Reuse / Rebuild : Detroit Development News

Movement, Detroit's electronic music festival happening this weekend at Hart Plaza, is about more than just the music. Movement is about creating and promoting the full Detroit city experience for tens of thousands of out-of-town guests, and that includes highlighting Detroit's tremendous creative community.
 
Sam Fotias, Director of Operations for festival producers Paxahau, says that they are always thinking of ways to create a more fully comprehensive Detroit experience and promote other Detroit subcultures at the festival every single year.
 
The arts community and the music community seem to have a natural overlap in Detroit. Exhibit openings at the Red Bull House of Art and the newly-opened Inner State Gallery attract a lot of the same audience members as Movement, and the two communities – street/pop/contemporary art and techno/electronic music – have matured in tandem over the last couple of decades.
 
CAMP (Community Arts Moving Projects) Detroit is the final evolution of several years of growing art installations and exhibits displayed at Movement since Paxahau took over in 2006. Now in its third year, CAMP Detroit brings in six teams of Detroit artists to create installations to be displayed on the festival grounds all weekend long.
 
There are certain constraints: materials used must be able to withstand the weather and the inevitable man-handling. Designs must suit the topography of Hart Plaza and not require special machinery to be transported. Teams must also be able to work within a $1,500 budget, awarded to them through Paxahau's nonprofit organization Detroit Techno Foundation in partnership with the Detroit Creative Corridor Center and, as of this year, Opportunity Detroit. But the project doesn't end there: when the festival is over, teams are challenged to find permanent homes in the city for their works, a lasting gift to the community and an arts legacy for the Detroit Techno Foundation.
 
"I know of no other festival that is doing this – commissioning pieces for the festival from local artists to be permanently displayed in the community after the festival is over," Fotias says.
 
Projects range from the crafty to large-scale steel sculptures. This year's projects include light and color sculptures and a vertical garden "bloom box."
 
Source: Sam Fotias, Director of Operations for Paxahau
Writer: Nicole Rupersburg

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Progress is well underway for Detroit Collision Works, the proposed 36-room boutique hotel made out of shipping crates located on the Dequindre Cut near Eastern Market.
 
After running a crowd-funding campaign in April and raising over $40,000 (surpassing their goal of $37,000), Detroit Collision Works has been able to purchase and renovate the "First Container," which will serve as the hotel lobby, office space for the Collision Works team, and a community space. In one week's time they will have added walls, windows, air conditioning, and electricity.
 
First Container was just delivered last Thursday and is currently transforming into the model display, which will open just in time for Eastern Market's annual Flower Day this Sunday, May 19. It will be located at 2934 Russell, next to the Eastern Market Corporation's office (and just south of the gazebo).
 
First Container will serve as a model lobby as well as a marketing vehicle. Kimen plans to be open for guests to visit every Thursday through Saturday during the day and Tuesdays when the market is open. The model will be on location for the next six months.
 
The model – which she describes as a mini hotel lobby – will have lobby seating, free WiFi, and a recording booth for people to share their stories on various topics (Kimen plans on partnering with other local events, like Movement later this month, to encourage this kind of community engagement).  
 
Progress is also moving forward with the proposed construction site: the phase 1 environmental assessment came back clean, meaning the site is safe to build on. Their next step is a special land use hearing, but, Kimen says, "We're getting very close to actually being able to buy and develop that land."
 
The land is already vacant, located on the Cut between two major east-west greenway connectors that will eventually go north and west to Midtown and southeast to Grosse Pointe Park, allowing future guests easy access to the city's greenways and major attractions by bike. "It's a huge opportunity to be in that location."
 
Kimen also hopes that, with a physical model to show, it will help her as she continues to seek out financial backers for the development.
 
Source: Shel Kimen, Founder and CEO of Detroit Collision Works
Writer: Nicole Rupersburg

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Stella International Café inside the Fisher Building in New Center has gone through a major renovation and rebranding.
 
Now called "Stella Good Coffee," the café – owned by Shawn Santo and Kevin Borsay, owners of Pure Detroit, Rowland Café, a second Stella location inside the Guardian Building, and Vera Jane (a women's clothing store) – will focus on all things Detroit, starting with the design.
 
