GREAT GROUP

Rivertown Detroit Association--focused on improving living and working in Rivertown Detroit. Membership--work in Rivertown/live in Rivertown/friend of Rivertown Detroit. No cost to be a member--just looking for your time, talent and interest in supporting and improving Rivertown Detroit.

Agenda: Thursday October 20th 5PM-6:30PM
Remember to bring plenty of business cards.
Networking & Introductions
Welcome by Mark Rieth, Owner, Atwater Block Brewery
Presentation--- How do you make that beer and ale taste so good!!!!!!!!!!! Tour of the Brewery by Mark and his team. Samples for all.

Helloooooooooooooooooo! I miss you guys... lets meet...

Good morning wonderful world of 21st century.

How are you guys?

Things have been busy but great here at the Lofts.

I will be getting a new intern Oct 17 and I have been locking in a consulting contract for youth recruiting with DPS.

Starting to plan the next bus trip....., more rentals, more great relationships...

As far as the event... I have decided to do an even tin November. My thought was that I would like the community to sponsor a family to feed for thansgiving. I think this is better because there will be several people having haloween parties and I would like as much participation as possible.

Soooo,,,

With that said. I have more good new to share.

Let me know when you are available to meet. I am open.

Tues and Thursdays preferably.

MLK was GREAT!!!!

WE NEED JOBS NOW!

Got Jobs? Demonstration, Washington D.C. Sep. 24, 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyeEqv_gwwg

Today: Above and Beyond September 22, 2011 10:00AM

MailChimp Newsletter

Using the function of print as a pdf, you can turn a MailChimp newsletter into a pdf.

MailChimp also makes it very easy to link to social media; Google +, Facebook, Twitter, RSS.

Meeting: 10 AM Rivertown Lofts 9-22

Continuation of our discussion on 9-12.

We will be focusing on the October 29th Event.

- setting the vision (how does it flow?)

- deciding on what residents might be told in advance about the event

- potential sponsors/volunteers etc.

- survey (ready to send?)

Architect

I gave Ms Chandra Moore the contact info for Monica.

She attempted to contact you (Mocheezy :) yesterday from her California number and left a message.

She asked that someone call her at 313-416-4354, she is interested.

keshonna is hired kpatlodc@gmail.com

Housing Stock in Midtown Detroit

Cash incentives have "absorbed" a lot of housing stock in midtown Detroit
By Jennifer Guerra









Three Detroit businesses earlier this year began to offer up to $25,000 to encourage their employees to buy a place to live in Midtown Detroit. But the "Live Midtown" incentives have created a new kind of housing crisis in the city: a housing shortage.

Austin Black is a realtor with City Living Detroit in midtown. He says in 2007 - 2008, the area was flush with unsold units. But he says now many of his clients have become frustrated looking for housing in the area.

"I think there was an expectation that there was a lot of supply when the program was announced," explains Black. But he says the incentives "absorbed a lot of that supply," which he believes is ultimately a good thing. But now, he says, "we're at the point where there's jut not a lot available."

Black says currently there’s only one loft building in Midtown with units for sale, the Willys Overland Lofts near Avalon Bakery. Black says there are six condos for sale and even fewer single family homes:

"There’s about three ... single family homes on the market. And most of those are mansions, like in Brush Park for example, that would need a significant amount of money to get them in livable conditions."

Black says new developments in Midtown won’t be available until late next year. He says developers should address the new housing demand by offering smaller developments with "a diversity of price points and housing types."

Another LEAP of Faith to ADD to our Understanding

BUILDING BLOCKS

Group has detailed plan to improve lower east-side Detroit neighborhood

By JOHN GALLAGHER FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

   Call it the great LEAP forward for Detroit’s lower east side. Over the last year, community activists struggling to revitalize their neighborhoods have engaged in a block-by-block, almost house-by-house, planning project, surveying thousands of residents and engaging teams of experts in architecture , planning, demographics and other disciplines.

