The Fifth Royal Oak is now full, from top to bottom, and all of its doors will be open by mid-July.

The iconic tower on Washington Street near the Royal Oak Music Theatre has either sold or leased all of its residential and commercial space. Jimmy Pallazolo has leased 4,200 square feet of space for his salon, a 20-year-old institution in downtown. It is expected to open by July 10.

The rest of the 78 residences in the 18-story high-rise are now occupied and the fitness room for the residents is set to open on July 10, too. Even though The Fifth Royal Oak started out as a for-sale development, the plummeting real-estate market forced the developer to include rentals and now it is mostly filled with renters.

"That's really where the market is today," says John Hanna, co-developer of The Fifth Royal Oak. "The lease market is pretty hot."

One of the swankiest developments in downtown Royal Oak, this city landmark is also one of its tallest buildings and offers some of the most luxurious high-rise living spaces in Metro Detroit. The Fifth Royal oak offers dramatic views that sweep across southeast Michigan.

The residential units start at the seventh floor and continue to the top. All of the homes feature amenities, such as floor-to-ceiling windows and inset balconies. The condos vary between one, two and three rooms. The second through sixth floors are dedicated to parking. Each unit comes with a heated, indoor parking space.

The project is being spearheaded by Michigan developers John and Jack Hanna of Chrysos Development & Management Co. For information, call (248) 591-5432.

Source: John Hanna, co-developer of The Fifth Royal Oak
Writer: Jon Zemke

More living options are coming to the center of the city of Birmingham. Bingham Farms-based Hughes Properties is proposing to build almost 100 apartments in an urban building at the northern edge of the city's Triangle District.

The site is the old Hamilton Funeral Home on the southeast corner of Maple Road and Elm Street. The developer wants to level the existing suburban-style structure and parking lot so it can construct an urban style apartment building on the 1.8 acres. The 4-story dwelling will be shaped like an L and feature 96 apartments, including some live-work units.

Hughes Properties originally proposed building the 100-condo The Regency at Elm on the site in 2007. That development, geared toward senior citizens, also included space for a restaurant, offices and other residential amenities. The for-sale condo project floundered with the housing market.

It's not known whether the new project will also be geared toward senior citizens. Attempts to reach Hughes Properties for comment on the new plans proved unsuccessful.

Source: City of Birmingham
Writer: Jon Zemke

One of Dearborn's architectural gems is about to welcome a bit of new life - a new welcome center.

The city is investing $175,000 to turn the ground floor of the Bryant Library branch into a welcome center, community conference room and new home for the Dearborn Chamber of Commerce.

The building will be completely redone; however, crews are saving the baseboard and trim around the windows so a fresh coat of varnish can be added. Work is expected to wrap up by the end of July.

"Some of the final touches are being done with the woodwork," says Cindy Grimwade, project manager for the Bryant Library renovation.

The first floor of the circa-1924 building has been vacant and generally unused for years. The renovation, funded by the state's Cool Cities program, is expected to help breathe more life into the corner of Michigan Avenue and Mason Street. The library branch will continue to operate on the second floor of the building.

Source: Cindy Grimwade, project manager for the Bryant Library renovation
Writer: Jon Zemke

Rochester is taking the first steps in a long journey toward creating a new park on the city's south side.

The Planning Commission expects to begin forming zoning for parks, recreation, and open space at its July 8 meeting. This would allow the city to switch the zoning of its old wastewater treatment plants from industrial to the new classification, clearing the way to create a park there.

"In our master plan it's listed as a prime location for a park, recreation or open space," says Jaymes Vettraino, city manager for Rochester.

The site, which is several acres in size, housed the city's wastewater treatment plant for several decades until the mid 1990s, when it was decommissioned. Most of its buildings and tanks have either been razed or filled in. One building remains and is used by the fire department as a training and record storage facility.

The rest of the area is open space. It's also near the Clinton River and the Clinton River Trail.

Source: Jaymes Vettraino, city manager for Rochester
Writer: Jon Zemke

The Night Move is no longer singular. The popular weekend express shuttle between some of Metro Detroit's most vibrant downtowns now has a companion shuttle called The Loop.

