New Center : Buzz

Speaking Wednesday to the visiting news media, Gilbert quipped, "Building anything great is messy. A construction site is messy, but when it's done, it's usually something people can be proud of." His often-stated goal is to make downtown the lively core of a revitalized city, or what he calls Detroit 2.0.

"There is just a certain feel" to downtown, he said Wednesday. "There's a certain energy, a certain buzz, a certain closeness to everything, and people really, really are enjoying it."

Read the rest of the story here -- and look for more info on these new residential initiatives in Model D this summer.

She said she hopes museum visitors see the depth of his creativity and recognize his enduring legacy, which includes a performance next May of the "What's Going On" album by John Legend and The Roots with the National Symphony Orchestra. It marks the 40th anniversary of Gaye performing the album at the same venue.

"I would just like for people to see his whole body of work," Janis Gaye said. "Socially conscious, sexually conscious, whatever it happens to be. It's all Marvin. It all came from that one mind."

Let's get it on. Read more here.

"I think it's very consistent with what the city is looking at strategy-wise," Mosey said this week. "Everybody knows this will be an area of investment, with light rail and all the other development." She added, "We'll end up serving many more businesses" as a combined organization. "It's really going to be great in terms of having a lot more community engagement here."

Purdue Research Foundation in West Lafayette, Ind., the Center for Emerging Technologies in St. Louis, TechTown in Detroit and the University of Toledo in Ohio are among those that have added new incubator programs or facilities in recent years to accommodate more early stage companies.

Driving the trend is largely high unemployment and a dearth of adequate financing in the current economy, says Mr. Kitts. But at the same time, some incubator programs have suffered budget cuts, he adds.

About 1,500 early stage companies are participating in 10-week business-training programs at TechTown, an incubator established in 2000 by Wayne State University, General Motors Co. and the Henry Ford Health System. Of those, about 80% are run by individuals who have been unemployed for six months or longer, says Randal Charlton, executive director. Located in Southeast Michigan, where unemployment is about 15%, the incubator is also home to 200 start-ups in industries ranging from energy and education to homeland security and logistics.

Creating that level of student engagement was a goal of CCS's president, Richard Rogers, when he undertook the restoration of this historic building in Detroit's New Center district. Originally called the Argonaut, the Art Deco structure was designed by Albert Kahn in 1928 for General Motors, and it housed the first design department in the history of the auto industry. The structure takes up an entire city block, and when GM relocated its headquarters more than a decade ago to the Renaissance Center on the waterfront, the building joined the growing number of vacant sites in downtown Detroit.

At five years old and covering a city block, the incubator, known as TechTown, describes itself as an "entrepreneurial school" that provides space for emerging businesses to grow. It houses 150 start-ups in areas like education, the creative arts and environmental sciences.

Beyond space, it has given support, in the form of classes or access to low-cost office equipment, to other companies. Linda Angell, 56, who took an early retirement from General Motors, keeps a mailbox there for her year-old business, Touchstone Evaluations Inc., which provides design and testing support for medical and consumer products.

While TechTown is by no means singularly devoted to former auto workers, it has retained a focus on Detroit's economic past.

Detroit boosters, always scanning for a savior to ignite revival, tout the project as a catalyst for a creative corridor of galleries, schools, museums and cutting-edge businesses in the arts, design and media along Woodward from the New Center to the Detroit River. If that's an exaggerated expectation for one fix-up of an old building in these dreary economic times, CCS President Rick Rogers doesn't shrink from it.

"We see it as an economic-development engine," Rogers told me before I toured the building where legendary General Motors designer Harley Earl gave us concept cars and tail fins from his studio on the 11-story Argonaut's top floor in the mid-1900s.

The most successful shrinking strategies, like Pittsburgh's, are not top-down affairs driven by all-knowing governments, but organic, bottom-up, community-based efforts. While Pittsburgh government and business leadership pressed for large-scale urban renewal - stadium-building, convention centers, and more far-fetched schemes for local mag-lev trains - its real  turnaround was driven by organic, bottom-up initiatives. Community groups, local foundations, and non-profits - not city hall or business-led economic development groups -  were the driving forces behind neighborhood stabilization and redevelopment, university-based economic development, water-front revitalization, park improvements, and green building among others.  This kind of bottom-up process takes considerable time and perseverance. In Pittsburgh's case, it took the better part of a generation to achieve stability and the potential for longer-term revival.

