In the News

All is not quiet on metro Detroit's home front: Home prices up 11.9%

Detroit Free Press Thursday, January 31, 2013

Detroit and its burbs are hot properties compared to the rest of the country. A national home price index reports Detroit area homes appreciating at the third-highest pace in the nation, year-to-year.

Excerpt:

"The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose 5.5% in November compared with the same month a year ago. That’s the largest year-over-year gain in six years.

All but one of the cities in the index posted annual gains. The largest gains were in Phoenix, where prices jumped nearly 23%. It was followed by San Francisco, where prices rose 12.7%, and Detroit, where prices increased 11.9%."

Read more here.

Rising from the ashes: The Urbanwood Project

Earth911.cpm Thursday, January 31, 2013

The now nationally-recognized Urbanwood Project is making building blocks from the wreckage of the emerald ash borer disease that took out much of metro Detroit's leaf canopy.

Excerpt:

"...So far as we know, this cooperative of partners working together and selling urban wood is the only one of its kind in the country," Jessica Simons, Natural Resources Specialist at the Southeast Michigan Resource Conservation and Development Council, told Earth911...

Urbanites (and suburbanites) may not think of themselves as living in forests, but there are actually large numbers of trees within cities. Before Urbanwood came together, Jessica Simons' organization wanted to learn just how many.

"We wanted to find out 'Where is the wood going? Is any being reused? How much wood is there in southeast Michigan?' So we commissioned a couple of different studies using USDA funds," Simons said. The studies concluded there were 73.5 million board feet of wood from dead and dying trees in the area, enough to build 5,600 average sized homes."

More on this project here.

PBS 'Under the Radar Michigan' show has soft landing at Troy trampoline park

PBS Thursday, January 24, 2013

PBS show Under the Radar Michigan jumps on a cool biz, Troy's AirTime Trampoline & Game Park. If you didn't catch the show last week, the vid will be up soon.

According to its website, AirTime Trampoline & Game Park has 31,000 square feet of wall-to-wall trampolines and games like trampoline Dodgeball, slam dunk basketball, foam pits and open jump areas divided by age.

Watch for the episode here.

Michigan Film Office director promotes Michigan at Sundance Film Festival

Detroit Free Press Thursday, January 24, 2013

After going through the big cut in funding for film incentives a couple of years back, Michigan has redoubled its efforts to score film productions again. From Sundance, Michigan's new film office director talks with the Detroit Free Press.

Excerpt:

Q: What are you hearing from people in the film industry in general about Michigan?

A: I think there is still some confusion about the status of our program, especially with people who are not in Michigan. Everyone seems to be very pleased that we have $58 million (in incentives for fiscal 2013). ... I haven't heard any negativity. I think people are anxious to hear about what kind of projects we'll be able to help support.

More here.

Web visitors heart Michigan's travel and tourism site

Michigan.org Thursday, January 24, 2013

Again, Michigan's travel and tourism website is tops in the nation. As the economy improves, hopefully those visits are translating from virtual to actual.

Excerpt:

"The state of Michigan’s official travel and tourism website, michigan.org, is once again the most visited state tourism website in the country. The site attracted more visits than any other state tourism website for the sixth year in a row, according to the independent online measurement company Experian Hitwise.

With nearly 1 million more visits than the number two state tourism website, Florida, michigan.org received 7.1 percent of the overall market share of visits to state tourism sites...

...Pure Michigan also holds the number one state tourism spot on Instagram with more than 15,000 followers and more than 115,000 photos using the #PureMichigan hashtag since its launch in July."

More here.

YES! Magazine gives nod to creative, life-sustaining jobs in Detroit

YES! Magazine Thursday, January 24, 2013

We Want Green Too, a non-profit that's aligning un-or under-employed Detroiters with sustainable jobs in their own communities, is an inspiring story. Could this be replicated in other southeast Michigan communities?

Excerpt:

"Detroit entrepreneurs are learning to rely on each other, finding the seeds of a new economy in resources discarded by corporate America.

When pieced together, these projects aren't merely aimed at figuring out ways for people to make a living; they're about neighbors helping neighbors to build new lives. The city is becoming a place, in certain pockets, where citizenship isn't defined by voting and paying taxes. It's thought of more broadly—creative collaboration to create new ways of living out of necessity."

More here.

Wall St. Journal notes Kresge Foundation's $150M investment in Detroit

Wall Street Journal Thursday, January 17, 2013

The Troy-based Kresge Foundation is betting large on Detroit's future with a $150 million investment over the next few years. Will other foundations and government programs follow suit?

Excerpt:

"One of the nation’s largest foundations will spend $150 million over the next five years to implement a new land-use plan in an attempt to revitalize this ailing industrial city...

