Ferndale looks into building parking garage downtown
Source: metromode, 2/26/2009
Vertical parking could be on its way to downtown Ferndale as city officials explore the possibility of building a parking deck on the southeast corner of Woodward Avenue and 9 Mile Road.
The city recently hired the parking-consultant firm Carl Walker to conduct feasibility study on building the parking deck. Ferndale wants to add about 200-250 parking spaces to downtown to accommodate immediate demand (about 150) and future growth (50-100).
The city is currently looking at building the deck on the surface parking lots on either side of the Ferndale Public Library and on the parking lots behind Woodward Avenue Brewers.
Ferndale paid Carl Walker $8,400 for the study. The Kalamazoo-based firm has designed and built a number of parking garages in the Midwest, including the Forest Avenue Garage in Ann Arbor and the Marriott deck in Grand Rapids.
Source: Robert Bruner, city manager for Ferndale
Writer: Jon Zemke
Farmington Hills gears up to build new, green City Hall
Source: metromode, 2/26/2009
Get ready for more construction in Farmington Hills this spring, this time the city itself will be doing the building.
City officials are nailing down the final details for plans to renovate City Hall this year. Construction is set to begin this spring and finish by the end of 2010.
The current City Hall is a mishmash of buildings and additions that have been cobbled together since the first 6,000-square-foot building was built in the 1950s. It currently scores a 38 on the Energy Star scale of 100.
The new City Hall would score significantly higher as the city plans to make it a gold level LEED certification. The environmentally friendly features are expected to save $9 million in energy and operation costs.
City officials have been allocating money for this project for years, so taxes won’t have to be raised to pay for the project.
Source: Gillian Pines, spokeswoman for the city of Farmington Hills
Writer: Jon Zemke
Rehab, urban redevelopment top list of real-estate trends
Source: metromode, 2/26/2009
The Top-5 real-estate and development trends for 2009 all point toward urban, sustainable and new economy.
Giffels-Webster Engineers named infrastructure rehabilitation, urban redevelopment, energy generation, life sciences and healthcare expansion/renovation as the top development movements of 2009. The Rochester Hills-based civil engineering firm annually ranks the top five hottest growth areas.
Sustainability principles also play major roles in those five sectors, ranging from green building to developing alternative energy sources.
Infrastructure Rehabilitation was named because of the need to upgrade aging infrastructure and President Obama's push to use hundreds of billions of dollars to accomplish this very goal while helping to jump start the economy.
Urban Redevelopment made the cut because retail and residential re-development opportunities already exist in urban areas where the population and infrastructure foundation are in place. Reconfiguring these facilities will be cheaper to do, and coincide with the swing toward investment in urban areas.
Energy demand continues to grow as demand for just about every other commodity declines in the economy. The emphasis to develop renewable alternative energy sources is being pushed in the public sector, paving the way for energy generation to make the list.
Research-and-development facilities for the life sciences industry are also expected to expand as the Baby Boom generation enters its golden years. This will mean much greater investment in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and diagnostics and the research space needed to further develop these sectors.
Also accompanying this trend is the expansion and renovation of healthcare facilities. The aging population and infrastructure means that hospitals and other medical care spaces will have to be renovated and expanded to keep up with demand.
Source: Giffels-Webster Engineers
Writer: Jon Zemke
Downtown Mt. Clemens adds art to retail mix
Source: metromode, 2/26/2009
Art of every kind is helping to round out the retail options in downtown Mt. Clemens. The city center's latest additions, an art gallery and tattoo parlor, help cement this idea.
Downtown Mt. Clemens has always stressed its arts credentials through loads of public art pieces throughout the city center and preservation of existing architecture. The city has also gone above and beyond to help attract and keep artistically inclined businesses, such as River of Glass, a glass blowing studio that took over an old gas station on the edge of downtown.
The latest eclectic addition is Detroit Ink, a tattoo parlor. It will also offer Made in Detroit clothing, along with tattoo art and body piercing. Body art like tattoos and piercings is considered one of the earliest forms of art. The new store is located at 62 Cherry St. Mall.
It joins the Rock Art Gallery as the newest addition to downtown Mt. Clemens. The gallery specializes in original paintings of famous rock groups to lunch boxes and alarm clocks decked with music icons. Chinese artist Haiyan is running the store that will stress the Motor City’s musical roots.
Source: Arthur Mullen, executive director of the Mt. Clemens Downtown Development Authority
Writer: Jon Zemke
Oakland County pushes new home buyer program
Source: metromode, 2/26/2009
Oakland County officials are trying to help solve the foreclosure crisis and its ripple effects by getting people to buy into it.
