Birmingham

Work begins on Birmingham’s Baldwin Bridge

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July 23, 2009

Work is about to begin on the replacement of the Baldwin Avenue Bridge in Birmingham.City officials plan to close it down for construction on Aug. 3 and work is expected to wrap up by November. Birmingham is gearing up to do a lot of work on its bridges this summer, including improvements to the West Maple Road, Oak Street and Lakeside Drive North bridges. The biggest project is the $700,000 replacement of the Baldwin Bridge.It dates back to the 1920s and has been showing decades' worth of wear and tear for a while now. Gone will be the narrow, one-lane bridge, replaced by a two-lane span with a 5-foot-wide sidewalk. The city plans to recreate the historic arch underneath with a stone-cut façade. It has done this with four other bridge replacements.Source: City of BirminghamWriter: Jon Zemke

Oakland County notches $2.4 billion in investment since 2004

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Arts and Culture

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July 16, 2009

During these tough economic times, many companies and organizations bring out the long-term statistics from the past several years to put themselves in a better light. Oakland County can fall back on both the long- and short-term statistics.The county released a report that shows not only has it taken in about $2.4 billion worth of investment over the last five years, it did well in June, with $748 million in investment.Most of that comes from General Motors' plans for a $650 million Orion Township plant, which will build smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. However, that leaves about another $100 million that the county was able to attract in the midst of one of the toughest economies in generations. Oakland County has had more than $2.4 billion worth of business investment in the past five years, giving residents a reason to be optimistic about its future during the most difficult economic challenge in its history, County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said recently."We had our best month ever during one of the worst times ever," Oakland County Executive L Brooks Patterson said in a press release. "We've withstood all of the body blows and we're still standing."More of the $2.4 billion came from emerging sectors based in the new economy ($1.3 billion), compared to traditional business sectors, like automotive manufacturing. Oakland County created its Emerging Sectors program five years ago to help diversify its economy and make up for lost manufacturing jobs. Source: Oakland CountyWriter: Jon Zemke

Harris Marketing moves into historic downtown Birmingham building

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Arts and Culture

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July 16, 2009

Lots of factors attracted Harris Marketing Group to its new home in downtown Birmingham, such as location and size. One that was far from overlooked is the story behind the building.The marketing agency is taking up 3,000 square feet on the second floor of the Bigelow-Shain Building at 115 W. Brown Street. The circa-1860 building was the original home of what is now the Birmingham Eccentric. The community-based newspaper got its start on the ground floor of the building a little over 130 years ago."This is historic, hallowed ground here," says Janice Rosenhaus, CEO of Harris Marketing Group.The 2-story building is located one block west of Old Woodward Avenue on the eastern edge of downtown. The building's story, character, and location were the key factors for Harris Marketing Group to move its 15 employees and handful of interns and independent contractors into the building."It's right in the center of everything. It's fabulous," Rosenhaus says. "It's a historic building with exposed brick walls. It's like a New York loft."Source: Janice Rosenhaus, CEO of Harris Marketing GroupWriter: Jon Zemke

Arkitektura triples space in Birmingham’s Rail District

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Arts and Culture

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July 9, 2009

Lots of businesses would jump to have prime retail space on Old Woodward Avenue in the heart of downtown Birmingham. Arkitektura jumped at the chance to leave it.The artistic furniture store moved about a mile east on Maple Road to Birmingham's Rail District. Like a number of other businesses in recent years, it took over space in a former industrial warehouse in the emerging neighborhood."We moved to this area because this is an up-and-coming area," says Lisa Poleni, a spokeswoman for Arkitektura. "This is the SoHo of Birmingham."The 5,500-square-foot store is celebrating its 25th anniversary in a much bigger spot. For the same rent, its Rail District home at 2131 Cole St. is nearly three times larger than its former downtown space.The Rail District is an old industrial area on the border of Troy with a rail line running through it. Businesses and new residents have been converting the buildings into homes and places for retailers and restaurants. Birmingham and Troy plan to build a transit station there for a planned northern extension of the Detroit-Ann Arbor commuter rail line.Source: Lisa Poleni, a spokeswoman for ArkitekturaWriter: Jon Zemke

