Development News

The nearly 100-year-old Chapman House in Rochester is in the process of a renovation that will make the former family home turned longtime home furnishings store into a restaurant and elegant event site.

For now the renovation is overshadowing what the Chapman House as a restaurant will be. Besides the painstaking daily details of preserving the historic structure itself, all sorts of historic keepsakes and fun finds are being uncovered.

A decades old Hershey's candy bar wrapper. A 1917 newspaper. Photographs. Original tile. A 200-plus-year-old gas light fixture.

The grand home was built in 1917 by William Clark Chapman, a prominent business owner and politiican, and remained in the Chapman family until 1973, according to the Rochester-Avon Historical Society. Several businesses operated there, most recently a furniture and interior design store. The home also survived two fires.

The renovation could be complete by spring, but developer Geoff Dancik can't yet announce a date. Historic renovation is an uncertain, windy road.

What is known is that a French-inspired restaurant will take up much of the first floor and most of the second floor of the Italian Renaissance-style mansion.

A terrace overlooking Walnut Street, just a few blocks from downtown Rochester, will offer outdoor seating as will part of the grounds behind the home.

The grounds and formal gardens will be available for private events.

As the renovations inside and outside continue, parts of the home such as the iron balconies have been sent away for proper restoration. A centerpiece of one patio, a five-burner gas fixture that dates back to the reign of King George IV during the mid to early 1830s, is also being restored.

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Geoff and Brenden Dancik, Chapman House

Mead may be the next frontier in the world of craft -- craft beer, craft food, craft wine -- and Ferndale will soon be home to two meaderies.

The latest, Schramm's Mead, is under construction at 327 W. 9 Mile and will open in May. It's just a couple of miles from B. Nektar Meadery, which opened a production facility and tasting room several weeks ago.

Schramm's is owned by Ken Schramm, a connoisseur of mead and go-to guy in honey wine circles that are buzzing as mead finds its niche.

Schramm authored The Compleat Meadmaker, the Bible for mead-makers, and founded The Mazer Cup international mead competition.

His meads, often fruity or spiced, will be produced and sold at the new store in downtown Ferndale. There will be a tasting room and food menu. Schramm and his family will run the business and hire several employees.

During a presentation before the Ferndale City Council, when Schramm requested a small winery license, he said he and his family are carrying on a family tradition that goes back to ancestors who came here from Germany, fought for the union in the Civil War, and are still in possession of family farms that go back 100 years in their family.

"The Schramm family has a 160-year history of providing food and drink to metro Detroiters," Schramm says, pointing out that his mother came from Ferndale. "We are thrilled at the opportunity to do business in Ferndale."

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Ken Schramm, founder, Schramm's Mead

Since transforming a vanilla, Old Navy store on Woodward Avenue in Ferndale into a colorful cacophony of artistic sights, sounds - and even smells - The Rust Belt Market is making some changes meant to take the business to the next level.

With two years of operation under their belt, Rust Belt founders Chris and Tiffany Best have decided the weekend-only artists' market needs a full-time pursuit.

With their own money, elbow grease provided by themselves, friends and family and $21,000 raised in a Kickstarter campaign they are renovating the market, adding a party and event space that can be used any day of the week. Currently the market is open only on Saturdays and Sundays and an occasional Friday night for special events. The Bests are also updating restrooms and redesigning the building so that artists' booths will be safe and secure.

The remodel of the market at the corner of Woodward and 9 Mile begins after this weekend. The new event space will cover 4,000 square feet of the 15,000 sq. ft. market. The new space will be right in the center of the market and be used as a flex space, the Bests say.

Rust Belt is an art fair, something the Bests love, but more. Artists, crafters and makers at Rust Belt are screened so that the mix is interesting, the quality and creativity high. Artists of all sorts - furniture and food makers, jewelers, seamstresses, painters, potters and many more - sell from booths that often are their own pieces of art, far from the moveable partitions or collapsible tents a la art fairs. A day at the market is musicians performing, coffee roasters roasting, and crafters carving and polishing.

While the market has clearly set itself apart, giving artists a successful retail outlet for their work and generating plenty of fans who appreciate the building itself for the art it is, the market is missing the business aspect that will let it thrive, the Bests say. The event space may be the answer by attracting more paying customers, such as musicians who have asked to use the space to make videos, to the market.