The county is sponsoring a new homeownership program that will hold a workshop Saturday morning in Waterford. The idea is to get low- to moderate-income families to buy some of the vacant, foreclosed homes in the county. The program hopes to help mitigate housing and blight problems while preserving local tax base.
Oakland County officials see the low prices created by the crisis as an opportunity to create new homeowners from people who weren't able to afford their own place in a more successful economy.
The county plans to make this possible with no-interest loans for down payment assistance, closing costs, home improvements or other financing for home-buyers who pre-qualify for a fixed-rate mortgage. The loan can represent at least 51 percent of the purchase price while the county will finance up to the remaining 49 percent of the purchase and rehabilitation costs up to $100,000 as long as home-buyer puts down at least $2,000.
The money to make this possible is coming from the foreclosure money provided by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program late last year. Other cities have focused this money on things like demolition while Oakland County is focusing on preserving its local building stock, a.k.a. tax base.
The workshop will be held at 9 a.m. in the Oakland County Executive Office Building Conference Center, 2100 Pontiac Lake Rd., just west of Telegraph Road. Registration is not required. For information, click here or call 248-858-1529.
Source: Oakland County
Writer: Jon Zemke
Henry Ford opens new hospital in West Bloomfield
Source: metromode, 2/26/2009
A new hospital is set to open in northern Oakland County in mid March, helping expand the health-care options in Metro Detroit.
Henry Ford Health System plans to open its new $360 million Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital on March 15. The new hospital is an addition to Henry Ford Medical Center-West Bloomfield
About 2,300 medical staff will work at the 730,000-square-foot hospital, including 500 primary care physicians and specialists. The new hospital will create 1,200 new jobs. The building is modeled after a northern Michigan lodge, featuring fieldstone and river rock. There will also be a 3-story grand atrium to welcome people.
The new hospital will also have private rooms to house up to 300 beds when it's all said and done, including a female-only floor. About 191 of those will be immediately available upon the opening. The rest will come online in 2011.
The hospital, designed by Albert Kahn Associates, is also going after LEED certification. It is incorporating several environmentally friendly features, such as a rooftop garden, energy-efficient heating and cooling systems. The hospital also plans to create walking and biking trails in the wooded area surrounding the hospital.
Source: Henry Ford Health System
Writer: Jon Zemke
Oakland U exhibit explores foot traffic in urban areas
Source: metromode, 2/26/2009
People who walk through cities experience them much more poignantly than those who simply drive through them. That idea is the thrust behind the Oakland University Art Gallery latest exhibit - CONTEMPORARY FLÂNERIE: Reconfiguring Cities.
The exhibit focuses on the perspectives of people who walk about cities and how they confront them. This pedestrian mode of transit is often the choice for tourists and potential residents of those areas. The exhibit utilizes photography, video and computer-based art mediums. It challenges those encounter it to consider how they view their urban experiences.
The exhibit opens the evening of March 7 and runs through April 12 in Oakland University's Rochester Hills campus. An opening reception will be held at 8 p.m. Saturday and a curator’s talk will take place at 2 p.m. the following day. The events and exhibit are free and open to the public.
Source: Oakland University
Writer: Jon Zemke
Wayne State Chemistry Building to be renovated, expanded
Source: Model D, 2/26/2009
Wayne State University continues the investment march toward revitalizing its urban campus in Detroit's Midtown neighborhood.
Excerpt:
DeMaria Building Company has been selected to undertake the expansion and renovation of the Wayne State University Chemistry Building. Work will begin this summer and wrap up by the end of 2010.
The scope of work includes a new building entrance, multi-purpose gathering space, 150-seat fully-wired lecture hall and office suite for the Chemistry Department Chair as well as a complete rebuild of 96,000 square feet of lab space. The university will seek LEED Silver certification for the project for its attention to green building principles.
Read the rest of the story here.
Ypsilanti's Hope Clinic consolidates with new expansion
Source: Concentrate, 2/26/2009
Hope Clinic in Ypsilanti is consolidating with its new expansion.
Excerpt:
Hope Clinic in Ypsilanti has been growing since it first opened its doors in 1982, however, that growth has been sporadic and scattered. Today it's looking to continue its expansion in one central location at a steady pace.
The organization is investing $3.15 million to add 23,500 square feet in two floors to its headquarters at 518 Harriet St. That's a big jump in space for the 3,500 square feet of the original building, which is also being renovated.
