Open it, and they will come. Investors, neighbors and entrepreneurs say that businesses in Detroit’s oldest neighborhood need not worry about customer loyalty: Corktown residents are proud of their neighborhood and eagerly support its businesses.
“From Slows alone, that really showed through,” says Ryan Cooley, owner of Corktown-based O’Connor Real Estate and Development. His brother Phil Cooley opened the Michigan Avenue barbecue hot spot last year. “There’s not one person in the neighborhood who wasn’t asking, ‘When are you guys going to open?’”
In recent years, the neighborhood just west of Downtown has seen an influx of new restaurants and places to live. High-end lofts — like the revamped Grinnell Piano Warehouse and Sixth Street Lofts — and trendy bars and eateries — like Slows, Brooklyn Café and Baile Corcaigh — have moved into Corktown, whose population is one of the most stable and diverse in the city. Just off Michigan Avenue, the historic district features rows of immaculately restored Victorian-era houses. The neighborhood’s full of dedicated residents, many of whom have roots that go back several generations.
Corktown has faced its share of challenges, but for the most part it has met them head-on. The new development is generating energy, attracting new investors and making Corktown a destination in its own right.
The Soho of Detroit?
Some have called Corktown “the Soho of Detroit.” That’s fitting, sort of — if you are thinking of early ’80s Soho, when it was still a hotbed for underground art and music, and not the trendy, chichi, high-end neighborhood it’s become today.
Corktown definitely has its own feel, says Phil Cooley of Slows. “I love it here. It’s unlike any other city,” says Cooley. “Soho was interesting in the ’80s because New York was interesting. It was a cool place because of the people who were there. If this becomes Soho (as it is now), I’ll be long gone. That’s a bit expensive and boring.”
Detroit restaurateur John Lopez (formerly of Atlas, Agave and Union Street) says Corktown’s allure is the lifestyle it offers — urban living in a tight-knit, established neighborhood, with cool places to eat, drink and hang out all in walking distance. “We’re looking at trying to offer a lifestyle,” says Lopez, who is opening the Mercury coffee shop and wine bar downstairs from his Corktown residence on Michigan Avenue, across the street from Slows. “The thing about Corktown that is going to differentiate it is that it’s going to have an aesthetic and a sophistication about it that you’re not going to see around the city.”
Lopez, who also recently resurrected popular Twingo’s in Midtown, also plans to put an Indian/Mexican fusion restaurant around the corner on 14th Street in the Roosevelt Place lofts — a 32-unit project expected to be complete next year. With another bar planned for a space next to Slows and longtime favorite L.J.’s on the same block, the area is cementing its position as a destination for dining and nightlife.
Neighborhood feel
But it’s not just an entertainment district. Corktown is a strong community, with one of the most economically stable and racially diverse neighborhoods in the city. Residents boast of its rising housing values, great schools (including Burton International and Cass Tech, two jewels in the city’s system), and safe, walkable streets. Corktown’s location — situated on two freeways on the Southwest side of the city — puts it right next to Mexicantown’s vibrant restaurant and cultural scene; within a quick drive to Midtown’s museums, university and hospitals; a stone’s throw from Downtown offices; and right near the booming neighborhoods in Southwest Detroit.
That’s part of Corktown’s allure, says Mark Wilcox, the developer of Roosevelt Place who also converted the 36-unit Grinnell Place lofts. That development has attracted a diverse array of residents, he says, including a principle partner in a law firm, bankers, a secret service agent and basketball player in Europe. There are the expected young single professionals, he says, but empty nesters are moving in, too.
Corktown’s neighborhood feel, proximity to downtown and inherent diversity make it an attractive place for a variety of people, and therefore an attractive place to invest, he says.
“It just has more of a neighborhood feel, more so than any other area in Detroit,” Wilcox says. “And it has an inherent diversity where other neighborhoods don’t.”
Wilcox says there aren’t many opportunities left for loft conversions like his in the historic district, but there is more opportunity around the perimeter of Corktown. And, he says, “there’s a lot of people spending money on single family homes.”
Big fish, small pond
Corktown resident and longtime neighborhood supporter Kelli Kavanaugh says there is a pent-up demand for new businesses — especially retail — in the neighborhood. “There’s a strong market,” she says. “You really feel like there is room for you. You go to Chicago or New York, and you don’t get that feeling.” If a restaurant like Slows Bar BQ or the new Baile Corcaigh pub was to open in one of those cities, or even in some of Detroit’s suburbs, it wouldn’t make as big of a splash as Corktown’s new establishments have.
Ray Formosa agrees. He grew up in the neighborhood and recently bought Brooks Hardware and Lumber, a more than 100-year-old full-service hardware store and lumber yard across the street from the old Tiger Stadium. He’s worked there for 28 years, and says many of his customers are nearby residents who come faithfully for advice and tools for renovating and maintaining their homes. Formosa says he’s investing in Corktown in part because it’s a place where you can easily make your mark.
