Development News

Thomas M. Cooley Law School's main purpose is teaching the law to students, but it's the school's efforts to build an energy-efficient, sustainable and eco-conscious campus in Auburn Hills that's become the latest learning experience.

The school has achieved Silver LEED status, a certification that comes from the U.S. Green Building Council after a review of projects seeking the LEED - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design - designation.

The certification was awarded to Cooley's renovation of of an existing 68,227-square-foot building previously owned Daimler Chrysler. The renovation began in 2007 and was ready for students in January 2008. The project also added a 64,518-square-foot structure to the building. The addition was completed in early 2009.

Cooley’s Auburn Hills campus, 2630 Featherstone Road, was designed and constructed in collaboration with Rockford Construction and SHW Group, both LEED-accredited firms charged with incorporating sustainable design practices into the project.

“Cooley Law School takes into account the best possible practices being used in construction, including sustainability, in all of its construction,” says William Schoettle, Cooley COO and vice president of operations, in a statement announcing the silver LEED award. “Ultimately, LEED building practices made sense financially. It saves money for the school over the long term and preserves natural resources in the process.

Cooley's conservation focused features include:

-The use of no or low toxicity paints, sealants, carpets and wood materials
-A reflective roof that cuts reflects light, insulates the building and keeps it cooler in warm months
-A roof with soil and plants that will soak up water and keep it out of storm and sewer systems. It also reduces energy consumption year round
-Low flow toilets and plumbing fixtures will conserve water
-The use of water efficient landscaping
-Interior lighting will be controlled by room usage and also use lower wattage lights. The building design uses natural light to provide lighting.
-A heating and cooling system that uses outdoor fresh air for power and cooling
-Maintenance practices such as lowering window shades during the warm months were added to staff duties

Cooley Law School’s Auburn Hills campus is the only law school facility in Michigan to achieve LEED certification. The school is only the fourth law school in the nation to be LEED-certified.

“Cooley Law School has answered my call for Oakland County businesses and residents to find ways to reduce their energy consumption,” L. Brooks Patterson, Oakland County executive, says in the statement. “Last year, we opened the nation’s first LEED Gold certified airport terminal at Oakland County International Airport. The terminal’s utility costs have dropped from 70 cents-per-square- foot to 39 cents-per-square-foot, a real savings to taxpayers. I’m sure we’ll see some of those savings at Cooley.”

Source: Tyler Lecceadone, spokesman, Thomas M. Cooley Law School
Writer: Kim North Shine

The city of Wyandotte's proposal to turn an unused, unattractive passageway in the central business district into a pocket park where people, activity and art will come together is a finalist in the Let's Save Michigan It's About Place contest.

Wyandotte's was one 40-plus proposals entered in the contest. The finalists were selected through online voting that ended June 1. The winner, who will receive up to $2,000 to implement their proposal, will be selected by a panel of judges.

Wyandotte's pocket park proposal would turn a long, narrow space between two buildings into a place to congregate while shopping, dining out or spending time downtown. The tired stretch is ideally situated near downtown businesses, parking, summer concerts and the annual art fair but poorly used and designed to invite people to stop.

"Our goal is to make this space much more than a pass-through or afterthought, says Natalie Rankine, director of the city's Downtown Development Authority. "The DDA has a good start at creating outdoor places and elements that define outdoor space: The arbor, the clock tower, the Purple Heart Memorial Garden, the fountain to name a few. Places like this help to establish a sense of place, invite people to congregate and encourage foot traffic in our downtown district. 

The DDA is also working on brining an outdoor art mural to downtown and this would be the perfect spot if the pocket park comes to pass, Rankine adds.

Source: Natalie Rankine, director Wyandotte Downtown Development Authority
Writer: Kim North Shine

It's the hottest - maybe most mouth-watering - restaurant news in metro Detroit at the moment: the rebirth and transformation of the iconic Vinsetta Garage on Woodward in Berkley.

The brown paper covering the windows of the old station is staying on for now, but the kitchen will start turning out its creatively souped-up comfort foods at 4 p.m. today, June 1, owner Curt Catallo says. It's good prep for expanding to lunch service in a couple of weeks, he says.