   Known as the Lower Eastside Action Plan, or LEAP, the effort has developed a set of initial recommendations pegged to a given block’s condition, said Khalil Ligon, LEAP project manager.

   In LEAP’s vision, stronger districts may remain a mix of residential and commercial, while more vacant areas could be converted to urban farming or other nature-scapes.

   Having produced initial recommendations, members of the LEAP team of volunteers now hope to have their work adopted by the City of Detroit as part of whatever plan emerges from Mayor Dave Bing’s broader, citywide Detroit Works effort.

   “What we’re hoping now is that we can have more detailed discussions about how we can begin to integrate LEAP into the larger city plan,” Ligon said.

   Marja Winters, Bing’s deputy director of planning and development and a leader of the Detroit Works project, said the city appreciates what LEAP has done.

   “I like the fact that they have engaged residents, given them a voice in deciding the future recommendations for their community,” Winters said. “We appreciate neighborhoods taking ownership, thinking about solutions.”

   She added, “How do we bring that to the table and incorporate that in the (Detroit Works) process? I think it will definitely get addressed there, but right now, I can’t exactly say how.”

   The LEAP project grew out of a desire of three nonprofit community groups — Warren-Conner Development Coalition, Jefferson East Business Association and Genesis HOPE Community Develop- ment — to find new uses for rapidly expanding vacant land on the east side. The LEAP project area now has a population of about 39,000, down from more than 60,000 in 2000.

   “Of course, everybody wants a traditional residential neighborhood, but the reality is, that’s not going to happen,” Ligon said. “Our population went from 60-plus thousand to 30-plus thousand in 10 years. So we’ve been on a continuing decline.”

   Maggie DeSantis, president of the Warren-Conner Development Coalition, said, “Everybody else seems to want to abandon it. Do we just walk away or do we get our arms around it and get ahead of it?”

   Over the last several months, LEAP volunteers have surveyed thousands of east-side residents at community meetings and in door-to-door campaigns. Dozens were invited to meetings to pore over neighborhood maps and suggest what type of future uses might be appropriate.

   With about $300,000 in funding from the Erb Foundation and other backers, the LEAP team worked with severaloutside experts — landscape architects from Ann Arbor-based JJR, demographers from Data Driven Detroit, legal help from Community Legal Resources and more — to help guide the discussions.

   Among the ideas being considered for the area’s most vacant expanses are storm water retention ponds, reforestation, urban farms, wineries and green zones, as well as using decommissioned schools as food processing plants.

   Those are merely concepts now, but DeSantis said the LEAP project hopes for solid plans to emerge, not just fanciful ideas.

   “We don’t want pretty pictures,” she said. “We want a set of strategies that work.”

   The LEAP meetings were running roughly parallel with Detroit Works public sessions, and LEAP volunteers said they hope that their more fine-grained study of the east side can become part of the city’s broader, and more high-level, plans for Detroit.

   “You’re actually talking to the neighbors and you’re talking to the people that live in the community,” said Ayana Rhodes-Ako, an east-side resident and LEAP volunteer.

   • CONTACT JOHN GALLAGHER: 313-222-5173 OR GALLAGHER99 @ FREEPRESS.COM  

ANDRE J. JACKSON/Detroit Free Press

   Khalil Ligon, project manager for the Lower Eastside Action Plan, at an abandoned store in Detroit. LEAP’s vision is that stronger districts may have residential and commercial areas. More vacant areas could be converted to urban farms or other nature-scapes.

Add this Vision to our Vision

Start of Uniroyal cleanup sharpens riverfront vision

26 years after factory demolition, plans for housing, retail in focus

By JOHN GALLAGHER FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

   Promises made, promises kept.

   Detroit’s once-industrialized east riverfront took another huge step toward a hoped-for future Friday as a long-awaited environmental cleanup began on the old Uniroyal site near Belle Isle.

   The Uniroyal work is part of the decades-long transition of the riverfront from a place of factories and smokestacks to a place of recreational, residential and retail uses.