"During the week, it can be rented out for parties, concerts, art showings, workshops, weddings, yoga classes - almost anything, really," the Bests explain in their Kickstarter appeal. "During the weekend it’ll be home to traveling vendors or marquee artists helping to bring people in from the outer suburbs. It will be open for after-hour event opportunities as well. Most importantly, the resident businesses will not have to disassemble their micro-shops or worry about security issues when Rust Belt hosts events. The market that exists today will be the same cool thing it has been every weekend, but more streamlined, smarter, and with a regular draw. It’s a scary prospect, but the only way to maintain the values we've put forward for ourselves and our business, keep prices low for artists, and increase the traffic through the market is to look for different ways to use the space."

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source:  Chris and Tiffany Best, founders and owner/operators, Rust Belt Market

A metro Detroit sushi chain has added a sixth location, this one in Ferndale.

Toyko Sushi opened several weeks ago on Woodward Heights in place of Pete's Place, a closing that brought disappointment to the neighborhood customers and fans.

Tokyo Sushi's latest location is a dine-in or carry-out and also caters. Chef owner, Chris Sayanthone, serves Japanese, Thai and sushi.

While the opening is not in downtown Ferndale, it is one of several businesses locating on the periphery of downtown, including several that are converting light manufacturing facilities into retail businesses.

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

A Bloomfield Hills/Birmingham boutique owner is opting for the east side, bringing her specialty clothing and personal styling services to the Village business district in Grosse Pointe.

It's another sign, says James V. Bellanca Jr., that development in the Grosse Pointes is at a tipping point.

"She wants to be a part of the changes happening here. It's an exciting time," says Bellanca, an attorney who oversees a family trust that owns property in The Village.

The boutique will open in a space behind City Kitchen and a bath shop on Kercheval Avenue.Opening day will be sometime in May, Bellanca says.

It opens as the City Kitchen restaurant and bar expands in response to demand for barside dining. Down the street David Gilbert, an award-winning chef who's worked around the world and was executive chef at prestigious Forest Grill in Birmingham, is opening a French bistro with his wife, Monica Gilbert. She was general manager at Forest Grill. Marais is expected to open in August, Bellanca says.

Across from Marais in a neighboring block on Kerchveval will be a new hardware store, a still-to-be-disclosed national retailer and a combined medical and retail development in the spot where Borders was once located.

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: James V. Bellanca Jr., attorney and property manager

Downtown Rochester is coming off a complete rebuild of Main Street, and now city planners see this as an ideal time to determine if parking options downtown also need updating.

To figure it out, the Rochester City Council and the Rochester Downtown Development Authority have gone the survey route, asking anyone with an opinion on what's needed and what's not when it comes to parking. The survey, which also includes an open-ended question, is getting high responses and also yielding useful information not necessarily related to parking, says Kristi Trevarrow, executive director of the Rochester Downtown Development Authority.

"We're getting an insane response, over 100 surveys in the first 40 minutes. We're at almost 800 now," she says.

The Main Street makeover, which was completed in November and included a re-do of downtown sidewalks and the addition of amenities to make being in downtown easier and more convenient, took out all parking meters.

Before deciding whether to replace those and make any other parking changes, say structures, kiosks, or re-arranged lots, the survey was sent out. The city council, planning commission and the DDA will review the findings April 10.

"It's fast. We don't want this to be a long, drawn-out thing…We want it to be a working document," says Trevarrow.

The changes will affect not only immediate parking needs, but attempt to plan for the future. The last parking study was done in 2003 and determined that the parking as it was was adequate.

"If a big development were to come in, maybe residential with retail or a large company, we want to be prepared," Trevarrow says. "The economy is snapping back. At some point there will be a development. We want to be prepared and have that answer when the time comes."

Want to share your thoughts? See the survey here.

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Kristi Trevarrow, executive director, Rochester Downtown Development Authority

Since Borders bookstore closed in 2011, leaving one of the largest buildings in Grosse Pointe's Village business district empty, the big question has been what would replace it and when.

And when the equally large Ace Hardware located in the same building relocated to Detroit in January, leaving the whole block on Kercheval Avenue empty, the conversation turned more worrisome.

Now the tone is changing as three tenants are making plans to take over the 50,000 square feet of space.