Vinsetta Garage, a gas and service station that closed in 2009 but remains an architectural treasure, will go by the same name but turn out award-winning, burgers, mac & cheese and other dishes that can be described as home cooking meets every man's gourmet.

"We'll leave the paper on the windows and the sign off for a few days, so we can get our sea legs (so to speak)," Catallo writes in an email to metromode.

It's the latest venture from the people who brought metro Detroit the restaurant of the year in 2011, the Clarkston Union Bar & Kitchen, and Union Woodshop, which it calls a big-time small-town barbecue joint, also in Clarkston.

With Vinsetta Garage's opening and plans to turn a fire hall in Fenton into another restaurant - it's awaiting the OK of city officials there - the owners are on the verge of creating a mini-restaurant empire that, according to food critics, is taking metro Detroit - and Michigan's - restaurant options up more than a notch.

It's not only good food news, to many, but a sign of economic promise as a team of "70 or so very passionate individuals" will staff Vinsetta, including at least four full-time jobs.  More hirings are happening now to cover the lunch service, he says.

While Vinsetta is eating up the attention at the moment, the Clarkston Union and Union Woodshop, Food Network favorites, are used to being under the heat lamp. A recent episode was filmed with Kid Rock and host Food Network host Guy Fieri.

According to Facebook and a June 1 story in Crain's Detroit Business, the restaurant opening has been much anticipated and private events leading up to opening day are creating suspense.

"Been waiting for so long. Happy to hear it's almost time," says one post. "I'm only in town until Monday morning. Hook me up!" pleads another.

The food, the work of chef Aaron Cozadd, may be the highlight, but the interior design and decor, both the work of Catallo's wife Ann Stevenson, and renovation decisions such as converting the old gas pumps out front into electric car chargers is sure to lead to table talk.

"As groovy as it was to work through the preservation," Catallo writes. "We're ready to start running the joint and bringing people back to the garage once again."

Source: Curt Catallo, owner Vinsetta Garage and Facebook pages of Vinsetta Garage and Clarkston Union Bar & Kitchen
Writer: Kim North Shine

Sterling Heights largest industrial vacancy will be filled in the spring of 2013 with a $21 million investment by AGS Automotive in a bumper system assembly plant that will lead to 90 jobs initially and more later on.

The project is part of an expansion by AGS Automotive, which was considering sites outside the city. Instead, the move to the vacant land and facility on 18 1/2 mile road in the center of the city allows AGS to expand to the new site from its Sterling Drive South in the city. It also restore the business lost when Borg Warner and later Ford Motor/Visteon, closed operations at the site.

The investment includes renovation of the 360,000-square-foot plant on the site, which has received a $900,000 Michigan Business Development grant and will come with other support and incentives from the city.

"This investment will allow AGS's US operations not only to retain their current jobs for the future, but also to significantly grow by tripling the number of jobs over the next few years and adding a number of new leading edge manufacturing processes and capabilities," AGS co-president Joe Leon says in a statement announcing plans for the new facility.

Source: Sterling Heights Department of Community Relations
Writer: Kim North Shine

As Eftikhar Ahmed has gotten to know Birmingham - and Oakland County - he has learned that European transplants miss the Indian food so common to where they came from.

After enough times of hearing about their longing, "especially the English," he says, he decided to do something about it.

He and four partners are opening Touch of India at 297 East Maple Road in downtown Birmingham. The restaurant, which is taking the place of Le Feast, has been in a soft opening phase since April 18.

"When I would walk through the streets and talk to people, I would say this would be a good business here."

The owners are waiting for permanent signage and got an OK from the city last week t  put a temporary one in the window. Even as the owners work toward an official opening day, which will come in the next two weeks to 10 days, customers are finding them.

"People are finding us," he says. "So far, so good."

Within weeks the restaurant, which is employing four full-time chefs, manager and owner operators, will hire more wait staff, he says.

Source: Eftikhar Amhed, owner/operator, Touch of India
Writer: Kim North Shine

The Rouge riverbank in Northville's Mill Race Village, a historical area close to downtown, is in the beginning stages of a five-year plan to restore the waterway to its 19th century state.