The Night Move goes between downtown Royal Oak, Ferndale and Detroit on Fridays and Saturdays. The Loop will focus on moving between hot spots in Detroit's downtown and Midtown neighborhoods on Friday and Saturday nights.

The Loop will stop at the Town Pump Tavern/Centaur, Bookies Bar and Grill, Greektown, Wayne State, Traffic Jam and Snug and MGM Grand between 6 p.m. and 3 a.m. It costs $5 for an all-night pass.

"We'd like to eventually run this bus for free," says Jennifer Harlan, marketing director for The Night Move, adding that accomplishing that requires more sponsorships from area establishments. "That's the end goal."

The Night Move runs on biodiesel and is owned by Chris Ramos.

Source: Jennifer Harlan, marketing director for The Night Move
Writer: Jon Zemke

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 Birmingham Historic District Commission's Awards recognized some of downtown's biggest recent projects, including the renovation and expansion of the Briggs Building and 203 Pierce, the home of Toast restaurant.

These are the sorts of projects where the developer choose to repurpose old structures into something newer and better. Too often Metro Detroit businesses looking for new or more space choose to raze and build anew. It's a far from sustainable practice. The owners of these two buildings went down a different path, especially the Briggs Building developer.

"They actually took a look at that and said, 'We need more space but we have a great building,'" says Sheila Bashiri, city planner for Birmingham. "They basically recycled the building."

Ted Fuller's company breathed new life into the historic structure at the corner of Old Woodward Avenue and Maple Road by adding a third floor and filling in an adjacent parking lot with a 5-story addition.

The overall project, which is fully leased, adds 62,000 square feet of space and 175 parking spots. Approximately 42,000 square feet is dedicated to Class A office space, 10,000 square feet is set aside for retail and the remainder is luxury apartments. A parking deck is behind the building.

The original Briggs Building was built as a 2-story office/retail building in 1930. The adjacent lot served as a surface parking lot for decades.

Source: Sheila Bashiri, city planner for Birmingham
Writer: Jon Zemke

Art is more than something people look at in Detroit. It's part of the Motor City's Midtown neighborhood brand.

Excerpt:

University Cultural Center Association has teamed with Lovio George to create a comprehensive district brand for Midtown.

Meeting with stakeholders, visitors, and business owners led the branding team down a path that works to emphasize the cohesiveness of the neighborhood -- and what makes it unique. "We got a sense of what core values [are here], what makes Midtown different than anywhere in the region, or anywhere in Detroit, for that matter," says Jim Boyle, vice president of integrated marketing for Lovio George. "We are developing a language for how Midtown talks about itself -- the major message is 'Where Life is Art.'"

Read the rest of the story here.

McKinley remakes a prominent section of Liberty Street in downtown Ann Arbor in its own vision.

Excerpt:

The face of Liberty Street continues to change as McKinley begins to wrap up the renovation of the old National City Bank branch next to the Michigan Theater.

"We're closing up the street this week," says Frances Todoro-Hargreaves, commercial portfolio manager in charge of the project with McKinley. "We should finalize the project by July 10."

Read the rest of the story here.

The construction never stops at the University of Michigan.

Excerpt:

Another round of construction stimulus is coming to the University of Michigan thanks to its Board of Regents.

The Board approved spending nearly $6 million on a new soccer stadium, demolition of the Kresge Complex and additions to the Engineering Programs Building and the George Granger Brown Memorial Laboratories.

Read the rest of the story here.

If you hear a big banging noise on the east side of Dearborn, don't worry. That's the sound of progress.

Specifically, it's the sound of pile driving for the Dearborn Town Center's parking garage. Workers are taking soil samples with the idea of starting work on the parking deck by August. Work has begun on the actual office building at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Schaefer Road.

"They are literally starting to break ground right now," says Mary Laundroche, director of Dearborn's Department of Public Information.

The 162,000-square-foot mixed-use building will serve as the home for offices and ground floor retail. Oakwood Healthcare System and Midwest Health Services will employ about 500 people in 154,000 square feet in the center of east Dearborn's downtown. There will also be 8,000 square feet of ground floor retail space.

A 530-car public parking garage will rise behind the building. Redico, the developer, is also looking at building 22,000 square feet of retail space in front of the Schafer side of the garage if it can get it leased before construction is done. Plans for senior housing behind the garage are still being considered for a future phase of the project.