The new philanthropic investment—about $120 million in new funding beyond previously announced programs—is a sign that the foundation based in Troy, Mich., just north of Detroit, and its leader, Rip Rapson, are doubling down on the future of the city despite its chronic fiscal woes."

Read more here.

Celeb chef Wolfgang Puck praises Detroit's auto show

Crain's Detroit Business Thursday, January 17, 2013

It was the lucky few who partook at the pre-North American International Auto Show dinner event personally catered by Wolfgang Puck last weekend. Interestingly enough, Puck says this auto show is probably the best one in North America – and it's the only one he attends.

Read and watch the video here.

Finally! Census Bureau reports uptick in Michigan's population in 2012

Data Driven Detroit Thursday, January 17, 2013

Looks like the moving vans are heading into, or at least staying parked, in Michigan. For the first time in seven years, Michigan has gained population.

Excerpt:

"The Census Bureau released state population estimates for 2012 (July 1, 2012) and Michigan is shown as gaining population between 2011 and 2012 – up 6,559 persons or 0.1 percent. While this pales when compared to Texas's gain of 427,400 residents (#1 in number gained) or North Dakota's 2.17 percent increase (#1 in percentage gain), it does mark the first time that Michigan has experienced a year-to-year increase in population since 2004-2005."

Read more here.

Solo-preneurs are blanketing metro Detroit's economy this winter

Detroit Free Press Thursday, January 17, 2013

Using the term "hard-hit" to describe Detroit's economy is old, old news, as evidenced by the legions of Detroiters making a second start in life.

Excerpt:

"In Michigan, there were 632,618 solo-preneurs in 2009, the latest year for which census data are available. That's up 14% from 555,736 solo-preneurs in 2002. And according to YourEconomy.org, 37% of all Michigan businesses in 2009 were run by one person."

Read more here.

Solid Dudes Kitchen premieres new episode

Solid Dudes Kitchen Thursday, January 10, 2013

The dudes are back! And this time they're making meat popsicles!

On the last Sunday in January you can join the dudes as they celebrate their latest episode at The Brooklyn Fireproof (119 Ingraham Street, Bushwick)

The party goes from 7:30-10PM but is followed up with a 10–2AM After-party with DJ SET by Dial.81, Composer of DETROPIA Sundance Film Festival winner and Oscar-nominated documentary.

Best of all? Admission is free!

Troy-based Autobike's revolutionary gear shifters now available

YouTube Thursday, January 10, 2013

Troy-based Autobike's brainy bikes are about to go public! Check out the promotional video for their automatic gear shifter below.

Art scavenger hunt comes to Detroit this Friday

The Huffington Post Thursday, January 10, 2013

Skidmore Studios is organizing an art scavenger hunt on the streets of Detroit. Twenty-finve pieces of art will be 'hidden' around the city as part of The international Free Art Friday event (organized by Free Art Friday Detroit). The event is intended to introduce Detroiters to the works of independent artists and is part of an international effort.

Excerpt:

"If you see a sculpture floating in a Detroit fountain Friday, or a painting perched on a statue, you may have stumbled onto the beginning of your own free art collection, and a surprising way to support the DIA.

You'll have to check a social media site to see if it's one of the offerings of Free Art Friday Detroit (FAFDET), a cross between a scavenger hunt and free art auction where people leave their artwork around the city for seekers to find and keep each week. They'll post photographic clues to the FAFDET Facebook page or Twitter with the hashtag #fafdet."

Get the skinny on how you can particpate here.

Arab Film Fest opens January 24

Arab American national Museum Thursday, January 10, 2013

From the press release:

"Mideast Film Biz Forged in Cauldron" (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118063673/?refCatId=19) was the headline in the Dec. 17, 2012 edition of the entertainment journal Variety, on a report about the burgeoning Arab World film industry and how it’s being affected by the Arab Spring uprisings.

Fans of Arabic-language movies and adventurous filmgoers seeking new perspectives can experience this phenomenon for themselves when recent films from Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar and UAE get rare U.S. screenings during the 2013 Arab Film Festival at the Arab American National Museum, 13624 Michigan Ave., Dearborn, Mich. Jan. 24-26, 2013. While most titles are in Arabic, all films include English subtitles, making them accessible to a general audience.

Check out the film program and get tickets here.

Silicon Valley company finds Metro Detroit just right

Tech Crunch Thursday, December 20, 2012

Silicon Valley's Stik moves to Detroit because of the region's resources - particularly talent.

Excerpt:

"“We had a great network the last two years in the Valley. But the employee side was more advantages here in Detroit being a much bigger fish in a smaller pond of startups. We didn’t start here 2 years ago because we didn’t see the network of investors and advisers that we knew existed in Silicon Valley. But that was 2010.

Now, in 2012, there’s a lot of resources here between Quicken Loan’s major investment in the tech scene and an investor group in Ann Arbor that has been very helpful.”"

Read the rest here.