The Northville Historical Society is overseeing the project, which is supported by a federal grant, and the plan is to eventually make it a place where visitors will see how the locals once used the riverbank in their daily lives.

The first phase, just completed, was the removal Trees of Heaven, nonnative, invasive species that had overrun the bank.

"A lot of residents are really involved in the downtown and Mill Race … groups, churches," says Michelle Nabozny, executive secretary to the Northville City Manager Patrick Sullivan. "

"But we really need more help, more volunteers," she says. "They're really going to need a lot of help out there."

On June 2, from 9 a.m. to noon, more unwanted plants such as garlic mustard and creeping Charlie, will be removed and beds will be prepared for planting. To volunteer for Rouge Rescue '12, call 248-348-1845, email mrv1845@yahoo.com or go to www.millracenorthville.org.

Ideally, the restored riverbank will be a part of day spent downtown. Walk a street over off of Main Street over a pedestrian bridge onto Griswold and visitors will see demonstrations such as dying clothes in the river, using local plants, using those local plants to eat and more.

The site of the restoration is the middle bank of the 127-mile Rouge River, which is the object of many federal and state clean-ups and improvements as efforts increase to make the river more useful recreationally and economically.

Source: Michele Nabozny, executive secretary to Northville City Manager Patrick Sullivan
Writer: Kim North Shine

A group of investors and developers are floating plans to turn the closed Fresard car dealership at 400 N. Main St. in Royal Oak into a boutique hotel, apartment building, and restaurant complex.

A preliminary proposal to redevelop the prominent downtown spot went before the Royal Oak Downtown Development Authority last week.

The property owners, who closed on the building and plot of land surrounding it about two weeks ago, are asking if the DDA would commit to some level of financial support at some point.

Dennis Griffin, who represents the investors on behalf of commercial real estate company CBRE, and Jason Krieger, a DDA board member and architect who drew up renderings of the plan, told DDA members that it needed to gauge the board's interest in order to approach the Michigan Economic Development Corporation about financing opportunities and development incentives.

"Obviously there's a whole bunch of details that have to be worked out," Tim Thwing, the city's director of planning, says. The tentative plans call for a 100-room, eight- to nine-floor boutique hotel with restaurant, bar and meeting rooms on the first two floors along with a 5-6 floor apartment building and a parking structure. Investors are interested in an operator such as Hotel Indigo, Krieger says.

The former Buick-Pontiac-GMC showroom would be renovated into a restaurant, bar and banquet facility, Krieger told the DDA board May 16. The investors, and Hotel Indigo - if it signs on -  would want local business owners to operate them.

"They really want to get entrenched in the community," Krieger said at the DDA meeting. "They want it to be a Royal Oak place with their branding."

At the request of the DDA board, which did express interest in supporting the project financially, the owners and operators will eventually return to the DDA with a timeline and more details, possibly within weeks.

The Fresard dealership closed six years ago, and it is also the site of a failed Kroger grocery store proposal that was rejected by residents.

Source: Royal Oak Downtown Development Authority
Writer: Kim North Shine

Ferndale is making it easier for bicyclists, whether commuters or recreational riders, to ride and park downtown.

Last week, through a project of the Ferndale Downtown Development Authority, on-street bike parking was opened and several other bike-related events held.

A new bike rack that holds 14 bikes and is also a sculpted piece of art created by sculptor Richard Gage in his TANK 425 Studio in Hazel Park was also unveiled.

The bike rack that doubles as art will be the first of six such bike racks and add to the 33 racks located around town. The first rack fills a parking space in a lot near Western Market on 9 Mile between Woodward and Livernois. The space that could hold one car now fits 14 bikes in one artsy rack.

"A good number of consumers are dedicated bicycling commuters. The rack really affirms that bicycles are a viable mode of transportation and very much welcomed here," says Cristina Sheppard-Decius, the Ferndale DDA's executive director.

The bike racks come in conduction with efforts by the city, state and cycling advocated to make Ferndale's streets safer and welcoming to riders.

