Women’s Small Business Month

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Business, Washtenaw County, Women-Owned

The National Women’s Business Council celebrates Women’s Small Business Month in October. As stated on their website “… the NWBC advises the White House, Congress and the Small Business Association on issues relevant to women business owners – with a critical focus on how to alleviate the obstacles faced by both women business owners and women trying to start their own businesses.”

Locally women business owners will be recognized at a networking breakfast on October 24th, 8:00 am at Ypsilanti Sam’s Club. RSVP by Oct 17th.

According to the 2007 Census, women-owned firms in Washtenaw County represented 33.1%.

Crains Detroit Business lists the largest 5 women-owned businesses by revenue in 2013.

Acknowledge and support Women-Owned Businesses this month!

 

 

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New Listing: Over 2 Acres on Golfside near Ellsworth

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Featured Listing, Home Office, Investment Property, Land

Over 2 acres with a 1932 SF house used as an investment/rental property.  Also located on the property is a 1200 SF auxiliary building used as an office/shop.  Current R-4 Zoning allows for a variety of uses. Property is very well located to major thoroughfares, yet the feel of privacy is obvious. Good for investment or owner of a business to use as a home office.

Ypsilanti Township R-4 Zoning allows for:

• Home office of a professional person
• Small appliance repair
• Day care
• School
• Recreational facility
• One operator beauty parlor or barbershop
• Dance studio

Listed by Amy Freundl, (734) 669-5904

View listing here

 

They want your imput! – August 26, 27 and 28

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Ann Arbor, Charette, Development, Site Planning

The Platt Road Site Project Planning Team wants you to get involved. 2270 Platt Road, Ann Arbor, a 13.5 acre site (formerly a juvenile center) will be developed.  A charette, the intensive planning session, to develop a vision for this property, will take place August 26, 27, & 28. Don’t mss this opportunity to be part of the designing and planning. Go to www.plattroad.org for details.

Efforts to Create Affordable Housing in Ann Arbor

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Affordable Housing, Ann Arbor, Community, Urban Design, Washtenaw County

On May 22nd, the task force on Sustainable Revenues for Supportive Housing Services recommended a plan to the Washtenaw County Commissioners, to create 500 or more units of housing to help the homeless. The goal is to have the housing and supportive services paid for through a millage and endowment fund. An endowment fund was established in 2011 and has $2.1 million in commitments to date.

The Platt Road Site Community Advisory Committee met on June 11th and is moving forward to the next stage in the design process for the best use of the parcel that held the Washtenaw County Juvenile Center. This is expected to take several months and they want community imput. The main event will be a public multi-day design session. The public will be able to work with urban designers, architects and landscape designers, making use of their skills to create something tangible.

Source: The Ann Arbor Chronicle

Source:  The Ann Arbor News

 

Detroit: Good Bars & Good Blight

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Bars, Blight, Cities, Detroit, Urban Renewal

Esquire magazine gives Detroit the honor of being the 2014 “Bar City of the Year” in their June/July issue. Is Detroit renewing from the inside out? Keeping with the bar theme, Curbed Detroit looks at archived photos from old Detroit’s famous and popular bars.

On another note, in the New York Times there is a map where the Blight Removal Task Force has identified more than a fifth (over 370,000) of Detroit’s properties struggling with blight. Over 40,000 are recommended for demolition. After demolition will Detroit be bright? Discuss it at the bar.

Source:  Deadline Detroit

Photo:  Morguefile.com

Vibrant Cities Offer Transportation Options

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Ann Arbor, Cities, Transportation

Millennials are a demographic group of over 80 million Americans and cities are paying attention to what is important to them.  Transportation options are one of the key considerations when they decide where to live. Cities that can’t attract young professionals may lose out.

Aging boomers are another group of 80 million or more that are moving into urban areas and seeking those cities with walking and transportation options. In a study by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, people of all ages are driving less. The decline started right after 2004, before the recession, indicating that there is a real shift in driving habits.

Ann Arbor, adjacent Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Township voters, passed a tax increase on May 7th, 2014 to expand transit services in those cities and township. It passed by 71% clearly making transportation options important to the majority of voters.

Source: The Atlantic Cities

Graph: CNBC

Will Fourth Avenue be the new Main Street?

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Business, Downtown Ann Arbor, Retail, Walkable Downtowns

Main Street and State Street are downtown Ann Arbor’s primary shopping districts. Fourth Ave is one block from Main Street and has become an area that is providing opportunity for businesses and a welcome new destination for shoppers.  With an abundance of restaurants on Main Street, Fourth Avenue was prime for increased retail.

Source:  Concentrate Media

Community Project for Universal Playground

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Ann Arbor Parks, Community, Playgrounds, Rotary Club

The Rotary Club of Ann Arbor is funding the bulk of a community project to build a universal playground in Ann Arbor’s Gallup Park.  The Rotary Club is celebrating its 100-year anniversary in 2016 and is commemorating it with this project. Construction is slated to start in 2016.

The universal playground, where everyone can play together regardless of their abilities, will replace an existing outdated play structure.  It will be approximately 5,000 square feet, twice the size of the current one.

Source:  MLive

Photo: ManicMorFF via Morguefile

Commercial Sales Rising

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Commercial Real Estate, National Association of Realtors, Real Estate Trends

Commercial Sales registered an upward trend in the fourth quarter!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source:  National Association of Realtors

Retail or E-tail?

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Commercial Real Estate, Retail Businesses, Trends

Retail or E-tail, retail businesses have to adapt to both.  The National Association of Realtors has taken a look at what it takes to “survive and thrive”, plus “10 Retail Trends to Watch”.  Read the articles in their Commercial Connections newsletter.

Source:  National Association of Realtors

Photo: Alvimann via Morguefile