James V. Bellanca Jr., who manages the property for the family trust that owns it, says David DeRonne will open a DeRonne True Value Hardware in part of the space previously occupied by Ace Hardware. A smaller part of that space, about 11,000 square feet, is in negotiations between two retailers, who can't yet be named, Bellanca says.

The third part of the building, about 22,000 square feet where Borders was located, will become a Beaumont Hospital office and retail development. The back portion of the building will be used for medical, the front for retail, he says. It's a fit with the new Neighborhood Club Beaumont Hospital community and wellness center located just behind the Village and within walking distance of the new building.

Bellanca says True Value, which will be run by a family with a 50-year-plus history in the hardware business, could open by late spring or early summer. Beaumont's facility could be open by August. And the tenant in between could be open for business mid-summer.

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: James V. Bellanca Jr., attorney and property manager

A vacant downtown Lincoln Park storefront will become a temporary art gallery filled with artwork from artists

The Lincoln Park Downtown Development Authority is inviting art students and artists to display their art work in the storefront windows on Fort Street and Southfield.

The display is connected to the Detroit Institute of Arts Inside/Out Street art program that will install reproductions of masterpieces on building facades in downtown Lincoln Park. The paintings will be up from July through September.

"The goal of the DDA is to provide continuos art experience for visitors attending the Inside/Out program," says Madhu Oberoi, director of the Lincoln Park DDA. "This would be a great opportunity for art students and art enthusiasts."

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Madhu Oberoi, director, downtown Development Authority

Just over 35 cities and townships in Michigan are joining a new state program that teaches them how to prepare their communities for redevelopment and attract the kind of development they want.

Of the cities accepted into the first round of training and certification in the Michigan Economic Development Corporation's Redevelopment Ready Communities program, eight are in metro Detroit. Ann Arbor is also on the list.

It, along with Lathrup Village and Novi, will receive a formal Redevelopment Ready Communities evaluation that could lead to certification as a Redevelopment Ready Community. This means they either have outlined or have plans to outline their redevelopment strategies and draw development to fit their community. This designation could also make them eligible for redevelopment grants.

Dearborn, Clawson, Farmington Hills, Hamtramck, Wixom, and White Lake Township will receive best practice training and assistance and could move onto the certification process later.

They all will learn how to creatively re-use space, support and attract economic innovation, and devise devise plans that bring in redevelopment investment and in turn rebuild thriving communities for employees, residents and recreation.

The program was originally launched by the Michigan Suburbs Alliance in 2003, and its success led to the state program.

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Kathy Fagan, spokesperson, Michigan Economic Development Corp.

A new Mexican restaurant is opening in downtown Clawson.

Mojave Cantina is in the midst of a soft opening, testing its menu of traditional burritos, tacos, quesadillas and its own twist on those Mexican staples, as well as specialties such as a Mojave salad and bacon and tomato guacamole. Margaritas and sangria are on the menu too.

It's located at 48 W. 14 Mile and is one of several new businesses that have opened or plan to open in the downtown, which is also taking on changes that will make it more walkable and bicycle friendly.

The owners, who renovated the space, are continuing to hire staff, host private events and open the doors for limited hours. Hours will go to full-time within two weeks, says Joan Horton, executive director of the Clawson Downtown Development Authority.

Judging by Mojave Cantina's Facebook posts, locals are ready to pull up a chair. The restaurant can seat up to 140 people and will host live music acts and salsa dancing.

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Joan Horton, executive director, Clawson Downtown Development Authority

People are eating up Ethel's Edibles gluten-free baked goods at such a pace that this toddler of a company has had to grow up quickly and move to a larger bakehouse and its first bakery retail store. The company started at the family dinner table and has spread to stores in metro Detroit and Michigan.

"We really hadn't intended to move so quickly, but this spot came up," says self-taught gluten-free baker and chef Jill Bommarito of Grosse Pointe.

In 2010, she discovered the pecan dandies and hot blondies that would get her name out there in Grosse Pointe. By August 2011, she was shipping her goodies to food bloggers around the country and involved with the Tri County Celiacs Support Group which introduced her to people, events and organizations looking for gluten-free baked goods that didn't taste gluten free. By November, Ethel's Edibles was in its first store. It's now in 25 stores, and in June Plum Market will carry Ethel's in its new Chicago store along with two other Michigan products -- Zingerman's and Cooper Street Cookies.

