Oakland County

Hazel Park first community to take part in Oakland County’s “Oak Street” revitalization initiative

By Newsroom

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October 7, 2008

Hazel Park will be the first community to participate in Oakland County's neighborhood community revitalization program called "Oak Street." Excerpt: “Hazel Park has a rich heritage and established neighborhoods that make it a natural for Oak Street,” Patterson said. “These neighborhoods and their residents are the backbone of the county. Oak Street will help preserve the rich heritage of these wonderful areas while ensuring these neighborhoods remain desirable places to live and raise a family.” Oak Street is a program unique to Oakland County. It is an outgrowth of the county’s hugely successful Main Street Oakland County economic development program, which targets traditional downtowns for preservation and improvement. Oak Street will help stabilize, maintain and improve neighborhoods through education and technical assistance provided by the county and others. The goal is to preserve the unique character of one of the county’s most valuable assets, its neighborhoods. Patterson announced the creation of Oak Street in his 2008 State of the County address. Get more Oakland County info here.

Latest in Oakland County

Chris Johnston’s Loving Touch

By Ryan Allen

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Arts & Culture

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October 2, 2008

Someday Ferndale will erect a statue to Chris Johnston. Or better yet, replace the police officer in Woodward Avenue's Crow's Nest with his likeness. Entrepreneur, bar owner, restaurateur, rocker and driving force behind downtown's resurgence, only one question remains: When does he sleep?

Historic Loft Building in downtown Royal Oak nearly done

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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October 2, 2008

One of the most visible redevelopment projects in downtown Royal is getting ready to wrap up in November.The people behind the Historic Loft Building (there's an original name) plan to have two of their tenants moved in post Halloween to the structure at the corner of Harrison and Main streets on the south side of downtown. The two business, a medical group and a pharmacy, will occupy most of the ground floor space. The remaining 1,500 square feet on the ground floor is still available.The second and third floors of the 3-story building are being turned into Class A office space. Each floor has 8,600 square feet of space. The space is being built as loft-style office space with exposed brick and utility lines. "It's one of the few loft-style office spaces in the downtown area," says Mason Capitani, leasing agent for the Historic Loft Building.The structure was originally built as a Ford car dealership nearly 100 years ago. It has housed a few other businesses, including as a furniture store most recently. Source: Mason Capitani, leasing agent for the Historic Loft BuildingWriter: Jon Zemke

Royal Oak’s Farnum Apts nearly completed

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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October 2, 2008

Work is wrapping up on another apartment building renovation by Urbane Apartments in Royal Oak – Urbane on Farnum. Six of the 16 units in the 1960s-era apartment building will be ready for residents by late October. Work on the exterior of the building is also nearly finished. The apartment building is located on the corner of Farnum and Washington streets. It is across the street from Royal Oak's old Dondero High School and a few blocks north of downtown. It had fallen into disrepair before Urbane invested $400,000 into restoring the building. The structure's 16 units are a mix of large studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments. They include a number of modern amenities, such as brand new bamboo floors, recycled carpet, efficient water fixtures, granite bar tops, black appliances, glass French doors, dual shower heads and high-speed wireless Internet. Urbane owns 14 apartment buildings in southeast Oakland County. These buildings are near vibrant downtowns, such as Royal Oak, Ferndale, Clawson and Berkely. For information on Urbane Apartments offerings, call (248) 988-7125. Source: Eric Brown, co-founder of Urbane Apartments Writer: Jon Zemke

Pontiac chooses developer for downtown’s Lot 9

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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October 2, 2008

Decisions have been made but details still need to be ironed out for the Lot 9 development in downtown Pontiac.The Pontiac Downtown Development Authority choose the plan from West Investments (headed up by Kyle Westberg, owner of Pontiac-based West Construction) for the 6.7 acre parcel at the northeast corner of Saginaw and Pike streets. The property is currently a surface parking lot at the knot end of the Woodward Avenue loop that surrounds downtown.The development calls for building a 4-story, mixed-use structure. The building will feature ground floor retail space with a yet-to-be-named anchor tenant. Above that will be three floors of residential space. The number of units and whether they will be rentals or for-sale has also not been determined.Sandy McDonald, executive director of the Pontiac Downtown Development Authority, says the units will play a key role in creating a critical mass of residents in a downtown dominated by business space."Both projects were excellent mixed-use developments," McDonald says.The project is far from a done deal, though. The DDA still has to take the project to the mayor’s office for approval and must still iron out other development details with the developer. An update is expected by mid October, which is why details remain scarce."We don’t want to say too much, too fast," McDonald says.Source: Sandy McDonald, executive director of the Pontiac Downtown Development AuthorityWriter: Jon Zemke

$26 million heads to Oakland County neighborhoods

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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October 2, 2008