All of which brings us back to a big question: What about people versus place strategies? I agree with Glaeser: people must be the priority. Especially in tough economic times, public investment should flow toward people. Early childhood investments, as James Heckman has shown, are the most important, longest-running and highest-paying investments we make.

Why on earth would a city in such desperate straits build a wall between itself and its best potential allies?

A smarter marketing strategy would be to encourage more people to boast that they are citizens of Detroit, in spirit if not by address.

If more suburbanites identified themselves internally as Detroiters, it might put an end to our infernal turf wars.

And we'd have more folks who gave a damn that Detroit is rotting away, that it's under siege by the worst forces of urban life, that it's been neglected and abandoned and nobody outside our small corner of the world cares.

Instead, the council is advocating the very black-white, city-suburban divides that are responsible for Detroit's decline.

'It' is the converted garage of a small frame house at 2648 West Grand Boulevard, Detroit, Michigan. Detroit being the home of the automobile, it's only appropriate that this story should revolve around a garage. This is the Motor City, and the house, christened Hitsville USA, is the birthplace of Motown Records. The garage at the rear is Studio A, one of the most revered recording studios in history.

It was in this room that Barrett Strong, on Motown's first national hit, declared 'Money (That's What I Want)', where Smokey Robinson cried his 'Tears of a Clown', the Four Tops promised 'Reach Out, I'll Be There', Martha Reeves and the Vandellas sent a call out around the world, asking 'are you ready for a brand new beat?' and Diana Ross and the Supremes demanded 'Stop! In the Name of Love'. It was within these four walls that little Stevie Wonder recorded his first songs and, later, as the Sixties faded, Marvin Gaye asked 'What's Going On?'.

The museum, at 2648 W. Grand Blvd., is in the modest frame house Berry Gordy Jr. bought in 1959 to house the talent pool with which he launched Motown, changing the course of popular music. When Motown moved west to Los Angeles in 1972, his sister, Motown executive Esther Gordy Edwards, kept what became known as the "Hitsville" house running. In 1985, it officially became a museum.

Over the past month, the museum's gift shop underwent a more intensive makeover than the rest of the museum, with new shelving, modern track lighting and fresh white paint, and new merchandise designed to appeal to younger people, as well as Motown's longtime fanbase.

There's "Detroit Rock City," thanks to bands like The Von Bondies and The White Stripes, and Motown for a playlist stocked with Marvin Gaye, the Jackson Five, Stevie Wonder and The Supremes.

It seems like every time Detroit has taken a hit, it surges impossibly back, and this cycle lends itself to colourful retelling by a population that is both gregarious and prideful.

SciTech has been chosen by the National Institutes of Health Commercialization Assistance Program to present at the Larta Institute’s 2008 Venture Forum, the largest and longest running showcase of early stage innovation and ntrepreneurship. SciTech also has been chosen to present at the 2008 Michigan Growth Capital Symposium, where investors meet the “Best of the Midwest” in emerging technologies. 

“SciTech has a promising anticancer drug,” said NIH-CAP Principal Advisor Louis Scarmoutzos, a member of the NIH committee that selected SciTech to participate in the Larta forum. “It shows a great deal of probability of being successful, which is no small feat. There’s a vast minefield of drug candidates that have failed. One of the unique features of SciTech’s drug is that it has been used in good model systems that include human data. SciTech actually has the right mix of science and business acumen.”

• Pat Benatar – June 27
• Mark Farner and Mitch Ryder – July 11
• Starship featuring Mickey Thomas – July 18
• Rick Derringer and the Classic Rock All Stars – July 25
• The Guess Who – Aug. 1
• Kansas – Aug. 8
• Blue Oyster Cult – Aug. 15
• Foreigner – Aug. 22

The high price of gasoline, coupled with concerns about global warming and the environment, has caused more people to think about lifestyle changes, he said.