After closing last fall, the space was stripped down to bare walls and floor, grinding away layers of concrete to reveal the original Albert Kahn-produced floor from 1928 (which has a slightly different design than the floor of the main lobby, also original). Santo and Borsay oversaw all of the renovation work themselves, working closely with James Willer of Reclaim Detroit on material sourcing and design. They also worked with local companies and artists on the fixtures, including lamp shades from the Detroit Wallpaper Company (which will feature the designs of local artists and will be rotated regularly) and a white neon sign that reads "Drink Good Coffee" from Spectrum Neon Sign Company.
 
The redesign also allows for more seating inside the café, which will have free WiFi, and additional seating will be available in the Fisher lobby.
 
In addition to a new look, a new name, and a new logo (a complicated geometric figure with a long technical name that includes the word "stella," also known as the "Moravian star"), Stella Good Coffee will have a whole new approach to their products. Instead of the quick grab-and-go coffee shop they were previously known as, they will offer only pour-over coffees, which take longer but, as Borsay says, "is worth it." They will also have loose-leaf teas, soups from Russell Street Deli, and baked goods from Avalon Breads and Traffic Jam & Snug.
 
Stella Good Coffee is celebrating a "soft" opening this week, with a grand opening coming later this spring.
 
Source: Kevin Borsay and Shawn Santo, owners of Stella Good Coffee
Writer: Nicole Rupersburg

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The former Detroit Dry Docks Engine Works complex and Globe Trading Company building, parts of which date back to 1892, will begin its transformation into an adventure and discovery center as part of an expansion of the William G. Milliken State Park & Harbor, Michigan's only urban state park.
 
The project was announced in May 2011 but has seen some delays. "The languishing has ended," says David Di Rita, owner of the Roxbury Group, the Detroit-based development firm overseeing the renovation. They closed on construction financing for the project in mid-March. Activity on the building will start within in the next two weeks.
 
The $12.8 million project is essentially a build-to-suit project for the Department of Natural Resources. Plans include the adventure and discovery center with rock-climbing, zip-lining, and other activities, but much more beyond that. "Really it amounts to a multi-use facility for the benefit of park visitors as well as people who may just wish to visit the Globe and participate in its activities, which includes a combination of exhibit and meeting space all designed around the idea of introducing the public to the state park system and provide year-round opportunities for people to enjoy the state park."
 
There will be activity space as well as permanent and rotating educational exhibits. The DNR will move its operations offices from Southfield into this building. The design includes a lot of attractive open space that can be used for business meetings and private events; the DNR envisions this space being utilized in much the same way as Eastern Market's Shed 5.
 
People will also be able to access the services of any state park office, such as getting their hunting and fishing licenses.

"The idea is really to take people here in the largest point of population in the state and give them a point of entry into the state park system," says Di Rita.
 
The project requires a partial demolition of some of the older portions of the complex, though Di Rita says, "We're doing our best to preserve as much of the facility as possible and are really focusing on the portion of the building that is most recognizable to the public."
 
Di Rita expects construction on the Globe to be complete around this time next year.
 
Source: David Di Rita, owner of the Roxbury Group
Writer: Nicole Rupersburg 

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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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There is a transformation happening in northwest Detroit's Old Redford neighborhood equitable to the grassroots efforts that have pushed along the development on Michigan, Woodward and Cass avenues.

Motor City Blight Busters have been the driving force of development and transformational change in Old Redford over the past 25 years (with $20 million in investments over that time period). John George, founder and president of Blight Busters, has worked tirelessly to find people with similar visions who support each other. "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts," says George, whose work has not only included demolishing blighted crack dens but also renovating empty buildings into community spaces. "It's one thing to clear land and walk away but another thing to stick and stay."

Through Blight Busters George met Kofi Royal, founder of Fertile Ground Collective, Old Redford's community garden project which repurposes cleared land to serve the community. Last year he also met Harry Reisig, Executive Director of Replanting Roots, a program serving returning citizens and reintegrating them into society. Replanting Roots will offer long-term in-house fellowships to returning citizens in order to create self-sustaining entrepreneurs.

