Detroit – Matching Vacant Space and a Business

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Business, Commercial Real Estate, Detroit, Entrepreneurs, Grants

In 2015, Motor City Match provided $500,000 in matching grants; connecting business owners with property owners. Property owners with vacant space looking for tenants and entrepreneurs looking for space in Detroit may look to find help through this potentially viable option.

Grant Applications for Business Owners and Building Owners in Round 3 is currently open and will close January 1st.

In the previous round, 10 businesses received a share of the $500,000 Grant to start or expand a business plus 87 businesses received assistance in planning or guidance to get their businesses started.

For more information and to submit an application go to www.motorcitymatch.com.

The Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, a private, non-profit organization, one of the partners in Motor City Match, has a lot of resources to help companies and businesses arrive and thrive in Detroit.

 

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Commercial High-Rent Blight

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Blight, Commercial Real Estate, Detroit, Downtown Ann Arbor, Retail Leasing

Recently an article in The New Yorker explained high-rent blight in the West Village area. Rising properties values allow landlords to justify raising rents on commercial properties often pricing long-term tenants out of the market. This has resulted tenants being forced to close their business or having to move. Many storefronts have been closed for a long time, as landlords wait for higher paying tenants, often whom are national chains.

New York City is not the only place that high commercial rents start to undermine the unique character that makes areas of a city appealing to shop and visit. When too many national chains move in, it reduces an area’s special attributes and hurts the small businesses that have created the charm and character in the first place.

Ann Arbor’s State Street retail district, adjacent to the University of Michigan’s central campus, recently saw two restaurants closing with claims of “high rent” as a factor in their decisions.

One city is finding a way to deal with empty storefronts. In 2011 a group of people in Minneapolis came together to develop a community real estate cooperative. Northeast Investment Cooperative buys and develops real estate. They have bought, sold, and renovated buildings in an area that was once empty storefronts. The area is now thriving with several businesses enhancing the neighborhood.

To reduce blight in Detroit a task force was created in 2013 called Detroit Blight Removal Task Force. They have been targeting residential neighborhoods first; starting with those that are most populated and have the fewest abandoned homes. The city’s goal is to tear down 200 houses a week.  Commercial blight will be more challenging as there are more than 5,400 commercial, civic and church properties on the removal list.

Source: MLive.com

Source: MLive.com

Source: Crosscut.com

Source: Detroit Free Press

Source: MLive.com

Detroit from Above and Before

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Cities, Detroit, Investment, Planning

In the New York Times Sunday Review, aerial photographer and pilot, Alex S. MacLean, showcases Detroit. Not every photo is flattering but all are interesting. Detroit is rebounding and as with all cities that have rebounded, it takes time.

A fantastic place to see photos from Detroit’s great past is at HistoricDetroit.org, on their website they have photos of “Buildings, Places and Landmarks”.

Looking at what Detroit once was it’s easy to be optimistic that the city can reflect that spirit once again.

Invest and Walk in Detroit

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Commercial Real Estate, Detroit, Investment, Walkable Downtowns

George Washington University Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis recently released a report: Ranking Walkable Urbanism in America’s Largest Metros. While Detroit ranks 22nd out of 30 for metro areas, there is hope. Detroit ranked 8th out of 30 for cities that are developing urban walkable places. The authors see a permanent shift developing from the importance of drivebility in suburbs of metropolitan cities towards walkabliity in the city itself. If you drive in from the outskirts, walk in the city. A lightrail line will make that easier, connecting downtown, midtown and New Center.

Dan Gilbert, owner of Quicken Loans, owns nine million square feet of real estate in Detroit. He believes in Detroit and others are starting too also. Business are popping up, after years of Detroiters shopping in the suburbs, there is opportunity to keep those dollars in Detroit. Investors and entrepreneurs are rebuilding the city. Go to town, take a walk by the river, go buy something, a meal, a hat, a building, a house…  

Source: M-Live

Source: New York Times

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