Read the rest of the story here.
Construction begins on Ann Arbor City Hall upgrade
Source: Concentrate, 2/26/2009
After more than its share of hemming and hawing, the Ann Arbor City Hall expansion is getting started on some nailing and sawing.
Excerpt:
After an awful, awful lot of debate, construction has begun on the Ann Arbor City Hall expansion project.
The $47 million expansion of the Guy C Larcom City Hall at the corner of East Huron and East Ann streets will add 102,000 square feet of space for the Ann Arbor Police Department and the 15th District Court.
Read the rest of the story here.
ITC creates alt energy infrastructure with Green Power Express
Source: metromode, 2/19/2009
Solar panels and wind turbines are the sexy part of alternative energy. What's not as attractive is creating the infrastructure to transport all that alternative energy to population centers out in the middle of nowhere.
Novi-based ITC Holdings is creating that infrastructure and investing between $10 billion and $12 billion to make it happen. ITC owns much of the electric grid not only in Michigan but in the Midwest.
The firm plans to expand the grid to, say, wind farms in the Upper Peninsula so that they link up with places like Minneapolis or Detroit. This Green Power Express will eventually transport 12,000 megawatts of renewable energy to city centers.
ITC is also working to upgrade the rapidly aging grid. Such upgrades are expected to help make the system more efficient, conserving lots of energy that is currently lost in transport.
Source: ITC Holdings
Writer: Jon Zemke
Downtown Ferndale investment jumps 299 percent
Source: metromode, 2/19/2009
Conventional wisdom says that 2008 was one of those years that will live in infamy as far as business goes. Not so for downtown Ferndale.
Investment in the city center jumped to $20 million in 2008 compared to $5 million a year before, representing an increase of 299 percent. That translated to 26 new businesses and a net increase of 225 jobs.
The investment came in a combination of new construction and renovation of existing buildings. The recently finished Lofts on the 9 brought in $9 million while the renovation of the old Ferndale Schools administration building into the new offices of Foley Mansfield brought in another $5 million.
Other smaller renovations helped bump up the amount invested into downtown Ferndale. Long-awaited The Loving Touch and the new downtown home of Blumz by JR Designs are two of the more significant ones. In all 28 buildings were rehabbed, a jump of 40 percent from 2007.
Source: Ferndale Downtown Development Authority
Writer: Jon Zemke
BAE Systems builds new campus in Sterling Heights
Source: metromode, 2/19/2009
The construction workers have just begun gearing up for demolition in Sterling Heights to make room for BAE Systems new campus.
The military-based firm is taking over the old TRW site on the 32400 block of Van Dyke and turning it into its new engineering campus. The expansion is expected to create 460 new jobs thanks to an investment of $44 million in the 81-acre property.
The Michigan Economic Growth Authority approved $1.4 million in loans to make the creation of the new tech center possible. The center will concentrate on the land and armaments projects.
BAE Systems builds the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, M113 Armored Personnel Carrier, the Valanx, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles and a number of other ground vehicles for the U.S. Army.
General Dynamics has traditionally been the main defense contractor in Sterling Heights. However, a number of other defense contractors have set up shop in Sterling Heights in recent years, creating hundreds of engineering jobs in the process.
Source: Steve Guitar, director of the Community Relations Department for the city of Sterling Heights and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation
Writer: Jon Zemke
Lawrence Tech microenterprise conference set for today
Source: metromode, 2/19/2009
Attracting big business garners big headlines, but Lawrence Technological University is stressing that there is more to creating a sustainable local economy than the General Motors and Quicken Loans of the world.
That's the idea behind its second statewide conference, "Microenterprise: Moving Forward in Michigan," which is set to kick off today. The premise is that giving lower- to middle-class workers the means to support themselves breathes life into the larger business environment.
Microenterprise is a proven economic development tool that provides income-generation for people at the lower end of the income scale. Providing these people with start-up capital or a place to open their own business are key components to helping develop successful small businesses, or microenterprises. Often all they need is a push in the right direction.
Lawrence Tech's Center for Nonprofit Management, the University and Michigan and LISC are among the major institutions working on such strategies for microentreprises.
The conference will be held at Lawrence Tech's Southfield campus, 21000 West Ten Mile Road, between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. The event costs $20 to attend and comes with complimentary breakfast and lunch. For information, click here, send an email to nonprofitcenter@ltu.edu or call (248) 204-3095.