"Everything has been coming together, even in Detroit," Naimi said.

With its industrial past, Detroit has never tried to brag that it's a "green city," recycling advocates say, but change is coming.

When Eero Saarinen designed the great GM Tech Center, which became the world's first modern office park, Detroit was bursting with post-World War II energy and creativity.

And when Austrian-born Victor Gruen designed Northland Center, the first modern shopping mall, in Southfield in 1954, metro Detroit was just beginning its explosive suburban expansion.

Estleman is based in Ann Arbor but says he walks the same mean streets as his detective [Amos] Walker, "only in the daytime." For him, Detroit is the ultimate noir backdrop.

"For one thing, it's an old city, so it has the chops, the personality," Estleman says. "And also it's a city that for better or worse has its share of violence. In the War of 1812, a lot of the battles were fought right here in the waterway. It was the northern point of the Underground Railroad during the Civil War, so there's insight into clandestine activities. There's Prohibition, and the insurrection or rebellion in 1967. So it has that kind of sinister background, and yet also a very strong backbone.

"People who live in Detroit are genuinely interested in keeping their city alive," he says. "It has a shabby nobility that has always drawn me in."

Read the entire article here.

"The mayor is now sitting at the table with 20 private foundations and financial institutions working on an investment model," Goss-Foster said last week. "We were at this $100-million figure but realized, by really working in partnership, the public/private commitment can be limitless. This is unprecedented."

• Establishing a “Creative Corridor” on Woodward Avenue that attracts and retains creative talent, inspires output from the creative community and increases the creative industries locally.
  
  
• Starting a “Creative Business Accelerator” in the corridor to foster start-ups and accelerate the growth of existing creative businesses.

455 W. Fort St - Downtown - 313.962.9675
707 W. Milwaukee - New Center - 313.873.7321
5555 Conner - East Side - 313.579.4100
9301 Michigan Ave - Southwest - 313.846.2240
1300 Rosa Parks - Corktown - 313.628.2301

Each is open Monday - Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

From 6-8 p.m. March 29, Jeavons will talk about his experiences with agriculture and how growing crops can be done more efficiently, especially for those in urban spaces. The free talk will be at the Catherine Ferguson Academy, 2750 Selden, Detroit.

From 9 a.m.-5 p.m. March 30-31, Jeavons will lead his workshop on how to grow biointensively. Cost for the two-day session is $10-$50 for members of the Garden Resource Program or similar urban gardening organizations, and $150 for others.

For information, call Ashley Atkinson at 313-237-8736 or go to www.detroitagriculture.org.

Read the entire article here.

A world map dotted with push pins denotes the many places people have traveled from to visit the museum.

A third of the approximately 60,000 visitors every year are from other countries.

The governments council was hoping to use a $100-million federal grant to study and develop the [light] rail line. But after conducting a $3-million study of five options for the route, the agency found that there weren't enough riders to support the line -- only between 600 and 6,000 passengers daily depending on the option. And it carried a price tag ranging from $600 million to $3 billion to construct and $25 million to $110 million a year to operate.

The disappointing results didn't meet the criteria set by the Federal Transit Administration to qualify for the $100 million. But that doesn't mean the money is lost forever, [director of transportation programs for SEMCOG Carmine] Palombo said. The plan with Amtrak would last three years and be used to show that there is enough interest in the commuter train for the area to qualify for the federal money.

Read the entire article here.

It is no wonder rumours began floating around last election that Paul Martin was trying to recruit Eddie to run for the Liberals. He's a go-getter, he knows business and he's developed a strong relation with America's first "hip-hop" mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick of Detroit. The two worked side-by-side on the Detroit Super Bowl committee, which brought the premier U.S. sporting event to the region.

That rise could reflect the city's mini-boom in downtown living.

It might also mirror the availability of more riverfront condominiums converted from former apartment buildings, as well as the renovation of some older neighborhoods.