The three organizations have joined forces to create Farm City Detroit, an ambitious undertaking that will eventually cover two to four acres and include a community garden extending 8-10 city lots, a farmhouse, a farmers market, a renovated apartment building where Replanting Roots fellows will stay, and a year-round production farm.

The first phase starts this month with the acquisition and renovation of the Simon House housing facility, together with the farmhouse, which will serve as an education center for the community. Plans for this year also include tearing down eight more blighted houses in the farm’s path and launching a five-month pilot program for Replanting Roots inside the Simon House.

Farm City will take three to five years to become fully operational, but George (who has been at it for almost three decades) is undaunted. “We’re all starry-eyed dreamers with a passion and a goal to leave this neighborhood better than we found it.”

Source: John George, Founder & President of Motor City Blight Busters
Writer: Nicole Rupersburg

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Did you happen to see that massive steel water tower tooling down Cass Avenue with police escorts last Thursday?
 
The water tower came from the top of the Dalgleish Cadillac building (built in 1927), which is part of a $93 million construction project for Wayne State University, the largest single investment in a project in WSU’s history (the building is part of a 200,000-square-foot biomedical research center).
 
Plans for the research center did not include the water tower, though several groups had interest and made serious efforts at trying to save it. "There are groups that want to think outside the box and think more sustainably about moving forward," says Green Garage representative Jason Peet. "Projects like this show that that can be done even with an institution as large as (WSU)."
 
Interested groups included U-Haul International (who are currently renovating the Nabisco building in New Center), Midtown Detroit Inc., and Wayne State University. Initially the desire was to keep this iconic piece of the neighborhood in Tech Town, but as all other attempts fell through, Midtown’s Green Garage was contacted in the last three weeks as a last shot for the old tower.
 
They had to partially disassemble the 25,000-pound solid steel structure to take it down and move it to the site of the El Moore, a four-story apartment building in Midtown constructed in 1898 and owned by Tom and Peggy Brennan of the Green Garage. Though they do plan on renovating the building, which will be a sort of "residential version of the Green Garage" where "sustainability will be highly important," formal plans and an official timeline are not yet known.
 
The old water tower now anchors a corner that was formerly an empty field and will be an architectural part of a planned greenspace that ties in with the Green Garage’s efforts of repurposing materials that would otherwise end up in a landfill and preserving pieces of the neighborhood and the history behind them.
 
Source: Jason Peet, Green Garage Detroit
Writer: Nicole Rupersburg

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When the Department of Alternatives holds its first open house on Thursday it won't just be showing off downtown Detroit's newest co-working space, but the latest renovation at a big building in the Motor City's Central Business District.

The Department of Alternatives is occupying the second floor of 1514 Washington Blvd., at the corner of Clifford in the shadow of the David Whitney Building. The founders behind LOVELAND Technologies, The Detroit Bus Co, Dandelion Detroit and Evidence-Based Literacy Instruction (four up-and-coming companies) came together to form the core of the Department of Alternatives by moving their headquarters to 1514 Washington. The idea was to form a cluster of entrepreneurs tackling social change and civic innovation.

"There is power in bringing people within a close proximity to each other," says Jordan Wolfe, a partner with Evidence-Based Literacy Instruction and one of the founding members of the Department of Alternatives. "We saw the need for people to come together and work on civic and social issues."

Those four founding companies are now occupying about 3,500 square feet of the 10,000 square feet available at the Department of Alternatives. They hope to attract some more similar-minded companies and organizations (they are looking for established firms and nonprofits as opposed to brand-new startups) at the open house on Thursday. The companies occupying the co-working space will collectively help pay for the overhead, however, Wolfe says the formula for paying for those costs is still being refined. Wolfe expects the cluster of innovating, socially aware organizations and the events it holds will emerge as a strong voice in the public conversation about Detroit's future.

"A big piece of what we're going to roll out over time is to create conversations about important issues," Wolfe says.

The 7-story structure, also known as the Claridge House Apartments, was in the news last year as a potential acquisition target for Quicken Loans Chaiman Dan Gilbert's downtown buying spree. Wolfe says he and some partners have acquired the building and that it is not part of Gilbert's property portfolio.

Wolfe and his partners are also working on renovating the entire structure. Work is being done on the 45 apartments in the third floor and above. Wolfe describes the layout of those apartments as some of the best he has seen downtown.