Work began earlier this spring and is expected to finish by the end of 2010.

The Dearborn Town Center replaces the circa-1937 Montgomery Ward department store that was recently demolished. The 93,000-square-foot space became vacant when Montgomery Ward went belly-up in 2001. Southfield-based Redico, the developer, originally planned to reuse much of the building in the redevelopment but decided against it after complications were discovered, such as a lack of space between floors and small windows.

Source: Mary Laundroche, director of Dearborn's Department of Public Information,
Writer: Jon Zemke

For all of you Birkenstock-wearing, tree-hugging hippies out there, forget about what you know about Michigan International Speedway. Forget about what nasty stuff comes out of those cars flying around the track. Forget about the stereotypical NASCAR fan. Focus on the $17 million green renovation MIS just underwent and all of the sustainable features and practices that come with it.

"That's one of the great things about that is it brings attention to green initiatives," says Roger Curtis, president of Michigan International Speedway. "It does go against the conventional wisdom."

MIS is adding 8,000 square feet of solar panels (provided by Auburn Hills-based Uni-Solar) on its 31 suites and media center. Those panels are expected to produce 70,000 kilowatts per hour of alternative energy that will be utilized by MIS, making it one of the largest producers of alternative energy in U.S. sports. MIS also has a recycling program and plans to add wind power next year.

This might seem like lipstick on a pig to the stereotypical lefty environmentalist, but Curtis says that there is less of a difference between those people and NASCAR fans than commonly meets the eye. He points out that a large cross section of NASCAR fans are conservationists in the Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir tradition who care deeply about the environment and doing the right thing.

"They might now wear a name tag that says I am an environmentalist but they are hunters, campers and rafters," Curtis says.

For example, he says that MIS started a recycling program last year but only in the the grandstand area. It left the campground area out of the equation at first, but people started demanding recycling options, too, almost immediately. Recycling is now offered throughout MIS.

"You have to start somewhere," Curtis says.

Source: Roger Curtis, president of Michigan International Speedway
Writer: Jon Zemke

Downtown may be the center of the city of Ferndale, but city officials are working to help spread some of the love, errr… spotlight to other business centers in the city.

One of the first is the Hilton Street corridor on the city's east side. Local stakeholders in the neighborhood approached the city about bringing more attention to the area and its growing businesses.

"We want to create something that will attract attention to that side of town," says Jennifer Roosenberg, executive director of the Ferndale Chamber of Commerce.

That could range from something like a foot race or even a type of fair. The hope is that highlighting this section of town will encourage more investment in it, such as improved parking and more business creation. That way everything in the public eye in Ferndale won't be so downtown centric.

For information on the new Hilton Corridor Committee, call Roosenberg at (248) 542-2160.

Source: Jennifer Roosenberg, executive director of Ferndale Chamber of Commerce
Writer: Jon Zemke

Habitat for Humanity of Oakland County plans to build or rehab about a dozen homes this year as sustainably as possible, but without LEED certification, and that's a good thing.

The local chapter is building four infill houses now and plans to construct two more as part of its Businesses Build Hope campaign later this summer. It's also rehabbing five homes. All of them are in Pontiac and exhibit a broad range of sustainable features, such as reusing existing buildings.

"We have committed that all of our buildings will be up to this level of sustainability," says Sally LePla, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Oakland County.

That level is the one established by the Michigan Green Building Standards, as opposed to navigating the expensive LEED certification process. The Michigan Green Building Standards are similar to the LEED levels, but much cheaper to attain.

That doesn't mean Habitat for Humanity of Oakland County is shrugging off LEED. It built two houses that attained platinum certification last year and plans to keep building either at that level or something close for the foreseeable future.

Source: Sally LePla, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Oakland County
Writer: Jon Zemke

Car salesmen aren't exactly thought of as environmentalists, but the folks at LaFontaine Automotive Group are turning that piece of conventional wisdom on its head.

The Highland-based firm just opened a new dealership that has been certified LEED gold, the second highest level LEED certification available. The 63,000-square-foot facility cost $15 million to build with a slew of green feathers in its hat.