Birmingham enhances $2.3M Shain Park renovation

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Arts and Culture

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July 9, 2009

Changes are coming to the Shain Park renovation project, which is just getting underway.The downtown Birmingham Park is about to undergo a $2.3 million renovation and expansion project that promises to remake and enhance the greenspace. There are some last-minute changes coming for it, too, such as enhanced lighting on the Marshall Fredricks statue and War Memorial and improvements to the reading area.The current plan is a downsized version of what was originally proposed. The original plans called for a 210-space parking garage beneath the park extension onto a vacant lot across Henrietta Street, next to The Townsend Hotel. The idea was nixed when it became apparent that the cost would approach eight figures.Now the city plans to turn about two-thirds of the vacant parcel into green space. The remaining third will be maintained as parking, downsized from 150 spaces to 87, including new spots on the street. It will also pay for the addition of an amphitheater.Source: City of BirminghamWriter: Jon Zemke

Size Matters: Detroit measures up on HBO show about world’s oldest profession

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Arts and Culture

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July 9, 2009

There's always another option for Desperate Housewives. A provocative new show about a high school gym teacher reinventing himself as a gigolo, shot and set in the Metro D, has recently premiered on HBO.Excerpt:The new HBO series Hung premiered last night, and while the premise of the show makes it intriguing enough alone (the main character becomes a male escort to solve his financial woes), as a Detroiter, the real anticipation was in finding out how much the city would be used in the plot.At least in this respect, it did not disappoint. The pilot was shot entirely in Detroit, Birmingham, Livonia, Clarkston and West Bloomfield Township, as was part of the rest of the season (the rest was filmed in L.A.).The opening sequence (which you can watch here) is jam-packed with familiar Motor City signposts, from the first shot of a barge gliding over the Detroit River, to Thomas Jane as Ray Drecker walking through Hart Plaza, below the People Mover and in front of the Joe Louis fist, Lafayette Coney Island and the abandoned Packard plant.Read the full story here.And read here for a review of the show.

Multi-use apt building proposed for Birmingham

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Arts and Culture

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June 25, 2009

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 building and parking lot so it can build 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 BirminghamWriter: Jon Zemke

Birmingham recognizes innovative projects with historic awards

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Arts and Culture

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June 25, 2009

The Birmingham Historic District Commission's Awards recognized some of downtown's biggest projects, including the renovation and expansion of the Briggs Building and 203 Pierce, the home of Toast restaurant.These are the sorts of projects that 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 will go toward luxury apartments. A parking deck will go 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 BirminghamWriter: Jon Zemke

Main Street Oakland County brings in AIA Michigan for workshops

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Arts and Culture

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June 18, 2009

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 MichiganWriter: Jon Zemke

Birmingham to start work on Shain Park in July

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Community Development

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June 11, 2009

In Birmingham, the park comes first -- and then the roads. That greenspace is Shain Park and the roads are the surrounding avenues.The city expects to start work on the Shain Park redevelopment and expansion in July, wrapping it up before winter sets in. It then plans to redo all of the roads surrounding it next summer."We hope to have it completely refurbished by the end of next year," says Paul O'Meara, city engineer for Birmingham.This plan is a downsized version of what was originally proposed. The original plans called for a 210-space parking garage beneath the park extension onto a vacant lot across Henrietta Street, next to The Townsend Hotel. The cost, approaching eight figures, nixed that idea. Now the city plans to spend $2.3 million on park expansion, turning about two-thirds of the vacant parcel into green space. The remaining third will be maintained as parking, downsized from 150 spaces to 87, including new spots on the street. It will also pay for the addition of an amphitheater. Source: Paul O'Meara, city engineer for BirminghamWriter: Jon Zemke