Source: Lawrence Technological University
Writer: Jon Zemke
Macomb County pushes manufactures to go after alt energy
Source: metromode, 2/19/2009
There's green building and then there's building green. Macomb County officials are trying to get local manufacturers to do both at its latest workshop,
"Alternative Energy Manufacturing 101".
Held this Friday, the conference will focus on wind, solar and new electric technology industries and how local manufacturers can take advantage of them. Doing so can include both incorporating the products from those industries in their facilities or using those facilities to build those products.
The idea is that doing either, or both, factories will become more sustainable environmentally and economically, while also diversifying their client base. Those attending can speak to businesses that have already implemented green thinking, among other activities that will point them in the right direction.
The workshop will go between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the Macomb Intermediate School District Educational Service Center, 44001 Garfield Road in Clinton Township. It costs $50 to attend and includes a complimentary breakfast and lunch. For information, click here or call (586) 469-5285.
Source: Macomb County
Writer: Jon Zemke
Warren rethinks community dev in wake of real-estate crisis
Source: metromode, 2/19/2009
Where does real-estate go from here? The call of the Chicken Little crowd is down, down, down. But some people in Macomb County are trying to figure out how to take the current crisis out of, well, crisis mode.
People from a handful of large institutions, locally and abroad, are putting their heads together to figure out pragmatic approaches to turning the crisis of foreclosures and the credit crunch into sustainable projects. And they're doing this weekend in Warren at a presntation by ARCHIS, entitled, After The Crisis.
ARCHIS is an experimental think tank devoted to the process of real-time spatial and cultural reflexivity and action. The Netherlands Architecture Institute has one of the world's most important collections of archives of architecture and urban planning. Also among the organizations participating in the event are Abitare, Netherlands Architecture Institute and the College of Architecture and Design at Lawrence Technological University.
Those attending the event will use Warren's neighborhoods --with the highest rate of foreclosure-- as real-life examples of what can be done. They will come up with ways to not only stabilize these places but creating a long-term vision for them.
The idea is to help create a plan for future suburban development. It will also produce ways to infuse new energy into places desperate for change.
Abitare is a magazine that focuses on contemporary architecture, design and the visual arts. Lawrence Tech's College of Architecture and Design, is one the 30 oldest schools of architecture in the U.S.
For information, send an email to Macomb County Commissioner Toni Moceri at tonimoceri@gmail.com.
Source: Toni Moceri, commissioner for Macomb County
Writer: Jon Zemke
Forest Arms Apartments to get new lease on life
Source: Model D, 2/19/2009
Another of Detroit's grand, historic apartment buildings is set to be renovated.
Excerpt:
After a tragic fire decimated the Forest Arms Apartments last year, one could be forgiven for assuming that its future held nothing but a wrecking ball. Luckily, Midtown developer Scott Lowell has purchased the building and plans to completely rehab it.
The five-story building, located at Second and Forest, has 74 small residential units, all one-bedrooms and studios. "There's a market for that," says Lowell.
Read the rest of the story here.
Jackson asks for westward extension of Detroit-Ann Arbor line
Source: Concentrate, 2/19/2009
It seems like everyone wants to get in on the Detroit-Ann Arbor commuter rail project, including Jackson.
Excerpt:
It's easy to make the southeast Michigan connection when thinking about Detroit and Ann Arbor, but Jackson?
Most people wouldn't consider the birthplace of the Republican Party part of the Metro Detroit mix, but Jackson's leaders are lobbying to be let into the game by including it in one of the region's marquee projects - the Detroit-Ann Arbor commuter rail line.
Currently the project's first phase, set to become a reality in the fall of 2010, stretches between Ann Arbor and Detroit with stops at Ypsilanti, Metro Airport and Dearborn. That's it for now, according to Carmine Palombo, director of transportation programs for the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, which is spearheading the project.
He added there is talk of extending the line north into Oakland County with stops at Royal Oak, Birmingham/Troy and Pontiac as part of a second phase. SEMCOG is also looking at utilizing Jackson's rail yard as a base for the line, but extending the line to downtown Jackson isn't in the cards, at least not for the project's first phase.
Read the rest of the story here.
Ypsilanti to revamp historic elementary schools into commercial space
Source: Concentrate, 2/19/2009
Schoolpictures.com is getting green lights galore with its Ypsilanti expansion.
Excerpt:
The last pieces of the Schoolpictures.com project in Ypsilanti are starting to fall into place.
State bureaucrats are giving the development a thumps up while construction workers hurry to finish the project. The Michigan Economic Growth Authority recently approved $86,800 in tax incentives for the $2.8 million project.
Read the rest of the story here.