Wall Street might not be getting any federal bailout (for now) to deal with bad mortgages but Oakland County has received $26 million to do just that. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) new Neighborhood Stabilization Program has awarded $26 million to help stabilize neighborhoods hit hard by foreclosures. The winners are Pontiac ($3.5 million), Southfield ($3.2 million) and Waterford (a little more than $2 million). Oakland County received almost $17.4 million. That money is meant to help local communities acquire and redevelop foreclosed properties in danger of becoming (or remaining) blight. Some of the money can be used to raze structures redevelop vacant properties. Twenty-five percent (at least) of that money must be used to buy and redevelop buildings into housing for families with incomes that are less than 50 percent of the neighborhood's median income. Homes put back on the market must be listed at 20 percent under the current market value and can only be sold to people who will use them as their primary residences. Oakland County Community & Home Improvement division will release guidelines and application procedures in the near future. For information, click here or call (248) 858-0493. Source: Oakland County Economic Development & Community Affairs Writer: Jon Zemke

EVIEW 360 adds 9 people in Farmington Hills

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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October 2, 2008

EVIEW 360 is evolving in Farmington Hills. The design firm has gone from creating website applications before the dotcom bubble burst in 1999 to designing websites then onto branding. This transformation has caused great growth for the company with revenues increasing from $2 million in 2006 to $4 million last year to an expected $6 million this year. In the last year EVIEW has also added nine people, building its staff to 19 (along with one independent contractor and one intern). The firm has set its sights on a revenue spurt of 30-40 percent next year while adding another 4-5 new people."We've been enjoying quite a bit of growth and we hope to continue at that pace," says Melissa Centra, CEO of EVIEW 360.The company focuses its business on a number of design areas, such as website design, branding, corporate identity, branding environment and corporate environment. Centra sees the firm expanding its branded environment niche as more companies search for better ways to set themselves apart from competitors in a tough economy."That is the area we are choosing to focus on right now," Centra says.Source: Melissa Centra, CEO of EVIEW 360Writer: Jon Zemke

Main Street Oakland County welcomes new members

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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October 2, 2008

Main Street Oakland County already includes the county's big names in downtown development, such as Ferndale, Farmington and Rochester. Now it's welcoming some smaller names into the fold, namely Clawson, Clarkston, Hazel Park and Franklin. The first three cities are joining Main Street Oakland County's Mentoring Program while Franklin becomes a member of the Downtown Development Program. Other members of Main Street Oakland County include Highland, Holly, Keego Harbor, Lake Orion, Ortonville, Oxford, Pontiac and Walled Lake. Main Street Oakland County uses a four point approach to spur economic development and job creation in these city centers. Those include fine tuning organization, design, promotion and economic restructuring. These techniques have helped land $451 million in investment, create 2,782 new jobs and 344 new businesses since 2000. Oakland County's 32 downtown include some of Michigan's most vibrant urban centers, including Royal Oak and Birmingham. Main Street Oakland County is the first county organization to work with the National Trust Main Street Center, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Source: Oakland County Writer: Jon Zemke

Pyramid Solutions hires 3-4 people, plans to add 3-4 more

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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October 2, 2008

Dan Kosmalski, CEO of Pyramid Solutions, sees his company as a survivor of nearly 20 years of the ups and downs in the Michigan economy.Even though the Bingham Farms-based firm has had to weather these turbulent times, it's still managed to add another 3-4 people to its payroll. Kosmalski is still confident enough in his company's prospects that he sees hiring yet another 3-4 people to his staff of 43 within the next year."We are hiring," Kosmalski says. "We're trying to find computer science people that are interested in software."The software engineering firm specializes in three distinct areas: enterprise content management, plant floor automation and network communications in real-time."The nice thing is we have that diversity," Kosmalski says. "But it's tough to have them all firing on all cylinders."The tough economy might cause that, but Kosmalski sees opportunities, too. For instance, the consolidation of the auto suppliers may mean more chances to create new communications networks between industrial sites.Source: Dan Kosmalski, CEO of Pyramid SolutionsWriter: Jon Zemke

Urbane Apts opens Urbane on Main in Royal Oak

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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October 2, 2008

Building new might be a tall order right now, but Urbane Apartments is building a big reputation by taking on a number of small renovation projects.It’s latest offering is Urbane on Main, which is on Main Street just north of 12 Mile Road and downtown Royal Oak. The 32-unit model apartment will open next week, with 18 ready for rental. The Royal Oak-based company invested an average of $26,000 on each unit's upgrade."We have a waiting list," says Eric Brown, co-founder of Urbane Apartments.Urban Apartments focuses on rehabbing old apartment buildings near vibrant downtown areas. It controls 14 buildings in several communities in southeast Oakland County, including Royal Oak, Ferndale, Clawson and Berkley.Urbane on Main (each building is named after the street each it’s on) hasn’t received much love since it was built in the 1960s. Urbane Apartments began renovating the structure composed entirely of one-bedroom apartments last summer. It also renovated the exterior, which often features modern, artistic features. The interiors include bamboo flooring, water-saving faucets and toilets, recycled carpet, granite bar tops and black appliances.For information on Urbane Apartments offerings, call (248) 988-7125.Source: Eric Brown, co-founder of Urbane ApartmentsWriter: Jon Zemke