Downtown Howell and
Downtown Plymouth have quite a bit in common at first blush. Both are established boutique shopping destinations populated by locally owned businesses in well-kept historic buildings. Both are cities of about 9,000 residents; both are known for hosting large, family-friendly events. In general, both Howell and Plymouth are known in their respective counties as having down-right adorable, vibrant downtowns.
They're also both actively growing. Specifically, both have or recently had high-impact, mixed-use redevelopment projects taking shape in their communities. But for all the two downtowns have in common, the two projects came about in very different ways, illustrating two distinctive approaches to downtown development.
Heart of Howell
"I get chill-bumps just talking about it," says Howell developer Joe Parker. "We have commitments - not leases - but commitments for 100 percent of the space"
The development dubbed, "The Heart of Howell" is locally recognized for the name of the business Parker is developing on the entire second floor of a three-story, 15,000-square foot set of three consecutive buildings: a co-working facility called
Frontal Lobe.
In a time when incubators and co-working facilities are the envy of all commercial centers, downtowns and otherwise, Howell finds itself uniquely suited to the innovative business model. A 30- to 40-minute drive from Lansing, Ann Arbor, Flint and several Metro Detroit cities, the city is the home to a number of commuters and home-based businesses.
"We've gotten interest from people from [all over]," Parker says. "We have businesses who are allowing their employees to work remotely. We've started to get interest from people who want small offices or to work outside of their homes."
In addition to Frontal Lobe, Parker's project will include third-floor office space, which is already spoken for, and a fine dining restaurant downstairs, which will most likely become the second home of White Lake's popular
The Root Restaurant.
How this dream project came to be, Parker says, can only be described as a community effort.
"I like the volunteer part of it because I'm getting feedback from all sorts of different views," he says. "You're a kind of getting everything already vetted."
The Howell Downtown Development Authority is a Select Level member of the
Michigan Main Street Center, meaning their development efforts are meant to happen exactly that way.
While Howell Main Street DDA is a city entity and employs two staff members, volunteers are truly the heart and soul of the program. From downtown marketing to events to business recruitment, volunteer committee members have a hand every aspect of the downtown's growth.
"With volunteers you can look for more opportunities within the community," says Howell Main Street DDA Director Diane Larkin. "We put together a list of top 100 businesses we want to see in Howell, and our volunteers have been courting the Root Restaurant for almost a year."
That courtship included volunteers calling the restaurant to recommend they expand in Howell, dropping off recruitment information and inviting the owners to downtown events.
"[Root Restaurant representatives] came and met with me," says Larkin, "and, unbeknownst to me, we had a volunteer eat at the restaurant the same day, recommending they come to Howell. It creates a great network of support for businesses."
And that, Parker says, is part of the appeal for a developer like himself to invest in his hometown in the first place.
"We have developments in other states," he says, "and to be real frank, I don't seek the [city government out in those places]. It's too cumbersome. Government officials, at the end of the day, they go home. The volunteers add a level of passion to the whole downtown."
Parkside of Plymouth
When a prospective developer approaches the Plymouth DDA, explains Director of Business Operations/Special Projects John Buzuvis, the process is entirely different.
"We're fortunate enough to be a community that people want to live and work and shop in," he says. "So the most recent developments have been more about market timing. Someone has the idea, and when the timing is right, we're a facilitator. We see how much red tape we can cut."
This is done, Buzuvis says, though a business-minded perspective on local government with a focus on customer service. That's what happened when a developer approached the city several years ago with a plan to build a mixed-use building on Penniman Avenue, complete with 18 residential units and first-floor commercial space.
"Essentially, they came to the city and said, ‘Here's what we want to do. How do we do that," says Buzuvis. "We try and be as business friendly as we can, recognizing that time is money for them."
The combination of market forces and customer service paid off in the Parkside of Plymouth project. Even when the recession forced the first developer to sell before it was complete, another investor stepped forward shortly thereafter. Now, UBS has consolidated multiple area offices into the first floor and residents are living in the second and third floors.
While the staff-driven development efforts by the Plymouth DDA do not include the kinds of active business recruitment activities seen in Howell, Buzuvis believes investors and businesses are attracted to the downtown by the DDA's commitment to maintaining proper aesthetics, from large infrastructure projects to small details.
"The capital improvement and marketing are our main focuses at the DDA," he says. "We operate under the broken window theory: if there is something broken, we fix it quickly and efficiently."
That includes such attention to detail as power washing trashcans and sidewalks multiple times a year, on-demand trash removal and snow removal. The DDA also recently completed a three-phase, two-year streetscape improvement project that replaced all of the streets, crosswalks, traffic lights, and installed a decorative concrete compass in a main downtown intersection.
"We spend a lot of time of times on little things," Buzuvis says.
With more than two dozen businesses opening or moving to Plymouth during the few years, a time when many businesses were shuttering elsewhere, it seems the little things have gone a long way for Plymouth.
At the same time, just 40 miles away, no one seems to be doubting the alternate take on downtown development in Howell. With a team of energetic volunteers and a project like Heart of Howell underway the two cities are proving there's more than one path to success for vibrant, hardworking downtowns.
All Photos by David Lewinski Photography