Source: Chris Hughes, Ferndale Downtown Development Authority
Writer: Kim North Shine

When Brett Wilson decided on a location for the offices of his company, Creativibe, he chose it based on place, rather than being nearest his biggest client or close to company peers.

The place, a downtown Plymouth spot, overlooking Kellogg Park and within walking distance from his home, fit with what his company does for clients such as Henry Ford and University of Michigan health systems, Service Brands International, State of Michigan and Credit Suisse and others.

"For me it's not the foot traffic that important to the business. It's a good physical presence," he says. "It's centrally located in the heart of downtown Plymouth and in a beautiful historic building."

The building at 338 Main St. was built in the 1890s, "had a nice floor plan" and is located above the martini bar, 336 Main.

Creativibe started in 2006 and provides clients with web design services, identity branding and marketing strategies.

"We're here partly for the presence and also for the branding…People see the logo. There are a lot of business people here in Plymouth and in the surrounding area, people from big business," Wilson says. "They're here with their families. They're out walking around. They may develop that brand recognition."

Source: Brett Wilson, principal, Creativibe
Writer: Kim North Shine

It's hard to know if it's the rooftop and the good weather or the soccer games aired from around the world, but the customers are flocking to the month-old Red Fox English Pub in downtown Royal Oak.

The pub, which was mostly in soft open mode since April 17, is located above at 11 Mile and Main, where the once popular Memphis Smoke used to serve up barbecue and music. It's probably the best seat on downtown Royal Oak, and the rooftop bar and patio offers a view onto what's happening below.

Red Fox, which is owned by Ryan Kramer and Kevin Downey, serves mostly British fare. Bangers & Mash, Fish & Chips, Shepherd's Pie and a British classic side dish, Mushy Peas. Kramer is also an proprietor of Rosie O'Grady's and Cantina Diablo.

"Once word got out about the awesome patio and with the weather and everybody wanting to get out," people were flocking to us," says general manager Jennette Breault.

Before that - and no doubt in the future - it was and will be the soccer fans who come for the big screens tuned to their version of football.

"We have a soccer package with all the MLS teams and all the European and other teams," she says. "We get not only American soccer fans, but the Brits are flocking to us as well."

The pub's opening led to the hiring of 40 employees, about half of them full-time, Breault says.

Source: Jennette Breault, general manager, Red Fox English Pub
Writer: Kim North Shine

A $15.8 million project will add a new track between Detroit and Dearborn, giving Amtrak passengers and freight cars their own dedicated lines.

The changes to the West Detroit Connection Track, which is the key link between the new Dearborn multi-modal transportation station and Detroit's station downtown, were OK'd by the federal Department of Transportation last week. Feds will pay for half the project and the Michigan Department of Transportation will pay the other half as they look for ways to alleviate a bottleneck on portions of the track.

The West Detroit Connection Track is also a key part of the Detroit to Chicago line, known as Amtrak's Wolverine line.

The project, which will break ground later this year, will alleviate a bottleneck that is increasing waiting times for trains, costing companies money and slowing down travelers.

Carmine Palombo, director of transportation programs for the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, says the changes make sense economically because they allow goods and people to move more quickly and efficiently.

"When you have 10 minute and more delays that are caused by the bottleneck that is there now, that is huge," Palombo says.

But metro Detroit and Michigan are still a long way off from trains carrying coffee-drinking, newspaper reading commuters. Improvements such as new stations, including in Dearborn, Detroit, Troy and Pontiac, as well as changes to increase train speeds up to 110 mph, are lining up to make Michigan a train-riding state.

"It's all part of the overall series of events to improve passenger service," he says.

As of now, the line is mostly for travelers and freight. He says a commuter train between Detroit and Ann Arbor is inching along but still far from a done deal.

"Part of what happens now is existing Amtrak trains start in Pontiac and go to Chicago…The problem is the times are not conducive for a lot of commuters .. The times are geared for getting you to Chicago, not points in between. And the costs are not necessarily in step with what commuters want to pay."

He says legislation that will have the state of Michigan financially supporting the train service could change that.
"When that happens we can have a little more say in the schedules and how that service is run," Palombo says.

In the meantime, the feds, who are executing President Barak Obama's High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program, see the project as a way to address congestion of the Midwest Regional Rail Network and promote alternative forms of transportation and to create jobs and spur economic development.

Source: U.S. Department of Transportation and Carmine Palombo director of transportation programs, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments
Writer: Kim North Shine

The Eight Mile Boulevard Association's work to polish the appearance of the  8 Mile road corridor between I-94 and I-275 goes on with the latest facade improvement grant leading to a new look for 3M Abrasives.

The $5,000 grant from 8MBA to 3M helped the company pay for an overhaul of its building front.  It is the latest in a series of companies to participate in a program that aims to bring cohesiveness, some freshening up, to a hodgepodge of largely unregulated storefronts and signs along the dividing line between Detroit and its inner ring suburbs.

3M's facility at 11900 E. 8 Mile now has a cleaner, more modern look and is the latest accomplishment for the nonprofit 8 Mile Boulevard Association, whose mission is to revitalize the corridor in the areas of transportation, business and residential.

Source: Tami Salisbury, executive director, Eight Mile Boulevard Association
Writer: Kim North Shine

The managers of downtown Birmingham's Luxe Bar & Grill, which has forged itself as a comfy but high-end go-to spot for outstanding burgers, are moving on to another culinary endeavor in town.

Market, a Mediterranean-style bistro with a wood-fired oven and outdoor seating, could open by August, says John Heiney, executive director of the city's Principal Shopping District. Market will be located at 474 N. Old Woodward, across from Booth Park, at the former Root & Sprout.

Joe and Kristin Bongiovanniwill own and operate the establishment, which is one of several to receive a liquor license under a loosened state law that doles out more licenses to cities trying to promote business start-ups and expansions.

The owners of Market and Luxe are also behind the restaurant chain, Salvatore Scallopini.

Heiney says visitors to downtown Birmingham will find several new restaurants this spring and summer, including many with outdoor seating and new concepts.

Source: John Heiney, executive director, Birmingham Principal Shopping Distrcit
Writer: Kim North Shine

Future plans for city streets, sidewalks and passageways in Royal Oak will be fine-tuned to both promote walking and biking and pedestrian and cyclist safety.

As the city revisits its master plan, a guiding document for growth and development, it is incorporating a non-motorized transportation plan.

It will take into a account how to build roads that are safer for pedestrians and cyclists, what amenities to add, such as bike racks, so that biking around town is easier. It will also further educate the public about alternative forms of transportation and how the interests of auto users, cyclists, and pedestrians can co-exit.

The city has hired Chicago consultant Active Transportation Alliance to come up with recommendations to be included in the master plan.

Cities are more often making accommodations for other forms of transportation part of their road construction planning process. The road to getting more consideration for cyclists and pedestrians in the planning has been long. 

One nonprofit promoting the new way of planning is Michigan Complete Streets Coalition, and it is urging cities - and residents - to prepare for changes that will have Baby Boomers walking more often, more employees wanting to live where they work and therefore walking or biking to work, and also to take into consideration a growing interest in public transportation that could mean more walking and biking stops and stations.

Source: City of Royal Oak
Writer: Kim North Shine

Growing up, Sam Yang didn't often eat food like the dishes he and his family prepare for customers at his restaurants - Bangkok Crossing in downtown Detroit and the newer Coastal Thai in downtown Wyandotte.

His daughter, Susan Yang, says her father wasn't privileged enough to sup on such exotic entrees, but "he grew up learning how to cook. It was a poor country. He ate different things, but learned about Thai cooking."

The Yang family's latest venture to share his experience and the taste of Thai is in a spot on Sycamore Street in Downtown Wyandotte.

Susan Yang says "business is steady. It's going pretty well."

The family chose the new location "because Wyandotte didn't have any Thai restaurants and we heard people wanted something different." While Bangkok Crossing on Woodward near Campus Martius in downtown Detroit draws a lunch crowd of office workers, Coastal Thai gets a dinner crowd of mostly locals.

The restaurant has created full-time employment for six, including chef, servers and owners.

Source: Susan Yang, manager, Coastal Thai, Wyandotte
Writer: Kim North Shine