The sign for the new The Loving Touch pool hall in downtown Ferndale is expected to turn heads and (hopefully) bring business.

The retro tongue-in-cheek design calls for a neon silhouette of the classic mud flap girl. One of its legs will kick out, prompting a neon pool ball to roll down to the main sign, illuminating the business' name.

"I think it would be an iconically cool, hip sign personally," says Chris Johnston, one of the co-owners of the highly anticipated billard joint. "It would be the type of thing that would show up in pictures of road rallies and coffee table books."

Johnston also owns a piece of The Emory and Woodward Avenue Brewers, which is adjacent to the space for The Living Touch. He said the idea has received a cool reception from a few city officials, but still thinks it will happen eventually.

Right now Johnston and his partners are concentrating on opening the pool hall by its new opening date of Nov. 18. He thinks that once local officials see the inside of the newest addition to the Woodward corridor, they will have a better appreciation for the sign. He expects to go for approval of it next spring.

The Loving Touch has enjoyed a bit of eye-rolling notoriety in Ferndale. The name was originally the moniker of an infamous massage parlor in downtown that closed in the early 1990s. Johnston and his partners have decided to keep the old signs for the massage parlor a decor for Johnston's latest venture.

The pool hall replaces the old Paperbacks Unlimited storefront next to the WAB facing Woodward. The 5,000-square-foot space will have eight or nine pool tables and an atrium in the back. The side of it all will be two walls "alive with plants," according to Johnston.

Johnston and his partners knew the project would be a little controversial, but believe it will be a great addition to the downtown district, catering to hipsters and young professionals.

"I don't mind ruffling a few feathers," Johnston says, "but not too many."

Source: Chris Johnston, co-owner of Woodward Avenue Brewers and The Loving Touch
Writer: Jon Zemke

Some light rail down Woodward Avenue for Metro Detroit. A commuter rail between Detroit and Ann Arbor. Some bus rapid transit along Gratiot Avenue.

Those mass transit features and more are on Metro Detroit Transit Czar John Hertel's shopping list. His organization, the Regional Transportation Coordinating Council, released details this week of its new transit plan for the Tri-County area.

The plan as presented, at public meetings throughout Metro Detroit this week and next, has four main points:

1. Enhancing existing bus services
2. Introducing rapid transit corridors of light rail, commuter rail and bus rapid transit
3. Creating seamless connections between mass transit lines
4. Finding funding sources

"We address the first three in the open houses" says John Swatosh, deputy director of the Regional Transportation Coordinating Council.

The plan calls for a number of ambitious yet realistic goals to be accomplished by 2011, 2015, 2020 and 2025. The end result would produce an extensive and comprehensive regional mass transit system with a variety of options that is light years ahead of what we have now.

2011
Within the next three years the plan calls for the following mass transit features to be up and running:

• A streetcar line along Woodward between Jefferson and Grand funded by private investors
• A commuter rail line between Detroit and Ann Arbor with stops at Dearborn and Metro Airport
• Creating Hub Connectors, small buses that go between major population centers such as Eastland and Westland malls
• Arterial Rapid Transit corridors along Woodward, Michigan, Gratiot, Telegraph, Warren and Van Dyke

ART is the light version of bus rapid transit. It is much cheaper to set up but features more advantages than regular bus service, such as traffic signal priority, enhanced shelters and signs that say when the next bus will arrive.

"The concept with ART is entry-level rapid transit," Swatosh says.

The idea is to install it in a cost-effective manner along heavily traveled corridors. That will help enhance ridership so those corridors have a better chance of qualifying for federal funding, which would allow the jump to BRT or light rail to occur sooner.

2015
Seven years from now the plan calls for:

• Extending the Woodward streetcar line to downtown Royal Oak at 11 Mile Road
• Establishing BRT on Gratiot between Woodward and M-59, and extending it along M-59 to Van Dyke
• Extending the Detroit-Ann Arbor commuter rail line up to Pontiac with stops in between at Royal Oak and Birmingham
• Installing ART lines on 8 Mile, Big Beaver/Metro Parkway, Fort and Grand River

2020
A dozen years down the road the plan calls for:

• Establishing BRT or light rail lines along Gratiot (Woodward to 9 Mile) and Michigan (Woodward to Metro Airport)
• Creating BRT routes along Fort, Warren and Grand River
• Adding commuter rail line routes between Port Huron and Detroit and Detroit and Monroe
• Extending ART lines to several other major corridors, including Jefferson, 7 Mile, 9 Mile, Eureka and Greenfield

2025
Way down the line the plans calls for:

• Extending BRT or light rail along Gratiot/M-59 and Woodward up to Pontiac
• Establishing BRT lines along 8 Mile, Big Beaver/Metro Parkway, M-59, Telegraph and Van Dyke
• Adding 12 Mile to the ART lines

The plan is still being tweaked but Swatosh expects the four major leaders of the Tri-County area to sign off on a final version by the end of the year. The plan is considered a critical piece of the puzzle to fighting off the fierce competition for federal mass transit funding.

