Northbound Woodward, before you run into Maple, veers to the left and becomes Old Woodward. The first thing you see is the 555 Building, standing at the downtown's entrance like a giant sentinel guarding a valuable treasure. Once inside, lining Old Woodward are the high-end shops, girls in big sunglasses, suits and ties, and, just off the main drag, on Merrill, a boutique puppy shop where you can buy the finest fur ball for $1,800.
Birmingham is different. The vibe, you feel it on the streets. And that's always a good sign of a healthy, established downtown. When you can feel it in the air. But, Birmingham is different than nearby neighbors Royal Oak and Ferndale. There is more starch in the shirts, a few more high-end notches in their fancy belts, and bigger and older money flowing through Old Woodward. It's not less-than or greater-than. It's just different.
"Historically, we've always had a lot of financial management firms, doctors, lawyers," says John Heiney, executive director of Birmingham's Principal Shopping District. "And they've always been here." The PSD is, essentially, Birmingham's Downtown Development Authority.
Birmingham has big law firms like Clark Hill, and large investment firms like Munder Capital Management, and CPA firms like Fenner, Melstrom & Dooling who have been operating downtown for 60 years. According to Heiney, there are 56 law firms, 48 financial firms, 30 physician offices, 20 dentists, and 15 mental health professionals in the PSD. But these types of companies are the things most of us know about Birmingham.
But, just like Royal Oak (as you may have read last month), there is a second story. Not just literally. Not just up a flight of stairs or a short ride in an elevator. There's a part of Birmingham you might not know about, the story behind the story.
"We were apprehensive to relocate down here at first," says Tom Stone, co-founder and executive vice president of Speedshape, a visual effects and motion graphics firm on the third floor of 280 North Old Woodward. "We didn't want to be perceived as being too high-end." That apprehension quickly turned into enthusiasm. "But this is ultra-convenient for our clients. There are good places to eat, to walk. The environment is perfect for our business."
Speedshape – a multi-million dollar, international graphics firm – moved from an office park in Troy, off Big Beaver, to a deluxe space in the sky. (Really, just the third floor.) Most of Speedshape's clients are ad agencies looking for creative solutions to their own clients' needs, whatever they may be. "A lot of auto stuff," Stone says. "We do things that aren't possible in real life." The firm currently employs 85, with a small satellite office in Los Angeles and a small sales team in London.
"Birmingham is a real center," Stone says. "We're off Old Woodward. … We have a nice vantage point here."
Birmingham's Principal Shopping District is huge. It runs from Lincoln north to Oak Street, and east, over Woodward, to Adams. The PSD encompasses 2.2 million square feet of non-retail, second floor commercial office space. Nearly 400 businesses occupy that square footage. The heart of downtown, called the central business district, takes 1.6 million square feet of that.
"Over the last five to seven years we've definitely seen an influx of the more creative types of companies," Heiney says. He says Birmingham hasn't moved away from its history, but there have been some shifts. "We have Google here now, and Facebook. … There are definitely more ad agencies coming to town" – McCann, one of the bigger ad agencies, moved to Birmingham three years ago – "but we've always had interior designers and architecture firms."
Over at 135 North Old Woodward, just up the stairs, are a few of those creative companies, a few more traditional companies, and one interesting idea.
Imagine your office, the company next door's office, and the company next door to that other company's office. Now, remove all the walls and doors and cubicles. That's 135 North Old Woodward – with a beer tap.
"This is like an incubator on steroids," says one of the tenants, Howard Rabotnick, who started his company, Tendras, last October. "Being an entrepreneur" – this is his fourth company – "is a very lonely place to be. Being here at the 'Now House'" – a term given to the second floor work space – "there is an energy level that gets you moving. I don't look at myself as a tenant on the second floor, but part of a new way of doing business."
Tendras is a business advisory company with a focus on finance. Rabotnick says that most companies are uncomfortable in the financial arm of their businesses and, interestingly enough, that's where they spend most of their time. So, one of the things Tendras offers is a part-time CFO to get everything in order and put the company on track.
More than a half dozen companies call the Now House home. There is a marketing and communications firm; a web strategy, SEO, video production company; an interactive gaming company; another communications company; and a self-help or, as the founder Bob Shenefelt tells it, a help yourself company called iMatter. And these are just a few of what's happening up there.
"The infrastructure of an office isn't important anymore," Shenefelt says. "Creative thinkers, doers, and collaborators are."
"This environment is amazing," Rabotnick says. "In this day and age, through emails, texts, and voicemails, you can very easily have a business where no one talks to each other. But not here. Everyone talks."
Storm Kirschenbaum isn't in the Now House but still has to walk up pretty much the same number of stairs to his office. Kirschenbaum, president of Metis Sports Management, lives in Birmingham and his offices are above the Cupcake Station at 132 North Old Woodward. His firm represents baseball and football players, and he's looking into representing local celebrities.
Kirschenbaum has seven agents spread out across the U.S. representing 70 professional athletes. "You've probably never heard of them," he says. A couple, however, are Roger Bernadina, outfielder for the Washington Nationals, and Renauld Williams, linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
"Birmingham is exactly what I need," he says. "When players come here from out of town, they stay at the Townsend. We can go to Forte, have dinner. The office is right in the heart of Birmingham. And the athletes are young so they can walk up the stairs."
The poster from
Jerry Maguire – a movie about a sports agent who finds his conscience – hangs in Kirschenbaum's office. "That's the goal," he says about the poster. "We give it a personal touch. The goal is not to be Scott Boras" – one of the biggest professional sports agents in the U.S.
If you go in either direction of Kirschenbaum's office you'll run into several businesses. Go north and you'll find, on the other side of North Old Woodward, a business called the China Closet. Go south, and you'll see the Jungle Room. Both couldn't be more different.
The China Closet is an event-planning firm that can put on a baby shower for 30 people at an eco-boutique for families or a 600-person wedding at The Henry Ford. The Jungle Room sells glass pipes for tobacco use, "and only tobacco use," says Francis, who goes by just Francis. "Yes, just like Madonna," he says. However, he points out, if you are carrying a medical marijuana card, you do get a 20 percent discount.
As you can see, Birmingham is more than what most of us know it for. It's more than those big money firms and the pin-stripped suits and the super-fancy sunglasses we see walking the streets. And it's more than that $1,800 fur ball someone will most definitely buy.
"I could have easily started my business in a more traditional suburban office building," Rabotnick says. "But downtown Birmingham was a big draw. I always wanted to be in an urban setting. I've always been jealous of those who work in downtown Detroit or Chicago in those buildings." Rabotnick raises his arms up as if he were king of the domain. Then adding: "And now I'm here. I drive 20 to 30 minutes to be here."
Terry Parris Jr.
floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee. He is also a regular contributor to Concentrate,
Metromode and Model D.
His previous article was Metro Detroit Is Abuzz
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All Photographs © Marvin Shaouni Photography
Contact Marvin here
Photos:
On the way up to the Now House
Francis, manager of The Jungle Room, rearranges glass pipes
Synergy at the Now House
Now House founder Bob Shenefelt
Storm Kirschenbaum
Storm Kirschenbaum at the office of Metis Sports Management
Technicolor glass pipes