"It's all about having good people to work with," she says. "And the customers, they are amazing. They have helped us so much in how we do things. They have great ideas, great advice. There are so many good stories."

Eastern Market, too, she says, has been the launching pad for her company and so many food start-ups.

The new bakehouse on Harper Road between 8 and 9 Mile Roads in St. Clair Shores is the stepping stone to more products, more distribution, and relationships with like-minded small businesses, Bommarito says. She has 12 employees and is developing a "decadent cookie like Mrs. Field's and a great gluten-free muffin."

She started gluten-free cooking to take care of family members with Celiac's Disease, an intolerance to gluten that is hereditary. Her goal, she says, was to make the same family favorites without anyone knowing the difference.

The success of Ethel's Edibles, named after Bommarito's grandmother who taught her to bake and cook in a carefree and creative style, resulted from a beautiful collision of circumstances: a growing consumer interest in eating gluten-free, a deepening interest in supporting local businesses and the explosion of social media as a sales and marketing tool.

"Twitter and Facebook have been tremendous," she says. "By the time we were in stores in August we would come up on Google….We receive orders through Facebook from Boston, Chicago, California."

"Last year, our first full year, was a fun year, a busy year," she says. "We intend to double our production this year over last year."

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Jill Bommarito, founder, Ethel's Edibles

Grand River, the rather suburban, nondescript swath of road that runs through Farmington and Farmington Hills, may be changing into a more welcoming, walkable, attractive Main Street.

The Grand River Corridor visioning process is an ongoing plan to revitalize the stretch of road between Mayfield in Farmington to 8 Mile in Farmington Hills, including parts of 8 Mile Road. The cities of Farmington and Farmington Hills are working together on a plan that could enter the construction and make-over phase as soon as October and be completed by April.

The public is invited to see the current plan and ideas on March 13, from 5-8 p.m. at the Botsford Hospital community room in Farmington Hills.

The purpose is to tie in public input to a working proposal to make Grand River a livable, working, gathering spot that's easy to navigate whether by car, bike or foot. Already about 300 ideas from business owners, city officials, planning consultants and various stakeholders have gone into the current, changing plan to rework the roadway into a more inviting commercial corridor.

“The planning team will showcase the visioning plan in written and graphic forms,” said Aaron Domini, Senior Planner with OHM Advisors. “This is the community’s chance to review the plan, provide feedback, and help shape the future of this important project."

For more information, go to www.fhgov.com/grandriver.

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Nate Geinzer, assitant to Farmington Hills city manager

The Village in downtown Grosse Pointe is getting a new restaurant, one with a French influence that will take over two storefronts on Kercheval Avenue and be run by a couple connected to culinary standouts in metro Detroit and in Europe.

Marais, owned by David and Monica Gilbert, will be an upscale white tablecloth French restaurant at the corner of Kercheval Avenue and St. Clair, says Jennifer Palms Boettcher, president and executive director of the Grosse Pointe Chamber of Commerce.

The Gilberts have traveled the world learning about food and have cut their chops at the best of the best in the restaurant arena. David Gilbert cooked at top Michelin-rated restaurants in Europe. He and Monica Gilbert left Brian Polcyn's award-winning Forest Grill in Birmingham, where he was executive chef and she was general manager, to build Marais in Grosse Pointe, where the couple lives.

Opening day for Marais could come by August, says James V. Bellanca, an attorney who negotiates lease deals for the family that owns several pieces of property in the Village. Part of the French bistro will be pub and private dining area. The other will be the dining room, says Bellanca. At 6,100 square feet, he says it will be the largest restaurant in Grosse Pointe.

"With David's design and reputation and experience this is going to be an exceptional operation," Bellanca says.

The current occupants of the two storefronts, one a prominent, window-wrapped space at the corner of Kercheval and St. Clair, the other a long narrow space, are moving out so that renovations can begin.

The Grosse Pointe Art Center and Bellissima women's clothing and bridal boutique have found new locations. The art center is moving a block away on Kercheval, and Bellisima is moving to Mack Avenue in Grosse Pointe Woods.

Marais will add variety to the Village, which is home food-wise to two bagel shops, two bakeries, two coffee shops, two casual restaurants and City Kitchen, a slightly upscale restaurant and bar that's expanding its bar.