Maps and more information on the plan will be available on the meetings being held this week and next. The meetings will be held from 4-7 p.m. as follows:

• Ferndale, today in the Gerry Kulick Community Center, 1201 Livernois
• Sterling Heights on Wednesday in the Independence Building at Freedom Hill County Park, 15000 Metro Parkway (16 Mile Road)
• Detroit on Oct. 2 in TechTown, 440 Burroughs

For information, call (313) 393-3333.

Transportation Riders United, a local non-profit that advocates improving mass transit, will also attend the meetings to further discussions about how best to make the plan's recommendations realities.

TRU's fall meeting will also center on the new regional transit plan. The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 7 in the lower mezzanine of the Guardian Building in downtown Detroit.

Source: John Swatosh, deputy director of the Regional Transportation Coordinating Council
Writer: Jon Zemke

What is commonly believed to be the oldest alcoholic beverage known to man is the newest drinking fad in Metro Detroit.

If you haven't heard of Mead, a honey wine, then you should try some. The only problem, good luck finding some. The ancient drink is a very popular choice at drinking holes across southeast Michigan.

"Most people know it through renaissance festivals and books like 'Beowolf'," says Brad Dahlhofer.

He and his wife Kerri started Ferndale's B. Nektar Meadery a few months ago in 1,500 square feet on Jarvis Street. Their product has become so popular that they have sold out most of their first product run. Plans are now in the works to more than quadruple their production space, taking over 5,600 square feet next door.

The Dahlhofer's first brewed 500 gallons. It only took a matter of weeks to sell out of all except one of their brews. Now, the wine has been selling as far away as Jackson and Saginaw and as close as the Holiday Market in Royal Oak and Woodward Avenue Brewers in downtown Ferndale.

"They (the WAB) went through nine cases in a month," Dahlhofer says. "They said it was one of the fastest selling brands they had."

So fast that the Dahlhofers haven't been able to keep up with the demand. They brewed a skeleton sampling at first to keep costs down for their fledging business. Now they are preparing to brew 12,000 gallons by the end of the year.

"It's such a niche market we don't know what the demand would be," Dahlhofer says.

Source: Brad Dahlhofer, co-owner of B. Nektar Meadery
Writer: Jon Zemke

Lighthouse of Oakland County is planning to sell and lease out most of its remaining projects this fall.

The Pontiac-based non-profit specializes in creating affordable housing. It does this mostly through renovating existing structures, mainly in its own backyard. The organization is close to have two of its refurbished apartment buildings completely leased and is cutting prices on its three houses in Ferndale.

Lighthouse spent $7.7 million earlier this year renovating the Beacon Square Apartments and the Beacon Town Homes. The apartment building on 101 Mechanic St. went from 50 dilapidated units harboring drug activity to 28 new apartments. The 12 town homes on 449 Whitemore now each feature three bedrooms, two bathrooms, an attached garage and a full basement.

Both projects are in Pontiac's Unity Park neighborhood where Lighthouse built 98 new owner-occupied homes and renovated another 180 existing houses over the last decade. Both buildings are expected to be fully leased by the end of the month.

Lighthouse has also cut the price of the three homes it renovated last year on the east side of Ferndale between 8 and 9 mile roads. The prices now range between $89,900 and $110,000.

"We have had a lot more interest since we have lowered the price," says Karen Staley, spokeswoman for Lighthouse of Oakland County. She adds that her organization has noticed more activity in the lower-price-range of the housing market recently.

Source: Karen Staley, spokeswoman for Lighthouse of Oakland County
Writer: Jon Zemke

The traditional red, orange and white colors of the SMART buses are about to go green.

The suburban Detroit mass transit agency is transforming its fleet so they can run on bio-fuel. So far three of its 283 buses have made the switch. The rest are expected to be phased in within the next two years at a rate of 15 per month.

The buses will run on grain-based B-5 bio-fuel, which will up their fuel efficiency from 4.2 mpg to 4.9. That might not seem like much of a bump on the surface, but it represents a nearly 17 percent increase in fuel efficiency.

And the best part is SMART is making the switch for free. The buses were not living up to their normal life expectancy, so they were able to negotiate for new engines from the manufacturer. The new engines include the upgrade to bio-fuel compatibility.

