advancing the
Creative Spirit."

The good news? They've already raised $36 million, or 65 percent, of that total. The building will be named the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education after the campaign's largest donor to date, A. Alfred Taubman, who has chipped in $15 million. Other large donors that have stepped to the plate are the Benson and Edith Ford Foundation ($5 million), Kresge Foundation ($4 million), New Economy Initiative ($3 million) and Compuware ($1 million).

CCS president Rick Rogers has high hopes for the capital campaign because of the far-reaching impact the reuse of the Argonaut will have on the city. "This is about more than just CCS, it is really about the future of Detroit," he says. "It's about renewing Detroit, creating jobs, revitalizing the New Center area, creating new educational opportunities for kids in Detroit and being a springboard for the development of the creative economy."

Both CCS and the art- and design-oriented high school to be housed in the Argonaut will open on September 8, 2009. Beth Marmarelli, public relations manager for CCS, says that the college's major focus is on getting the main educational components of the building open, with other accessory components such as retail coming on line after that date.

Read Model D's most recent report on the Argonaut here and watch a Model D TV piece here.

Source: Rick Rogers and Beth Marmarelli, CCS
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

Today, Henry Ford Hospital will open the second floor and final phase of a two-story addition that expands its Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The 24 new ICU beds on the P5 floor, as it is dubbed, bring the hospital's total number available to 156, the most of any hospital in Michigan.

P5 is 32,000 square feet, houses 16 private medical surgery rooms and is the final linchpin in the campus' three-year $310 million capital improvement campaign. The other floor in the addition, P6, opened last December and added 80 private patient rooms to the hospital. Collectively, the two floors were constructed for $32 million.

72 new jobs, mostly critical care nurses, were created by Henry Ford Hospital with the addition of P5.

Each ICU room boasts the ability for medical professionals to quickly access electronic medical records; a sleeper couch and recliner chair for families to sleep over; patient-comfort technology, including wireless access, flat-screen TV and remote-control window treatments; and attention to privacy and quiet.

Other phases of the hospital capital improvement campaign included a simulation center and an emergency department upgrade.

Source: Sally Ann Brown, Henry Ford Health System
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

A trio of young artists have opened a gallery at the Russell Industrial Center. Chris Samuels, Ian Swanson and Lindsey Yeo initially set up Org Contemporary in March as a temporary gallery in conjunction with a Russell Industrial open house in March -- but ended up with a permanent space. "We took an opportunity and ran with it," says Yeo.

Org Contemporary will primarily mount solo shows. "We want to give artists the opportunity to come in and stretch their muscles," says Swanson. As for style or genre, the focus is unconventional art that "pushes boundaries, not just work that we think can sell," says Samuels.

The current David Flaugher show closes on July 25. Next up is a collaborative exhibition with Detroit Industrial Project for the People's Art Festival in August. Upcoming solo shows include Vagner Whitehead, Kevin Beasley, and Lauren Rice.

Org Contemporary is located on the third floor of Building 2 at Russell Industrial Center, 1610 Clay St. The gallery is open by appointment on Saturday; e-mail Samuels to set one up.

Sources: Chris Samuels, Ian Swanson and Lindsey Yeo, Org Contemporary
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

Detroit Local Initiatives Support Corporation will invest $1 million annually for three years into the city's community development organizations. Its motivation? The current economic situation and its impact on the community development industry.

LISC wil offer $25,000 in operating support grants to over a dozen organizations. Several of the organizations will then receive additional financial support, technical organizational assistance and business planning assistance.

LISC hopes to help CDCs become recession-proof by strengthening, adapting, changing or merging -- whatever it takes.

For one of the grantees, Greater Corktown Development Corporation the grant has been a welcome infusion, but it has also meant they've had to evolve. "LISC offered up technical assistance, (helped us look at things in an) entrepreneurial approach to sustainability," says executive director Tim McKay. "We got included in their $3 million initiative to help us reorganize our office, to sustain us through this kind of difficult time, to give us a business plan and to strategize to develop a revenue stream -- which was much needed and much welcome."

Other community development organizations awarded operational funds are Bagley Housing Association, Southwest Detroit Business Association and Urban Neighborhood Initiatives (formerly Neighborhood Centers, Inc.) in Mexicantown and Southwest Detroit; Grandmont Rosedale Development Corporation; Creekside CDC and Jefferson East Business Association on the lower Eastside; Messiah Housing Corporation in The Villages; Warren Conner Development Coalition and U SNAP BAC on the East Side; Vanguard CDC, Central Detroit Christian CDC and New Center Council in the New Center/Central Woodward area; Detroit Community Initiative in the Van Dyke/Eight Mile area and citywide agencies Focus: HOPE and Wayne County Child Care Coordinating Council.

Source: LISC and Tim McKay, GCDC
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

The State of Michigan has invested $7 million into New Center's Cadillac Place. The improvements run the gamut, from boiler and elevator upgrades to flooring and facade repairs. The work was funded through maintenance allowances in the state's lease agreement.

Additionally, employees from three departments -- Department of Human Services, Department of Labor and Economic Growth and Gaming Control Board -- have been consolidated into Cadillac Place. These moves increased the total number of employees in the building from 1,650 to more than 1,800.

Department of Management and Budget director Lisa Webb Sharpe says the investment and consolidation are meant to live up to a governor-issued 2003 directive that instructed DMB to move personnel into urban areas whenever possible and to move from leased to owned space whenever possible. "We are trying to make urban areas more vibrant," she says.

Webb Sharpe also notes that the boiler upgrade will allow for significant utilities savings and that Gaming Control's relocation to Detroit from Lansing moves that department "closer to the casinos that they regulate."

Source: Lisa Webb Sharpe, State of Michigan DMB
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh