More creativity continues to sprout from Hamtramck.

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Artists Faina Lerman and Graem Whyte purchased a former packing plant on the north end of Hamtramck. They have renovated it into their home and studio space as well as an occasional gallery. This past Saturday, as part of Art Detroit Now, Popps Packing held its grand opening with a showcase of several Hamtramck artists.

Whyte launched This Week in Art at Motor City Brewing Works in 2004. He said the couple, while not exactly dreaming of opening a gallery one day, saw an opportunity and ran with it. "We're going to play it by ear," he says. "We'll probably host quarterly open houses and see what happens."

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Hamtramck is turning the negative of its vacant, foreclosed, and sometimes blighted homes into a positive by pushing for their rehabilitation as the most efficient and cost-effective way of dealing with the problem.

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The City of Hamtramck is seeking a qualified developer to rehabilitate 30 homes in the city that will then be sold to qualified buyers. These 30 units will be applied to the requirements of the lawsuit Garret, et al vs. City of Hamtramck, which came about when the development of I-75 displaced residents, primarily African-Americans, from Hamtramck. The case was settled in 1981; of the original 153 housing units called for, just 39 remain after this batch of 30.

The city is currently reviewing responses to the request for proposals recently issued for 35 units of rental housing. Thirteen foreclosed homes with 20 units of housing have recently been acquired from Wayne County. The rental project will have first dibs on these houses, says Jason Friedmann, Hamtramck's community and economic development director, but any remaining could be considered for this development. Otherwise, the developer will be responsible for site identification, although research on many of the city's foreclosed and vacant properties is available.

Rehab, rather than new construction, is being pursued to fulfill the terms of the lawsuit for one reason: cost. "We were building new homes and it was costing too much," says Freidmann. "We can offer a much more affordable home this way."

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The words green demolition would seem mutually exclusive at first glance, but Wayne County will take a stab at making them a reality this year.

It is preparing to start a pilot program that calls for the deconstruction and recycling of abandoned homes instead of the normal process of bulldozing them and dumping what's left into a landfill or the Detroit incinerator. The new program trains people how to deconstruct these homes to their foundations, recycling the details, metal, and wood everywhere from scrap yards to architectural warehouses. The foundations will then be dug up and recycled.

"We hope to hit the ground running within 60 days," says Jill Ferrari, senior executive project manager for Wayne County, who is overseeing the program and supervising its use of federal neighborhood stabilization funds.

The county has been awarded $25.9 million to buy, rehab and demolish foreclosed structures. It recently received the first $3.9 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Source: Jill Ferrari, senior executive project manager for Wayne County
Writer: Jon Zemke

The end of Detroit's Dequindre Cut is about to become the Hamtramck Trail.

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There is renewed life in the creation of the Hamtramck Trail, which will eventually connect the Dequindre Cut to downtown Hamtramck, Veteran's Memorial Park, and up Gallagher beyond the city limits.

The non-profit Preserve Our Parks received $96,000 from the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan's Greenways Initiative back in 2006 to spearhead the development of bike and pedestrian amenities in Hamtramck. The funds were used to plan a trail network and develop construction drawings. The group lost a bit of steam in the last couple of years, but now, new members are working with existing ones to reinvigorate efforts and raise money for construction.

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People's Community Services has built a library at its Hamtramck community center aimed at keeping kids busy while their parents are waiting for various service appointments at the facility. The library is patterned after a similar amenity the organization built a few years back at its Delray center in Southwest Detroit.

While the first library was funded by Daimler Chrysler, this one was funded by Aramark, the international food service corporation. They first held a book drive and then, with City Year as a partner, painted the entire community center and stained, assembled and installed shelves and organized the 3,000 books. Approximately 170 total volunteers contributed time to the project.

PCS executive director Tom Cervenak estimates that the value of the work and the books at more than $20,000 and says that the library is already extremely popular with his clients.

PCS' Hamtramck site is located at 8625 Jos. Campau and is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Source: Tom Cervenak, PCS
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

A new "world coffeehouse" has opened on Joseph Campau in Hamtramck, bringing art, music, tapas and an extensive wine list to the city.

With eight trail networks under development across the city, Detroit cyclists and pedestrians have just netted an advocate in Todd Scott, the new Detroit greenways coordinator at the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance.

Retail is lacking in many ways in Detroit, but the Model D series D-Biz aims to showcase the unique independent businesses that make the city the unique place that it is.