Excerpts from the article:

Strather said that St. Regis Detroit Partners L.L.C. includes 15 Detroit area ministers, called Detroit 20/20, and some members of his “Motown Legends Casino” group of entertainers who are supporting an Internet gambling site he soon hopes to launch in 64 countries.

Strather said 124 hotel rooms in the six-story hotel were recently renovated and the kitchen and restaurant are to be upgraded. A second section of the hotel that had contained about 100 rooms is being converted to hotel condominiums, Strather said. His group also plans to buy that section.

“The 35 condos will be offered with all hotel amenities, include valet and room service, a luxury spa and exercise rooms,” Strather said.

To read more click here

Excerpts from the article:

“It’s a huge breakthrough because this is government and business talking in one voice,” says Tom Barwin, Ferndale city manager and chair of the association’s transit committee. “It’s bipartisan, and it’s city and suburban officials.” If these community leaders follow through on the recommendations, he adds, metro Detroiters might see a rapid transit line running along Woodward from the Detroit riverfront to the Detroit Zoo in Royal Oak within 10 years.

So why are businesses and some governments from around the region finally getting on the bus, so to speak? It’s all about the money, Barwin says. “We’re competing with every other metropolitan area in America and the globe. By my estimation, if we could solidify transportation between the airport and Detroit, and between Detroit and Birmingham, within 10 years (of building the system) we could create 100,000 new jobs. That’s a pretty big bang for the buck.”

To read more click here

Excerpts from the article:

Many shoppers treasure the unhurried pace, personal attention and one-of-a-kind merchandise found in several southeastern Michigan downtown areas such as Milford and Detroit's New Center.

While loads of shoppers prefer the malls and larger chain retailers for convenience and price, it is in smaller places that some people are finding holiday magic this year.

At Biz-R Collection in New Center, employees will sit on the floor to help shoppers try on winter boots. Pure Detroit in the Fisher Building is the only place in town where you can find a turquoise-colored tote bag made entirely from seat belts.

Where Milford has charm, Detroit's New Center area has an urban flair and taste with a mix of apparel, gift and jewelry stores in three office buildings -- Fisher, New Center One and Cadillac Place -- straddling Grand Boulevard.

"You are going to find unique things here. People will know I took a little more time to find it," said Faith Howard-Drain of Detroit, who was shopping at Pure Detroit in the Fisher Building on Thursday. The store carries a wide range of Detroit items such as Vernors pop, Pewabic tile, Harveys seat belt bags, holiday cards with Detroit scenes and branded clothing.

At the Detroit Gallery of Contemporary Crafts, also in the Fisher Building, manager Pam Primak said the store won't discount its merchandise for the holidays but does try to bring in an array of gift items at around $25 for the season.

Across the street at New Center One, the city's largest independent retailer, Biz-R Collection, offers personal service that keeps shoppers coming back. The 10-year-old store now stretches more than 15,000 feet on the second floor.

Click here to read more

Excerpts from the article:

An unprecedented traveling exhibition on space exploration is set to lift off at The New Detroit Science Center on Nov. 5, 2005.

At more than 12,000 square-feet, SPACE: A Journey to Our Future is the largest-ever touring exhibition on space exploration and the future of space.

While totally immersing visitors in the exciting scenic elements, the exhibit also features live performances, child-friendly interactives and state-of-the-art projection and audio technology.

Highlights include opportunities to touch pieces of the moon and Mars, operate a centrifuge and visit a simulated scientific base camp on the Martian surface.

To read article in full click here

According to the CreateDetroit newsletter:

The nonprofit will display 50 posters at its Detroit Graphics Exposition, a celebration of graphic arts and designers.

The event will be held at 7 p.m. Dec. 2 at the Fisher Building Concourse.

The show will be juried by attendees, and one poster will be awarded as the best in show.

To submit a poster, go to createdetroit.com/dge/artist/. The entry deadline is Nov. 4.

Click here for more details:
http://www.createdetroit.com/dge/

Excerpts from the article:

The Genesis Villas at Medbury Park development – consisting of 89 townhouses and apartments - has brought life to the area and the city.