The building also has four ground-floor retail spaces that are in the process of filling up. Two existing business (a book importer and a hair salon) will remain. A new fitness studio, Come Play Detroit, is also opening in one of the spaces. Wolfe and his partners are also eyeing another new business, like a dry cleaner, for the last space. They expect the mixed-use nature of the building and its proximity to things like the newly renovated Broderick Tower and M@dison Building will make it an attractive place for years to come.

"It's kind of perfectly located between the Whitney, Broderick and Capitol Park so it will be easy to create walkability," Wolfe says.

The Department of Alternatives open house will be held 7-10 p.m. Thursday at 1514 Washington, Suite 200. For information, click here.

Source: Jordan Wolfe, founding member of Department of Alternatives
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

Perhaps you have seen the new sign atop the building U-Haul is renovating into its latest full-service location? Or a few of the upper floors lit up at night showing off doors painted in bright orange while driving by on the Lodge Freeway? If so you have seen the most recent progress of one of the greater downtown Detroit area's largest redevelopment projects.

The moving company bought the former Nabisco Building in New Center (899 W Baltimore St.) last summer and has been slowly but surely rehabbing the 250,000-square-foot structure into its first full-service center in Detroit. The new location, set to open this spring, will feature everything from truck and trailer rentals to storage space.

"One year from now we will have a gorgeous truck, trailer and storage business going there," says Stuart Shoen, executive vice president of U-Haul. "I am just very optimistic for the area."

For now, Detroiters are going to have to settle for the encouraging new visual cues on the building's crown and updates from the company's blog about the work. Workers (three U-Haul employees and about 20 construction workers) are currently focusing on finishing the renovation of the showroom and getting the basics of the rest of the building to come on.

"It's finally starting to look like a retail space," Shoen says. "The building needed a lot of fundamental improvement. It took us longer to get the water and the electricity on than we thought. The windows weren't level in the showroom. This building needed a lot of work in every facet."

National Biscuit Co (or Nabisco today) built the structure in the 1920s as a bakery. It has been vacant for several years before U-Haul purchased it to service Detroit's growing population.

"In a few years, we will be contemplating building more," Shoen says. "That's our hope and expectation."

Source: Stuart Shoen, executive vice president of U-Haul
Writer: Jon Zemke

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Downtown Hamtramck is now a part of the National Register of Historic Places, a designation that should help the commercial district leverage more redevelopment dollars and maintain its classic character.

The historic district runs the length of Jos Campau Street between the GM Poletown plant to the south and close to Carpenter Street on the north end. "The historic district is a couple of streets short of that," says Jason Friedmann, director of community and economic development for the city of Hamtramck. "This is the area with the oldest buildings with the most character are located."

The Jos Campau Historic District encompasses about 200 buildings that are about 100 years old. Most of the them were constructed after the old Dodge Main Plant was built in the early 1900s. It joins the historic district around St. Florian Catholic Church near the intersection of Jos Campau and Holbrook streets.

The Jos Campau Historic District is only a national historic district. That designation allows it to leverage national historic tax credits for redevelopment but doesn't come with the strict restrictions and oversights commonplace in local historic districts.

Source: Jason Friedmann, director of community and economic development for the city of Hamtramck
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

Shelborne Development is in the midst of rehabbing two significant historic apartment buildings in New Center and is set to transform the block of Seward Street between Woodward and Second avenues with renovations.

The renovations promise to turn some of the biggest, blighted structures in New Center into vibrant buildings filled with new residents. When it's all said and done, the rehabs will bring well in excess of 100 new rental units to the northern tip of the greater downtown area.

"I have always loved that block of Seward," says Kathy Makino-Leipsitz, co-owner of Shelborne Development. "It is one of the prettiest blocks of multi-units in the city. Hopefully, we will be able to turn that block into what it used to be."

The Indian Village-based development firm is the driving force behind the renovation spree taking place in Palmer Park. Its rehabs have expertly leveraged tax credits and other incentives to turn the Art Deco beauties into high-quality rentals that include energy-efficient systems and appliances, insulation, stainless-steel appliances and granite countertops, among other amenities. These rehabs go the extra mile to preserve the historical character of the buildings, which are often chosen in large part because of the architectural beauty.