“It’s like that old expression, you’d rather be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond,” Formosa says.
When he told people he was buying Brooks Lumber, Formosa says he had his share of naysayers, but he knows something of Corktown’s tenacity. A lot of people in Corktown have invested a lot of money and labor fixing up their homes, and so they are very dedicated to keeping the neighborhood vibrant, he says.
Formosa says he’s watched over the past 15 years as the business climate has improved, even after the Tigers moved their baseball games to Comerica Park. “Everyone says it’s a big risk and blah, blah, but I’m putting my money where my mouth is,” he says. “People only look at property values and that type of thing, but I look at quality of life.”
Opportunities and improvements
While many new business owners say it’s not easy to get banks on board for their projects, they say the climate appears to be changing, especially as more businesses are established.
Lopez and other business owners praise the Greater Corktown Development Corp. for its support of their efforts. The community development corporation not only has resources for new businesses, but they’ve helped spearhead a streetscaping project along Michigan Avenue, the main drag in Corktown, to make the area friendlier for pedestrians, parking and bikes. The project has attracted state grants from the Michigan Department of Transportation and the Cool Cities initiative. So far, there have been new trees planted and new lighting put in place, as well as new brick paver sidewalks.
“Aesthetically that will have a great impact,” Wilcox says.
The city also has given the stretch a “traditional main street” designation that’s made room for zoning changes to allow for things like apartments over businesses, bringing more residents within easy walking distance to Michigan Avenue.
Across I-75, the North Corktown area has been getting a face-lift, too. The Greater Corktown folks are building 30 homes there, bringing more residents and adding stability to the neighborhood. The project will include public art and pocket parks, too.
‘Strength in numbers’
Corktown still has its challenges. There are two big question marks looming — literally — over the landscape of cool bars, Irish pubs, trendy eateries, historic homes and new lofts. Until “something” is decided about the fate of the vacant stadium (and rumors are constantly flying about what that “something” might be), many of the owners of vacant properties that once served as parking lots for Tiger games are happy to sit on their land. And the beautiful, enormous, decaying structure of the Michigan Central Station sits on the Western edge of Corktown, like a reminder that there’s still work to be done to fully revitalize the near Southwest corner of the city.
And yet, Corktown is teeming with potential. Residents like Jim Brunell, who have spent untold dollars renovating their gorgeous historic homes, say the area is screaming for shopping. Formosa says that adding small retail like gift shops, boutiques, record shops or florists would give the neighborhood “that small city feel,” like a Royal Oak. And there’s also room for practical amenities like grocery stores and pharmacies, businesses that could also cater to the office workers who frequent the district for weekday lunches.
Phil Cooley says potential business owners should be prepared to deal with headaches and red tape navigating the city bureaucracy, but Slows success has exceeded his expectations. “It was really worth it for me,” he says.
He advises entrepreneurs to be organized and prepared going in. “Plan on as much time as you can and as the banks will allow. If you prepare for it, there’s a lot of stuff you can get done before the money’s in place,” he says.
Formosa says that the business owners are very supportive of one another and newcomers. Just like residents who swap contractors’ numbers and renovation tips over the fences in Corktown’s neighborhoods, business owners are willing to help each other navigate the city departments and the challenges of rehabbing old structures. “Detroit is a tough retail market,” he says. “It’s not easy, but there’s strength in numbers.”
Phil Cooley says established entrepreneurs are happy to assist newcomers. “People have a passion for the city and they want to see it thrive,” he says. “It’s not about you as an individual and competition here. It’s about creating a critical mass. I want to see more businesses open regardless if they are my neighbor or in another neighborhood.”
And Corktown’s numbers are growing. Just look at Slows — packed to the gills on almost any given night — and you can’t help but see the neighborhood’s potential, and recognize how far it’s come. Or sit at L.J.’s bar on Wednesday night, and listen in as local developers and business owners gather, unofficially, to talk shop.
Ryan Cooley says Corktown’s future is bright. “I think it will be the thriving neighborhood for the city. It will be a destination place. That’s really where it could go from here.”
For more information about Corktown visit the Model D
-
Moving Guide-
Visiting Guide
Interior of the new Grinnell Lofts on Michigan Avenue
O'Connor Development
Slows at Michigan and 14th Streets
Baile Corcaigh
Victorian Home in Corktown
Grinnell Loft Interior
Brooks Lumber
Victorian Home in Corktown
Tom Rudd Fish Sculpture in one of North Corktown's Pocket Parks
New Homes in North Corktown
Artists Lofts in 2000 Brooklyn
All Photographs Copyright Dave Krieger