Bye Bye Brooklyn, Hello Detroit

Business-minded couples getting squeezed out of Brooklyn are taking the combo of affordable rents and the supportive arts-minded communities of Detroit and its close-in city cousins. Excerpt: When Sandi Bache Heaselgrave and Andy Heaselgrave made the well-worn migration from New York City to Detroit, they didn't realize they'd be starting a trend… But when the couple, who worked in the photography industry, decided to leave in 2010, they were the first of what would become six couples (and counting) relocating from the tiny enclave of Red Hook, Brooklyn, with entrepreneurial pursuits in mind…. So when Ann St. Peter, owner of  Pinwheel Bakery,  offered to let them open in the front half of her shop in Ferndale, the couple jumped. Bache Heaselgrave had planned to sell Pinwheel pastries anyway.  She spent $35,000 renovating the space, buying her equipment and giving the shop an airy feel. She also took over responsibility for sales so St. Peter could focus on pastries instead of running a retail location. Bache Heaselgrave increased prices and improved the coffee, becoming the only café in the Detroit area to sell Portland, Ore.-based  Stumptown Coffee Roasters. More here.