Makino-Leipsitz plans to do the same thing with at least half a dozen of the apartment buildings in New Center, most of which are vacant and have fallen into disrepair. The first two, which are currently under renovation, are 112 Seward and 628 Delaware.

The apartment building at 112 Seward is called the Birchmont Apartments. It stands as a 3.5-story building with a blond-brick facade and is just east of the 120 Seward condo building. It will house 31 units that include 1-, 2-, and 3-bedroom apartments. 628 Delaware is a tudor-style structure that stands four stories overlooking New Center Commons Park just west of Second Avenue.

"That Delaware apartment building is a beautiful building," Makino-Leipsitz says. "It will be 18 units when we're done."

Both buildings, each about 100 years old, are set to come online in August and fully occupied by the end of the year. They will bring 49 units of workforce housing to the rental market. The buildings previously housed 54 units. The developers redesigned the units to offer bigger spaces with more rooms.

Shelborne Development also owns 59, 69, 90, 93, and 100 Seward, which are all high-density apartment buildings on the first block of Seward west of Woodward. The firm has already renovated 93 Seward and plans to renovate 90 and 100 Seward as market-rate rentals next. It recently acquired 59 and 69 Seward, which have long been problem buildings with out-of-town ownership, and plans to renovate those, too, within the next few years.

Source: Kathy Makino-Leipsitz, co-owner of Shelborne Development
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

Renovation work on a handful of apartment buildings in Palmer Park is set to wrap up in the next few months.

The first in line for completion is the Sarasota Apartments, 325 Merton, in February. The four-story building exemplifies the Art Deco architecture for which Palmer Park's apartments are famous. It had been vacant for years, falling into disrepair before renovations began last spring.

Next in line are the Seville Apartments and Palmer Lodge. Both are set to come online in April. "I really can't wait," says Kathy Makino-Leipsitz, co-owner of Shelborne Development which is heading up the development of the apartment buildings in Palmer Park.

Palmer Lodge is one of the marquee apartment buildings in the Palmer Park historic district. The jumbo-sized Tudor-Revival structure stands sentinel at the corner of Woodward Avenue and Covington Drive. The four-story apartment building was designed by Weidmaier and Gay and built in 1925. It's being redeveloped into 54 apartments and space for two businesses (think cafe or martini bar) in its basement. The Seville Apartments is at 750 Whitmore St. The four-story structure at the corner of Third Avenue and Whitmore Street will feature 16 apartments. One hundred and two units will come onto the market when construction is finished at all three, which were vacant and in serious disrepair before renovation work began early last year.

Shelborne Development is renovating these buildings and a handful of others in Palmer Park. The Indian Village-based firm leveraged historic tax credits, federal stimulus funding and other government incentives to renovate these buildings to maintain their historic integrity and upgrade them with modern conveniences such as new Energy Star appliances, high-efficiency furnaces, insulation and granite countertops. It previously renovated the La Vogue apartments last summer.

Makino-Leipsitz says she is still pursuing the idea of bringing mounted security patrols to the neighborhood by utilizing the Detroit Police Department's mounted division, which is housed nearby. She also wants to bring Christmas lights to the trees of the neighborhood to help inject some vibrancy to the area.

"I want to light up the trees in Palmer Park like they do at La Dolce Vita (a nearby restaurant)," Makino-Leipsitz says. "It gives the area such a great feel."

Source: Kathy Makino-Leipsitz, co-owner of Shelborne Development
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

The Dan Gilbert game of downtown Detroit Monopoly is not showing any signs of slowing down these days. The chairman of Quicken Loans acquired five more buildings just before the end of last year and now there is a report from Crain's Detroit Business that he has his sights set on more.

What we know is that Gilbert's real-estate company, Rock Ventures, recently acquired five buildings on Woodward Avenue and Broadway Street. These largely vacant buildings include the addresss 1201, 1217 and 1412 Woodward, along with 1301 and 1521 Broadway.

"We didn't want to see these buildings just sit there and have no activity in them," says Jim Ketai,  managing partner of Bedrock Management, Gilbert's real-estate management firm. "We want to bring some more activity to them."