Vanguard's goal is to reclaim, restore and rebuild Detroit's North End, an area bounded by Highland Park's southern border, I-94, East Grand Boulevard and Woodward, and nearby neighborhoods for its residents.

Just late last month, ground was broken on a new project, Melrose Square Homes, located in the area of East Grand Boulevard, Oakland, Clay and I-75, where 24 single-family affordable houses are under construction.

Vanguard will build a total of more than 300 housing units, a $35-million investment, in and near the North End.

On Dec. 13 and 14, Vanguard will host Vanguard Vision in Action: Building on Faith, a faith-based community development conference. The conference will invite attendees to look at best-practice faith-based development models nationally. The topics will include effective youth programs, managing a 501c(3) organization, grant writing, technology, real estate development and family development.

Click here to read full article

According to the story:

Youthville will open its doors to the teenagers of Detroit on Monday, Oct. 10.  It is located at 7375 Woodward, and will be open seven days a week.  A one year membership will cost $25. 

The project is dubbed the most comprehensive youth development center in the Midwest.  The center is 75,000 square feet of activities for young people ages 11 to 19.

They can learn modern dance, fencing, music and archery, as well as play games, and work out.  There are game rooms and computer rooms with programs to, among other things, allow the teens to download and record music.

The facility and everything inside was paid for by sponsors and cost about $15.8 million.

Click here for the full article.
 

Excerpts from the story:

.  If you think that the Motor City is not one those places that has long embraced the potential of alternative energies, where business leaders are taking huge strides toward ending America's dependence on nonrenewable and increasingly expensive fossil fuels, you would be wrong.

.  The new $12-million home of NextEnergy near Wayne State University is as much about changing that view of southeast Michigan as it is about creating a place for players in the alternative energy field to collaborate.

.  With oil and gasoline prices at new highs, the timing for NextEnergy to begin the next phase of its mission couldn't be better.

.  The 45,000 square-foot NextEnergy Center, off Cass Avenue in the TechTown business incubator district, showcases a variety of emerging technologies from biodiesel to hydrogen fuel cells.

.  Inside the building, the spacious glassed-in lobby will serve as a showroom for local companies' products, and the firms can use the 80-seat auditorium for presentations to potential investors and distributors.

.  One wing of the building is 18,400 square feet of lab space where NextEnergy can nurture alternative energy startups.

.  Tenants for seven of the eight labs have already signed on, and the first ones are expected to move in next month.

To read the full story, click here to go to The Detroit News

Detroit chapter of Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW-Detroit) and corporate sponsor Standard Federal Bank N.A. will throw a pizza party today to one hundred eighty school girls from Detroit's Alternatives for Girls (AFG), who will receive $9,000 in school supplies.

"The 180 girls will each leave with a backpack of new supplies including calculators, pens, pencils, markers, dictionaries, folders, notebooks and paper. They range in age from elementary to high school," says the article.

- Read the full press release at PR Newswire

Festivities will continue everyday on Woodward and eight mile to entertain families and kids. Talented pigs, demolition derby, petting and banjo concerts and rides will attract over 500,000 attendees.

- Read the entire story at The Detroit News

California based organization ranked Detroit as most liberal city amongst 237 US Cities. The Bay Area Center for Voting Research conducted the survey in cities of population more than 100,000 and used voting patterns to identify various criteria.

A state House Committee unanimously approved reduction in property taxes from 67 mills to 52 mills, leading to substantial savings for residents. 

Property owners in a $200,000 home will save as  much as $3000 a year.

- Read the full story at the Detroit Free Press

Domestic air travel was up 7.3%, while international air travel was up 8.6% compared to 2004. 

Additionally, four new air carriers have announced scheduled air service at the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport since last August: Independence Air in August 2004, Frontier in May 2005, Air France in June 2005 and AirTran this coming November.

- To read more about how Detroit continues to outperform itself and everyones expectations, click here

Knight Foundation reaffirmed its commitment to Detroit, despite exit of Knight Ridder Inc’s publication business in the city. Including Detroit, the foundation has focused on twenty six markets in the nation where the Knight Ridder publications has a foothold. Last month, the foundation invested $550,000 in the city with grants for six local organizations.