Source: Beth Dryden, director of external affairs, marketing and communications for SMART
Writer: Jon Zemke

Downtown Pontiac has a big development in its cross hairs.

The city's Downtown Development Authority is choosing between two development proposals for the Lot 9 property. The parcel is a parking lot on the northeast corner of Saginaw and Pike streets.

Although details on the competing projects are scare, they both have similar characteristics. Both developments call for building mixed-use structures, combining retail and residential space. Both projects are urban in design, meant to complement the surrounding historic building stock.

The DDA was set to make a decision Wednesday night, after this story had gone to print.

Source: Pontiac Downtown Development Authority
Writer: Jon Zemke

The people behind the Ann Arbor District Library are promising that the new downtown branch will be bigger and better than the 50-year-old structure there now.

Excerpt:

The face of the intersection of South Fifth Avenue and East William Street has changed dramatically within the last year with the demolition of the old YMCA. It promises to change even more soon as plans are announced to raze the Ann Arbor District Library's downtown branch and build a new one in its place.

Gone will be the modern, red-brick structure that first opened its doors in 1957. Coming is a new 4-story building that will be 47 percent larger. Inside its 160,000 square feet will be a 400-seat auditorium and more space for kids, teens, studying, exhibits, meetings and of course, reading.

"We need more space," says Josie Parker, director of the Ann Arbor District Library. "We need a bigger library."

Read the rest of the story here.

Ann Arbor is looking at multiple ways of beefing up its mass transit service, including building a streetcar line.

Excerpt:

Could a streetcar line be in the cards for Ann Arbor? It’s a distinct possibility according to the Ann Arbor Connector Feasibility Study.

The $250,000 study outlines ways to beef up the transportation options on a crescent moon-shaped line. It would connect the Plymouth Road exit for U.S. 23 to downtown. It would also travel further south along South State Street to Briarwood Mall.

Read the rest of the story here.

Famed sculptor Marshall Fredericks was on hand when his "Spirit of Detroit" was dedicated on September 23, 1958. Now after a recent restoration, the sculpture was rededicated 50 years to the day after its debut.

Excerpt:

Greg MacDuffie of the Detroit-Wayne Joint Building Authority thinks the timing couldn't be better for the city to take part in a celebration of this nature. "The 'Spirit of Detroit' always symbolizes the essence of Detroit and renewal and, frankly, Detroiters personify that," he says. "Politically, for the city of Detroit and all of Michigan, it's been a difficult year of political turmoil, and here we’re celebrating a great anniversary with a real sense of hope and renewal."

Read the entire article here.

People's Community Services has built a library at its Hamtramck community center aimed at keeping kids busy while their parents are waiting for various service appointments at the facility. The library is patterned after a similar amenity the organization built a few years back at its Delray center in Southwest Detroit.

While the first library was funded by Daimler Chrysler, this one was funded by Aramark, the international food service corporation. They first held a book drive and then, with City Year as a partner, painted the entire community center and stained, assembled and installed shelves and organized the 3,000 books. Approximately 170 total volunteers contributed time to the project.

PCS executive director Tom Cervenak estimates that the value of the work and the books at more than $20,000 and says that the library is already extremely popular with his clients.

PCS' Hamtramck site is located at 8625 Jos. Campau and is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Source: Tom Cervenak, PCS
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

What promises to be one of the most important master plans for Metro Detroit is set to be released Wednesday, when the Regional Transportation Coordinating Council starts holding public meetings about new transit plan.

The council, which is headed up by Metro Detroit Transit Czar John Hertel, created the new plan as a key approach to obtaining more federal dollars for local mass transit. It is the first comprehensive regional transit plan for the tri-county area in decades.

"What we'll be sharing is some recommendations for enhancing public transit systems for DDOT, SMART and MDOT," says John Swatosh, deputy director of the Regional Transportation Coordinating Council.

It details plans, timelines and funding mechanisms for improving bus lines and creating rapid transit initiatives, such as light and commuter rail. It will advocate for the creation of commuter rail, light rail, streetcar and bus-rapid-transit lines throughout Metro Detroit and serve as the roadmap for implementing them for decades.

What mass transit improvements will be applied where (such as light rail on Woodward Avenue) will be revealed early next week. Municipal planners and other stakeholders will review the proposal over the weekend before it's presented at public meetings between Wednesday and Oct. 2.

The meetings will be held from 4-7 p.m. as follows:

• Dearborn on Wednesday in the U-M-Dearborn Fairlane Center, 19000 Hubbard Drive
• Ferndale on Thursday in the Gerry Kulick Community Center, 1201 Livernois
• Sterling Heights on Oct. 1 in the Independence Building at Freedom Hill County Park, 15000 Metro Parkway (16 Mile Road)
• Detroit on Oct. 2 in TechTown, 440 Burroughs

For information, call (313) 393-3333.

Transportation Riders United, a local non-profit that advocates improving mass transit, will also attend the meetings to further discussions about how best to make the plan's recommendations realities.

TRU's fall meeting will also center on the new regional transit plan. The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 7 in the lower mezzanine of the Guardian Building in downtown Detroit.

Source: John Swatosh, deputy director of the Regional Transportation Coordinating Council and Transportation Riders United
Writer: Jon Zemke

Redevelopment in Birmingham's Rail District is starting to pick up steam as some projects close out and others begin.

Finishing up first is the District Lofts, a mixed-use project that will start moving in people and businesses this fall.

Beginning is the redevelopment of 2010 Cole, from an industrial building into a retail and office structure on the district's south side.

The developer wants to turn the 1-story structure into eight commercial spaces, similar to how 2121 Cole was recently transformed into homes for the likes of personal trainer and architecture firm. The redevelopment of 2010 Cole will include repainting (dark grey) while adding doors, windows and awnings so the building can be divided into eight spaces. The three truck bays will be replaced with brick to match the building.

It's just the latest example of how the area is transforming from its Rust Belt industrial past into a vibrant urban center. Sidewalks are being rebuilt on Eton Street this fall and the sidewalks for Cole are set to be redone next year.

"We're trying to make it more walkable over there," says Jill Robinson, a city planner for the city of Birmingham. "There are a lot of businesses over there and a lot of activity."

The district, which is adjacent to railroad tracks, is primed to take advantage of a proposed extension for the Detroit-Ann Arbor commuter rail line. City planners are also looking at it as the potential hub for an east-west streetcar line connecting Birmingham and Troy.

Source: Jill Robinson, city planner for the city of Birmingham
Writer: Jon Zemke

Just as Oakland University is swallowing up its construction projects this summer, the Rochester Hills-based college is preparing to bite off another big expansion eastward.

OU is opening up a satellite campus in Macomb County. The new Oakland-Macomb campus will offer classes in health care, education, international business, engineering and communications arts

While the new campus is based out of the headquarters that is still being determed, classes will be held throughout the county at various facilities at Macomb Community College, the Macomb University Center and the Macomb Intermediate School District. OU aims to have 2,000 students at the campus by 2010 and 5,000 by 2020.

OU also recently finished extensive work on a number of construction projects on the college's 1,500-acre campus. The $3 million in work ranged from upgrading 40-year-old labs and classrooms to repairing roofs, elevators and sidewalks.

Another $2 million in improvements is scheduled for this fall.

Source: Oakland University
Writer: Jon Zemke

Twenty five years ago, downtown Royal Oak was practically a ghost town, desperate for a store like Noir Leather. Today it's one of Michigan's most vibrant urban cores. And it should be desperately trying to keep Noir Leather around for another 25 years.

Keith Howarth started what is now a local institution out of his love for punk bands and alternative clothing. It soon became his dream job, creating a career from "what you do on the weekends."

"I wanted to create a business for myself that I loved and I wanted to be my own boss," Howarth says.

The always-edgy Noir Leather also served as one of downtown Royal Oak's main boutique stores, sparking an urban revival. It was probably the best-known of the 13 prominent downtown boutiques during downtown's heyday in the early 1990s.

Unfortunately, today only three of those trendsetting shops survive (Noir, Incognito and Footprints). Howarth estimates that 98 percent of the downtown's retail tenants have changed since he opened up shop a quarter century ago. Many of them were squeezed out by the restaurants and bars (too many of them chains) that have flooded the district, robbing Royal Oak's core of the eclectic stores that gave the strip its unique flavor.

Howarth reminds us that it was his store and a few others that started the downtown Royal Oak's nightlife many years ago. They kept their stores open late and hosted events when the rest of the lights turned off at 5 p.m. Today foot traffic is at its highest on weekend nights, when yuppies and bikers roar into town.

What's lost when boutiques are squeezed out is a sense of local ownership. 
Local retail owners play a pivotal role in shaping downtowns, often making decisions in the best interest of the area. Sometimes at the expense of their own bottom line.

"You have involvement in the community," Howarth says. "The store owners have a stake in how the city transforms. Chain stores can't do that."

Howarth has no plans to move Noir Leather from downtown Royal Oak as it celebrates its 25th birthday (at The Crofoot in downtown Pontiac this weekend), but he is mindful to add, "you never know what the future holds."