Gilbert now owns 15 buildings with 2.6 million square feet of commercial space and another three parking garages with 3,500 spaces. His firms are also building a new parking garage/retail space on Broadway and are leasing space in the Compuware Building.

The latest additions include a former Kresge department store at Woodward Avenue and State Street and the building that houses Small Plates next to the Detroit Beer Company. All of the buildings will be renovated to accommodate ground floor retail space and either residential or office space above.

"It will take a lot of time," Ketai says. "They have had a lot of neglect."

Source: Jim Ketai,  managing partner of Bedrock Management
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

There was no no shortage of big announcements in Detroit's built environment in 2012, so Model D has expanded its Top 5 Development News Stories to its Top 5 Development News Subjects. This year's list includes:

The Gilbert Effect
Quicken Loans Chairman Dan Gilbert became the biggest power player in downtown Detroit this year. His team's accomplishments include acquiring buildings left and right, filling them with tech businesses, pushing for a retail rebirth in the Central Business District and spearheading the M-1 Rail plans for light rail up Woodward which now seems quite likely with the passage of a regional transit authority bill in the state legislature.

Palmer Park Rebirth
The Palmer Park area - ahem, Uptown - is enjoying a large amount investment these days as the quality of life improves with more community involvement. Shelborne Development is spearheading the renovation of a number of Palmer Park's Art Deco apartment buildings, including La Vogue and Palmer Lodge, and working to establish mounted security patrols. Local residents are improving the area by planting sunflowers along Woodward Avenue, planting orchards in Palmer Park, building trails through the park and rebranding the area Uptown.

Downtown/Midtown Apt Blitz
Developers can't build new living options in Detroit's downtown or Midtown neighborhoods fast enough these days to keep up with skyrocketing demand. Some big projects came online in 2012, including the Broderick Tower, The Auburn and Newberry Hall. More are coming. Construction is in progress for the Sherbrooke Apts and Woodward Garden Block Apts and work is set to begin on the Whitney Building in a few weeks.

Momentum in The Villages
The people working to improve the The Villages scored some big wins in 2012. Those wins include developing plans for more greenways, sparking the pop-up retial store boom, Tashmoo Beirgarten's return, and landing a number of new businesses to take those spots in West Village. Look for The Villages to keep the momentum going in 2013.

Wayne County Tax Foreclosure Auction
This year set the record for the Wayne County Tax Foreclosure Auction. This fall's auction featured more than 20,000 properties and sold more than 12,000. Local officials are working to turn these empty houses into new homes. What happens next to the thousands of unsold properties is becoming a bigger question that needs to be dealt with. Oh, and next year's auction is set to break all of those records again.

Honorable-mention projects include, Avalon's expansion plans, Buffalo Wild Wings moving downtown, the groundbreaking of WholeFoods, Reclaim Detroit's deconstruction efforts and the GAR Building rehab.

Writer: Jon Zemke

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

David Landrum and Peter Bailey see history repeating itself in micro-brewing and micro-distilling worlds. Where craft brewing beer has exploded as a slow-food-style business in recent decades the co-owners of Detroit's first distillery see the same thing happening with craft distilling of liquor.

"That's what's happening with spirits right now," says Landrum, co-founder & president of Two James Spirits, which is an homage to the names of the co-founders' fathers who were also entrepreneurs. "There is going to be a boom with small spirits makers because the product is superior."

Two James Spirits plans to open at 2445 Michigan Ave. in Corktown, a small commercial building adjacent to Roosevelt Park and within a stones throw of Slows. The micro distillery will have a tasting room and will serve vodka, gin and whiskey. The co-founders plan to serve vodka and gin first because it can be made in a matter of days while they let their whiskey age. Landrum plans to age the whiskey in barrels and expects the process to take between 16-24 months. David Pickerell, one of the foremost experts on whiskey distilling, is also working with Landrum and Bailey on Two James Spirits' brand of whiskey.

Two James Spirits is set to open in the first quarter of next year. In the meantime, the company's co-founders are recruiting for its Corktown 500 club, an exclusive club that will be able to make its own whiskey and have other unique privileges at the distillery.

Source: David Landrum, president & co-founder of Two James Spirits
Writer: Jon Zemke

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