AirTran's Web site says that a one-way coach class fare between Detroit's Metropolitan Wayne County Airport and Orlando International Airport would be $84, and between Detroit Metro and Atlanta would be
$79.

The airline is to fly Boeing 717 aircraft with 12 business and 105 coach seats, and will start flying from Detroit Metro to Florida's Sarasota Bradenton International Airport on Feb. 15.

- Read the complete story at WSBTV.com

From Aug. 11-13, "fashion fans will see three different runway shows - one each for student and independent designers and the Glam Slam collection culled from local retailers," reports Sharon Gittleman.

On Aug. 11, eight students from Wayne State, Western Michigan and Michigan State Universities will show off their designs, while nine style mavens will display their best sportswear, jewelry, couture and ready to wear creations.

- To read the full story about how music, art and high style will come together at the 4731 Gallery in Detroit, starting Aug, 8, click here.

It comes as no surprise that Detroit leads the charts for the "independent" city in the U.S.

More than 40,000 homes were listed with ForSaleByOwner.com in 2004,
and the company reported that 4 percent of the total listings came
from Detroit alone.

- Read the full press release at PRNewswire

The article reports that "in 2003, Robert Thompson offered to donate $200 million to build 15 Detroit charter high schools and promised that his schools would graduate 90 percent of their students and send 90 percent of those on to college.  He withdrew the offer in the fall of that year, amid opposition from the public schools, unions and others."

Now the offer is back on the table... Click here to read more.

"It's a different way to spend your summer. You help others instead of helping yourself," the artices quotes a 16-year-old from Birmingham, Casey Starnes, who last week spent his mornings tutoring kids at Glazer Elementary and then painting the cafeteria.

Summer in the City, founded in 2002, picks up Detroit area youth and carpools them to work sites across Detroit, where the teens complete projects.

When Summer in the City was created, "about 14 volunteers showed up at two carpool sites. Now there are five carpool sites in Wayne and Oakland counties, and about 40 people participate daily in the nine-week program" reports the article. 

- Read the full story about how these kids are making a difference:  The Detroit News

It is expected, the article quotes Paul E. Tait, SEMCOG's executive director, as saying, that "the consultants will present a study on different mass transit modes, ranging from commuter train to express buses, for public discussion in September. SEMCOG next year then could choose a preferred method of rapid transit".

- Read the entire story here:  mlive.com

It is exciting to see that steps are being taken towards making this dream a reality.  It would be interesting to see what this study will recommend as the best mode of public transportation between Ann Arbor and Detroit, and hopefully, the implementation of that recommendation will happen right away as well.

The Detroit and Ann Arbor projects are among 13 that have been designated as “neighborhoods in progress” under the Granholm administration’s cool-cities urban-revitalization program. The designation gives projects priority access to state grants, loans, tax credits or other assistance to help create vibrant, mixed-used neighborhoods.

- Read the entire article here: Crain's News

Crain's Detroit quotes Alan Levy, director of the mayor’s office of Neighborhood Commercial Revitalization, as saying that in fact, Detroit’s neighborhood redevelopment plans are being broadened and deepened.

The article also mentions that through Re$tore Detroit, the revitalization office’s flagship program, community organizations get technical assistance, training and funding to serve, so far, five districts.

To read the full story, click here 

"The DTE Energy Foundation grant will be used to commission detailed architectural and engineering design work for the visitor center and offices. It will be a "green" facility, employing construction and building practices that are efficient, functional and environmentally sound.

The Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge is located along the lower Detroit River and western shoreline of Lake Erie. Established in 2001, it was the first International Wildlife Refuge in North America. Islands, coastal wetlands, marshes, shoals and waterfront lands all can be found within its boundaries. U.S. Rep. John Dingell [D-Dearborn] was instrumental in creating the Refuge."

- To read the detailed story along with links to the map, click here

Crain's does a great job helping to better understand who is buying downtown and why. Check out the article.

"Enter Northern Lights Lounge. With its sophisticated, yet simple, design, it offers customers quiet refuge from a hectic day at the office."

- Read the full story here: The Detroit News