Author

Newsroom

Newsroom's Latest Articles

Thrillist ranks Detroit as one of nation’s best food cities

When it comes to eats, Detroit is fat city (in the best way). Thrillist applauds metro Detroit's culinary diversity and quality, putting it no. 14 out of 40 of the nation's largest populations centers. We want seconds! Excerpt: "When  Detroit  became the magnet for American dream-seekers, it also became the Midwest’s most  diverse and fascinating  food scene. Southerners brought soul food andBBQ  that often stand tall against the cuisine’s origins. Polish food? There’s a whole city within the city --  Hamtramck  -- where you can get some of the country’s best, along with tons of Middle Eastern foods. Greek food and Mexican? Head to Greek Town or Mexico Town. You get the idea. This is a place where coney has nothing to do with New York, but rather  hot dogs  made exclusively (it’s a law) with real cuts of meat and topped with a meaty coney sauce that will basically ruin all other hot dogs to come. It’s a spot where pizzas are square and thick, with cheese caramelizing the edges. It’s a city where traditions are embraced, adopted, and adjusted to fit a certain Motown mentality. If Detroit was half its size, it would be the most dense and rich food scene in the world. But where it loses points (with the Lions, they’re used to it) in sprawl, it more than makes up for with destination foods scattered across the metro area waiting to be discovered." More here. 

Riley Park ice rink opens in downtown Farmington

The Riley Park Ice Rink in downtown Farmington is seen as keeping winter from putting a freeze on business and keeping the heart of the city pumping when temps plunge. Barring too-warm temps, the 4,800-square-foot, refrigerated rink opens this weekend as a fundraising campaign to maintain and market the volunteer-run rink. During warmer months, Riley Park hosts the Farmington Farmers & Artisans Market, Rhythmz in Riley Park and the Harvest Moon Celebration. As the rink opens for its second year the hope is to keep Riley Park and the businesses that surround it thriving all year long and to foster the feeling of a quaint, downtown park and ice rink as a place to have fun before or after dinner, a coffee, or shopping. Annette Knowles, executive director of the city's downtown development authority, describes the vibe of the park and downtown in winter as "Currier and Ives-like." "The Riley Park Ice Rink creates a winter destination in downtown Farmington. Until the rink came, the programming in the park was for three seasons, not four," says Knowles. "Now, we have a cool, fun place for families to connect and play.  And the rink is surrounded by restaurants where skaters can warm up and get a snack or inviting boutiques and stores to purchase accessories to keep you warm on the ice." The ice rink opened in 2013 thanks to a major contribution of $100,000 from the Riley Foundation. Local businesses such as Wright Beamer, Dagwood’s Deli, S3 Architecture, John Cowley and Sons Irish Pub, and OHM Advisors contributed to the project as did the community, with Farmington residents chipping in $10,000. Source: Annette Knowles, executive director, Farmington Downtown Development Authority Writer: Kim North Shine

Michigan & Eastpointe partner on redevelopment & investment strategy

Eastpointe is the third Michigan city to enter a partnership with the Michigan Economic Development Corp. in an effort to promote cities that are easy for businesses and developers to work with. By being designated as a Redevelopment Ready Community -- the first two in Michigan were nearby Roseville and Allegan -- Eastpointe is provided with guidance and advice on best practices on how to remove hurdles to development and assist small and large businesses that want to move into the aging inner-ring suburb. The advice includes identifying and preparing developable sites, marketing and recruiting potential users for the sites, assisting in city, county and state requirements and informing the public of what the buildings and land will be used for -- and, overall, bringing in companies that meet the needs of the public and the vision of city leaders. “We are pleased to be part of our region and state and to partner with public service agencies such as MEDC focusing on community economic health with transparency and accountability," says Eastpointe City Manager Steve Duchane. The Macomb County city has a population of about 32,000 and quick access to I-94 and I-696 There are more than 800 commercial, industrial and service businesses and 60-some major companies within its five square miles, which includes the major thoroughfare of Gratiot Avenue. The city is marketing property and is prepared to offer incentives and streamline its approvals process so that redevelopment of unused property can move along quickly. Source: City of Eastpointe Writer: Kim North Shine