   That transition remains a work in progress, as it will for many years to come. But cleaning up the Uniroyal eyesore marks a huge milestone. It will allow for the future expansion of the city’s RiverWalk and the eventual development of shops and waterfront housing on one of the most prominent sites in the region.

   “Detroit has been fortunate in recent years to experience several developments that are considered both transformational and historic,” George Jackson, president of the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., said Friday. “But this development could be the granddaddy of them all.”

   “This was an eyesore for so many years,” added Detroit native and former NFL star Jerome Bettis, who will help redevelop the site. “We feel this can be a flagship site.”

Detroit Free Press

MIKE BROOKBANK/Detroit Free Press

   Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, right, greets Gladys Bettis, mother of Detroit native and former NFL star Jerome Bettis, center. Jerome Bettis will help develop the site of the former Uniroyal factory on Detroit’s riverfront and was on hand Friday as Bing announced the $20-million cleanup.

WILLIAM ARCHIE/Detroit Free Press

The factory was demolished in 1985, but a long dispute over who would pay for a cleanup delayed it. Now, many trees and scrub vegetation are overgrowing at the site. The cleanup will remove contaminated soil.

City hopes to make eyesore a gem

Long-delayed cleanup starts as big riverfront plans lie ahead

By JOHN GALLAGHER FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

   A quarter century after the old Uniroyal tire factory came tumbling down in the mid-1980s, an environmental cleanup of the prized riverfront site has finally begun.

   Mayor Dave Bing and other civic leaders announced the $20-million cleanup Friday morning at Mt. Elliott Park, on the edge of the 42-acre Uniroyal site, which is just west of the MacArthur Bridge to Belle Isle.

   Long delayed by disputes over paying for the work, the cleanup will unlock the potential to redevelop a site that, like Michigan Central Station, has become one of the symbols of Detroit’s decline.

   The cleanup will remove huge volumes of contaminated soil and otherwise prepare the site for redevelopment. Mich-Con, Michelin — which bought Uniroyal — and other corporations that once did business on the site or owned companies that did are paying for the cleanup.

   “Our riverfront real estate is some of the most valuable land that I think we have in the city of Detroit, and for years and years it’s been totally underutilized,” Bing said. “But I’m pleased today that we’re taking a major step forward to clean up the prime example of promises that have been made over a long period of time.”

   “It took a long time and a lot of work for us to get here,” said George Jackson, president of the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., who over several years brokered the cleanup agreement with the corporations.

   The cleanup of the western third of the site will take about 18 months. Jackson said the DEGC is negotiating for the cleanup of the rest of the site.

   Faye Alexander Nelson, president and CEO of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, said she expects to begin construction next spring to extend the Detroit RiverWalk from Mt. Elliott Park across the Uniroyal site to link up with the piece of the River-Walk at Gabriel Richard Park, just east of the MacArthur Bridge.

   Meanwhile, former NFL star and Detroit native Jerome Bettis — working with Pittsburgh-based developer Charles Betters — has been planning to redevelop the site as a series of mixed-used residential and retail projects.

   The Bettis-Betters plan for the site was announced seven years ago by then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Known as Belleview, the plan at one point called for as many as 2,000 residential units to be built along with retail. But the plan fell apart in the recession and real estate crash.

   Jackson said Friday that Bettis and Betters still will control the site in exchange for working to get the cleanup going and for working with other developers to take on pieces of the site. Jackson said it is likely now that several developments will rise there.

   Despite the long delays, Jackson expressed confidence that the Uniroyal site will one day become a great asset for the city.

   “I think this site will sell itself. A 42-acre site on the waterfront I think will be attractive to a number of investment” groups, he said.

   “This has been a long time coming,” he added. “When I started this project, my kids were in middle school. Now they’re college graduates.”