Those include a special car wash system that recycles 85 percent of the water. Indigenous plants that require less water, provided by a roof storm water retention system, were used for landscaping. The big-ticket green item is a geothermal heating and cooling system that clocks in at $600,000, but is expected to dramatically cut heating and cooling costs.

There are also other smaller green features like low-flush toilets, energy-efficient lighting, and 85 skylights. Most of the dealership was built with recycled content. There is even a windmill that provides power for the irrigation pump. All in all, the green features are expected to cut energy consumption costs in half.

Source: LaFontaine Automotive Group
Writer: Jon Zemke

Main Street Oakland County is bringing in a big gun to help keep the investment in its downtowns going - the American Institute of Architects Michigan.

The renowned association for architects is helping Oakland County with issues vital to vibrant city centers, such as sustainability, revitalization, and preservation. AIA Michigan members will provide advice about how to best take advantage of tools and opportunities that spur growth and development.

"The idea is to help businesses understand what is going on," says Ron Campbell, principal planner/preservation architect of Oakland County and president of AIA Michigan.

The first workshop will be held Friday, June 19 and will focus on dealing with and taking advantage of today's economic situation. It will also take a macro view of development in downtowns, including how to find the best design and identify financing.

The downtowns present opportunities for all sizes of projects and firms," Campbell says.

The workshop will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Oakland County Executive Office Building Conference Center, 2100 Pontiac Lake Road, west of Telegraph Road, in Waterford. Architects, planners, preservationists, Main Street staffers, developers, business and building owners, community officials, and downtown stakeholders and activists are invited. For information, click here.

Source: Ron Campbell, principal planner/preservation architect of Oakland County and president of AIA Michigan
Writer: Jon Zemke

Wayne County is raking in the awards for its economic development agencies and programs. Eight of those programs received achievement awards from the National Association of Counties.

Innovative county government programs that promote quality, efficient and responsive management and administration from across the country were recognized. Wayne County was recognized for a number of its economic development programs, such as the Land Bank and Mortgage Foreclosure Prevention Program.

"Revitalizing our neighborhoods requires that we work with organizations that are the most connected to their community and neighborhood," said Turkia Awada Mullin, Director of Wayne County’s Economic Growth & Development Engine. "(Our) staff and the Wayne County Land Bank, along with the County’s Mortgage Foreclosure Prevention program, are working together to develop a holistic approach to protecting and strengthening our neighborhoods."

The National Association of Counties has been around since 1930 and represents about 2,000 counties across the U.S.

Source: Turkia Awada Mullin, Director of  Wayne County’s Economic Growth & Development Engine and Wayne County
Writer: Jon Zemke

The state is investing in upgrading one of its most significant buildings.

Excerpt:

The State of Michigan has invested $7 million into New Center's Cadillac Place. The improvements run the gamut, from boiler and elevator upgrades to flooring and facade repairs. The work was funded through maintenance allowances in the state's lease agreement.

Additionally, employees from three departments -- Department of Human Services, Department of Labor and Economic Growth and Gaming Control Board -- have been consolidated into Cadillac Place. These moves increased the total number of employees in the building from 1,650 to more than 1,800.

Read the rest of the story here.

The Near North development is nearly through the planning stages, but it took another step forward this week in Ann Arbor.

Excerpt:

The Near North development continues its climb up the Ann Arbor development food chain as it makes it way through the city's Planning Commission.

Avalon Housing and the Three Oaks Group want to build a 38-unit apartment building on Main Street, just south of Summit Street. The 4-story mixed-use structure would also include space for ground floor retail. A small park would go at the southeast corner of Main and Summit where the Summit Party Store currently stands; however, the city hasn't agreed to maintain a park there, yet.

Read the rest of the story here.

City Place is still trying to find its place in downtown Ann Arbor.

Excerpt:

It's difficult to describe the City Place development without rolling your eyes, scratching your head or just throwing up your arms and walking away.

That's what the Ann Arbor City Council did Monday night, sending the controversial project back to the Planning Commission for further review and public comment. The latest reason for delay – errors in the documents.

The development has been kicked around and reshaped in a number of different ways. The latest version calls for a suburban-style apartment building with no sustainable features on the edge of downtown. Ann Arbor builders plan to tear down seven historic homes, including one of the city's oldest, along Fifth Avenue just north of Packard to make way for the project.

Read the rest of the story here.