Four new film, digital media incentives announced for projects in Metro Detroit

The last round of Michigan Film Office incentives has been issued to close out 2014, including a mobile app for sports fans and a series on the lives of religious leaders in Detroit. These projects filimg or being produced in various Metro Detroit locales are expected to employ about 250 people. In total, all projects approved in 2014 are expected to create 2,181 hires with a full time equivalent of 1,298 jobs. Excerpt: "Oxygen Media’s  Preachers of Detroit  is a television series that will focus on powerful themes of faith, family and friendship as seven men and women of the cloth share their lives, transformations and triumphs in and out of the pulpit in Detroit.... The feature film  Destined  is set in Detroit with one event setting in motion two very different stories. Each storyline involves the same characters whose paths are altered by this one event, and the different paths main character Rasheed takes in each tale. Filming will take place in Detroit and Ann Arbor... Tommy Battles the Silver Sea Dragon  is a feature film where Tommy Silver faces the guilt he carries from the loss of his mother who died in childbirth. This unbearable weight is now threatening to destroy his closest relationship. Filming will take place in Detroit, Wayne and Novi..." More here. 

Results at Hand Software doubles in size on demand for event apps

Results at Hand Software has made a name for itself in event-focused mobile apps during its first four years. The Waterford-based startup has found a significant amount of success with its ConferenceBeat app. The event app is used by businesses or associations throwing events, providing them with a direct line of communication to attendees that enables them to strengthen their relationship. "Everyone has come back and said, 'We love the app,'" says Kim Harwood, president of Results at Hand Software, and "'oh, by the way, can you provide more features and functionality?'" Sales at the 4-year-old company are up 100 percent over the last year. That has enabled it to hire three people (a software developer and sales professionals) over the last year. It now has a staff of seven employees and one intern. It plans to add two more interns in January. Results at Hand Software is preparing to have another big year in 2015. Harwood expects to hit triple-digit revenue growth again as her company continues to attract more customers. "Every customer tends to turn into a longterm customer," Harwood says. Source: Kim Harwood, president of Results at Hand Software Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

University tech transfer offices bridge gap between academia and commerce

In Michigan's growing tech economy, there's no doubt that many of the innovators are coming from the halls and labs of academia. But how to get from concept to commercialization? Excerpt: "Coming up with a technological breakthrough is a feather in a university researcher's cap.  But taking that brilliant notion, and forming a profitable business, involves another degree of difficulty. So professors and other researchers who want to turn their intellectual gifts into gold will probably need a little help along the way.  "It takes more than a great idea," said Paul Riser Jr., managing director of technology-based entrepreneurship for Detroit business incubator  TechTown. "Professors sometimes are great technologists or great engineers and sometimes they don't have the know-how, from a business perspective." The place to start may be the university's technology transfer office." More here. 

Design firm Elefant Design & Strategy looks to add 3 jobs

Elefant Design & Strategy has got the growth part down. Now it wants to focus on the work. The Troy-based design firm made a name for itself in design for everything from website development to print. The 1-year-old company has grow by more than 100 percent. "We are really focused on the design process," says Elena Kapintcheva, partner & designer with Elefant Design & Strategy. "Creating goals, conceptualizing, and execution." The firm is currently comprised of two partners. However, it plans to hire three designers in January. It needs the extra help to aid in its growing workload coming from a broad range of customers, such as local restaurants and coastal non-profits. "We definitely want to continue to grow," Kapintcheva says. "By hiring more talent we want to expand our design reach." Source: Elena Kapintcheva, partner & designer with Elefant Design & Strategy Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Somerset Collection CityLoft expands pop-up retail in Detroit

Troy's Somerset Collection is expanding its temporary urban outpost to fill the shopping bags of Detroit's growing population of professionals.  Excerpt: "The Somerset Collection CityLoft opened what Somerset representatives are calling a bigger, better location in the First National Building in downtown Detroit Wednesday morning... Linda McIntosh, marketing director for the Somerset Collection, said this year, Somerset is sticking around downtown for a longer period of time and will offer a wider selection of goods from more vendors than they've hosted in the past... The collection of retailers should help turn Detroit into a destination for those who would typically jet out to Troy, Novi or Livonia to to their holiday shopping." More here.