Source: Keith Howarth, owner of Noir Leather
Writer: Jon Zemke

It takes a little green to turn brown into beautiful, even in downtown Birmingham.

The Birmingham City Commission approved important brownfield tax credits that will make the construction of the new Greenleaf Trust building (commonly known as the Catalyst project) possible. The $1.36 million in tax incentives will help pay for clearing and cleaning of the old, abandoned gas station at the corner of Woodward and Maple.

"It's incredibly important," says Jill Robinson, a city planner with the city of Birmingham. "Because of the contamination on those sites we wouldn't see any development on them, especially a beautiful, 5-story gateway building like this."

In its place, Greenleaf Trust plans to build a mixed-use structure, featuring space for retail, commercial and residential. Five rental apartments will go on the fourth and fifth floors. The second and third floor of the 50,000-square-foot building will be dedicated to office space. Kalamazoo-based Greenleaf will move its Metro Detroit offices to the third floor. The first floor will be occupied by Zazios, a modern Italian restaurant that is popular in Kalamazoo.

The cherry on top of the structure is its pending application for silver LEED certification for a variety of environmentally friendly features. Those will include a 1,500-square-foot green roof, natural lighting and numerous water- and energy-efficiency fixtures.

Work is set to begin this fall and be done by May 2010.

Source: Jill Robinson, a city planner with the city of Birmingham
Writer: Jon Zemke

Lofts on the 9 is filling up fast, at least the retail section of it. The downtown Ferndale development just signed its first tenant and is close to signing a second as the building gets ready to open its doors.

The ink is dry on the lease for Serendipity Yoga, which will occupy 1,600 square feet of the building's 5,500 square feet of ground floor retail space. The developer also claims an unnamed tenant is committed to a lease for nearly 2,000 square feet.

"We have a very interested client," says Adam Wolfson, sales broker for Lofts on the 9.

Serendipity will open soon after work on the building is finished, which shouold be around Thanksgiving. Residents will begin moving in soon after.

The development is on East 9 Mile Road just east of Como's Restaurant and across the street from the Ferndale Public Library. Construction began in earnest earlier this year.

The 4-story structure features units that are priced from $149,000 to the mid $400,000s. They range in size between 500 and 2,100 square feet, however, the 2,100-square-foot loft can be expanded up to 2,700 square feet by adding a rooftop deck. Each unit comes with a ground floor parking spot next to the building.

The group of developers behind the Lofts on the 9 project also built the Troy, Main and Center street lofts developments in downtown Royal Oak.

For information, call Wolfson at (248) 336-9600 or at (248) 535-4900.

Source: Adam Wolfson, sales broker for Lofts on the 9
Writer: Jon Zemke

One dancing fish is about to start dancing in the streets now that Birmingham plans to give it a permanent home.

Birmingham officials are planning to return the Dancing Fish sculpture to the city, giving it a permanent home overlooking Quarton Lake. The sculpture is a large piece of metal painted white and shaped like an upright fish and apparently abandoned by its artist James Clover.

The city has taken it in and plans to refurbish it. Once the sculpture is ready it will be permanently installed on a small pad of concrete in the middle of a grassy field on West Maple near Baldwin Avenue. Birmingham's Public Arts Board is quarterbacking the efforts.

The board has been on a tear this year, installing public art throughout the city. Earlier this summer, the board kicked off its Cityscape public arts program by installing a dozen different pieces of public art in the city. The principal piece, "Rou A Lou" by Mark di Suvero, was installed at the southern end of downtown where Old Woodward and Woodward avenues intersect.

Source: City of Birmingham
Writer: Jon Zemke

The Planet Blue program looks to turn the University of Michigan green, both financially and environmentally.

Excerpt:

Ten percent of $111 million is a lot of money, even in a world where the Canadian dollar is worth more than the American version. That $11 million is what the University of Michigan hopes to save in energy costs in the next three years as part of its Planet Blue program.

Those savings will come from creating efficiencies in 90 of the university's buildings and training staff to "think about what they're doing and how that can save energy," says Jim Erickson, a spokesman for U-M.

Read the rest of the story here.

This much is for certain, the old Leopold Bros site in downtown Ann Arbor won't become another brewery.

Excerpt:

The developers trying to figure out the future of the old Leopold Bros building in downtown Ann Arbor expect to decide whether to make it an entertainment center or subdivide it into condos within the next week. Whatever the decision, it looks like a hotel is out for the site.

"The hotel became too big a project with the city because of the rezoning," says Jerry Spears, the managing partner with the building's development team.

Read the rest of the story here.