The expansion and the coming of Marais is building on a buzz across all the Pointes as metro Detroit restaurateurs show some love to the community, where residents are used to leaving town for variety and often asking, "Why not here?"

"I think there is great opportunity for restaurants and other businesses to locate in the Village," says Grosse Pointe City Manager Peter Dame.

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Peter Dame, Grosse Pointe city manager, and Jennifer Palms Boettcher, president and executive director, Grosse Pointe Chamber of Commerce

Plans to build a working and living community for artists in Dearborn are progressing now that the city has set a sales price for the city hall building that will be renovated by the nonprofit ArtSpace.

Artspace has built 32 communities around the country, all of them in cities that have seen economic potential in the creative culture and provided artists places to live, work and sell their works as well as perform.

Dearborn Mayor Jack O'Reilly made the announcement that Artspace is likely to pay $1.65 million for the 1922 Georgian revival style city hall that has become too costly and wasteful for the city to keep.

City hall employees will move into a smaller, more energy-efficient city building that's more centrally located while ArtspaceDearborn, in cooperation with the East Dearborn Downtown Development Authority, renovates the old city hall into the City Hall Artists Lofts at 13615 Michigan Ave. Plans call for 40-plus affordable, live/work spaces for artists, art studios and spaces for arts organizations and creative businesses to operate on the east side of the city. East Dearborn, unlike West Dearborn with its influence of Ford Motor Company and the Henry Ford museum, is a more eclectic mix of businesses and has a deep rooted Middle Eastern community. The Arab American National Museum, believed to be the first and only museum devoted to Arab art and culture, is in East Dearborn.

The renovation could cost about $13.5 million, according to Artspace, and it acts as an arts and culture magnet that could attract new residents and visitors to the city.

Artspace’s Mission is to create, foster, and preserve affordable space for artists and arts organizations. Its motto: Bulding Better Communities Through the Arts.

The next step in the process is to apply for low-income housing credits from the state of Michigan, Artspace's Wendy Holmes says. Without those credits a nonprofit Artspace project can't happen. Tax credits typically cover 60-65 percent of the construction cost, the credits being based on the project's ability to provide affordable housing and to act as an economic stimulant. An architect is engaged and drawing up renderings of how an Artspace Dearborn would be laid out and function, she says.

A decision on whether to grant the tax credits is due in August. If approved, construction would start in 2014, Holmes says. If denied, Artspace applies again, and if approved then, construction would begin in 2015, she says.

One thing for certain is that the development would fill a whole city block on Michigan Avenue, where there are two matching City Hall buildings and another building in between. Housing will go into the City Hall building facing Michigan Avenue and in the one just like it around the corner. A third building between them will most likely have studio space,

"It would be a whole campus of arts activity, says Holmes, who has seen the economic spark that comes from providing a gathering spot for the creative community. In Seattle, for example, ArtSpace is about to start construction on its fourth space, this one connected to transit-oriented development, she says.

Along with lofts for living, places for creating or promoting all genres of arts, there would be space for art-related businesses.

"The concept is that space is used by to gather organizations with art interests. It could be a theater company," Holmes says. "There could be a fabrication area for, say, a company that fabricates different forms of art. This is
where creative people can come together in one place."

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Teri Deaver and Wendy Holmes, Artspace

A downtown in progress in Auburn Hills has a restaurant joining the mix of the businesses that are a part of an economic development plan to provide a walkable, community-event centered central gathering place for local families, students and visitors.

Elwell Grill, run by a restaurateur who came out of retirement at age 76, opened in December and is now serving lunch and dinner from a modern American menu in a cozy urban setting. Patrick Elwell has a nearly 50-year history in restaurants in Auburn Hills.

The city's Tax Increment Financing Authority, which is investing in the emerging downtown area around Auburn and Squirrel roads, provided funding so that the restaurant would contribute to a Main Street feel. Originally the entrance would have been at the rear of the Elwell Grill, but with the help of TIFA it was moved to the front and additional doors and windows were added.

The push to create a downtown and attract more businesses is in large part connected to the opening next year of an Oakland University graduate student housing and retail complex that will attract hundreds of residents.

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Tom Tanghe, Auburn Hills assistant city manager