Slow’s Bar-B-Q to expand to downtown Pontiac

Detroit's celebrated Slows Bar-B-Q, which hit restaurant gold in Detroit years before today's restaurant boom rolled in, will open a location in downtown Pontiac, where reinvestment and rebirth are once again becoming part of the local lexicon. The Pontiac Slows will be connected to the Strand Theatre for the Performing Arts, a $20-million redevelopment of a historic building that will bring national shows and live theater and stage acts back to the city. With Slows as its exclusive partner, the theater will offer the unusual combo of arts and culture and barbecue joint. Slows Pontiac, on Saginaw St., will be 6,500 square feet and have a street-side entrance for the public and a theater entrance for show-goers. Slows will also cater events at the theater, which will be run by the nonprofit Encore Performing Arts Center and Bill Lee, former vice president of Celebrity Events Group and vice president of sales and marketing at Olympia Entertainment, Inc. Construction will begin in early 2015. Opening date will coincide with the theater opening in late 2015. Slows has an exclusivity agreement with the theater so that it will be the only Slows location in Oakland County, says Kyle Westberg, CEO of West Construction Services, one of Pontiac's main developers with projects such as the at-capacity Lafayette Place Lofts and Lafayette Market. Slow's owners want to be a part of a Pontiac's comeback. They see it, as they did their first restaurant in Detroit's Corktown neighborhood, as a way to run a business and also help the community. “We chose Pontiac as the site of our first metro Detroit expansion for the same reasons we chose Corktown. It’s an underserved community with a defined identity and potential for an exciting evolution,” Slows Bar-B-Q co-owner Phil Cooley says. “We are excited to become part of the neighborhood and serve up great tasting Slows Bar-B-Q to the folks who live, work in, and visit Pontiac.” Westberg says Slows, along with numerous large and small projects, from the opening of small tech businesses to multi-million-dollar improvements by GM and St. Joseph's Hospital, may be the tipping point to making downtown Pontiac become a destination again. "I've been watching Slows's business model for quite a few years, and what was fascinating to me was their thought processes on economic development and working with the community and helping the community prosper and move forward," Westberg says. "That philosophy meets right up with the philosophies we have here in Pontiac." Source: Kyle Westberg, CEO, West Construction Services; Phil Cooley, Slows Bar-B-Q co-owner Writer: Kim North Shine

Quinn Law Group diversifies clientele, adds 6 positions

Quinn Law Group has experienced a lot of growth in the last few years, attracting more customers and adding new employees at the intellectual property law firm. The reason why can be summed up in one sentence. "It has been through diversification," says Chris Quinn, president of Quinn Law Group. The Novi-based law firm got its start in 2002 with Chris handling work for one automotive industry firm. That work helped Quinn Law Group grow in its early years but Quinn knew it needed more. Today it has grown to handle work for a number of companies around the world from a wide variety of industries. For instance, Quinn Law Group does intellectual property work for Nike’s golf line. It is also doing an increasing amount of work for tech firms, including automotive engineering firms. That has prompted Quinn Law Group to add to its staff and upgrade its software systems. "We are continually positioning ourselves for growth because we seem to have a steady growth of clients," Quinn says. Quinn Law Group has hired five people over the last year, expanding its staff to 25 people. Its new hires include two attorneys and three support staff. It is also looking to hire another patent attorney right now. Quinn expects to hire 4-7 people in 2015 to keep up with demand for his firm’s services. He attributes a big part of Quinn Law Firm's success to not relying on billable hours to get a job done. The firm deals instead with quality of work, a feature he believes sets it apart. "Our only requirement of our staff is to do high-quality work," Quinn says. Source: Chris Quinn, president of Quinn Law Group Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Our Partners

City of Oak Park

Don't miss out!

Everything Detroit, in your inbox every week.

Close the CTA

Already a subscriber? Enter your email to hide this popup in the future.