   Although known primarily for the old Uniroyal tire factory that once stood on the site, the now-vacant parcel saw a wide variety of industry operate there. The contamination and debris left by a century or more of industrial use is a brew of ammonia, mercury and cyanide, all of which are in the groundwater at the site, as well as other industrial by-products.

   Besides the chemical contamination, debris from the demolished tire factory was buried, rather than hauled away, creating further complications for future use.

   After the Uniroyal factory was demolished in 1985, hopes for the site surged repeatedly. When Donald Trump inspected the site by helicopter in the mid-’80s, Detroiters buzzed for months with speculation that he would build a hotel or casino there.

   In recent years, nature has begun to take back the land, with many trees and scrub vegetation overgrowing the site now.

   • CONTACT JOHN GALLAGHER: 313-222-5173 OR GALLAGHER99@FREEPRESS.COM  

1985 Free Press photo

The site is primarily known for the Uniroyal tire factory that once stood there, but it was home to a variety of industry.

Jawaun's Youth Program Ideas

LOD LIST

- Boat trips

- Science center trips

- Starting a charity

- Picnics on Belle Isle

- Fund raisers 1_0(‘ 0,)135\i\ )6c

- Recycling Groups

- After school tutoring

- Zoo Trips

- Camping Trips

- Starting year traditions

- Making youth group clothing

Beginning List of potential new products and services for Store

New Services

Events in the Community Room

New areas of Property Management, as we have been discussing (potential problems, facilitation in solving these)

Thursday, Trader Joe’s days

New Made in Michigan Food Products:

Ice Cream: Moo Town Creamery (from Eastern Market) Thomas Organic Creamery

Snacks: Better Made, Mrs. Peacocks Confectionary (Brittle), Good People Popcorn (bacon cheddar, sweet n’ salty) Stahl’s “Belly Button”Cookies (chocolate and walnut praline) Garden Fresh Gourmet (guacamole, salsa, tortilla chips) Zingerman’s candy bars

Food & Condiments: Charley’s Ballpark Mustard, Herkner’s Old Fashioned Cherry Goodness (Ice Cream topping, glaze, or marinade) Jessica’s Granola, Sander’s Hot Fudge, Koegel Deli Meat’s , Fresh Fruits Eastern Market, Avalon Bread

Prepared Food: Sandwiches/Wraps (Veggie, Turkey – made with MI products), Pre-made Smoothies and Juices, Breakfast Healthy Muffins (Banana Flax, Blueberry Bran) Large homemade cookies (healthy, with all natural ingredients, agave instead of sugar etc.) Trail Mix, Protein Bars (made with Jessica’s Granola etc.)

Drinks: Faygo (explore new original flavors – Ohana, Peach) Grandad’s Sweet Tea, Calder Dairy and Farms (see if organic) – milk, butter,

Household Items:

Green Forest (Paper Towels etc) Caldrea & Mrs. Meyers cleaning supplies (http://www.thenibble.com/zone/scents/household/spring-cleaning.asp)

Clothes & Accessories:

Vintage rare Jewelry, T-Shirts (Belle Isle, Building, Greening, students help design)

Gift and Beauty Products:

Union Street Soaps (Toasted Coconut, Cherry Tree, Essentials Sampler) Violet Essentials lotions, Art – (shop at Rust Belt and pick some artists to feature) – House Plants, Fresh Flowers,

Rev. Charles Williams II of King Solomon Baptist Church makes historic journey marking MLK Memorial event

August 23, 2011 http://detnews.com/article/20110823/METRO/108230379 King memorial draws Detroiters to D.C. ORALANDAR BRAND-WILLIAMS / The Detroit News Detroit — Dorothy Jackson is old enough to have experienced the pains of prejudice when parts of America were racially segregated. She also remembers how one man — the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. — helped knock down those walls. "It lifted our spirits to know someone was trying to do something," said Jackson, 87, a retired Detroit nurse who couldn't go to nursing school in her hometown of Aliquippa, Pa., because it didn't admit African-Americans. "We had a lot of faith in him." Like hundreds of others from Metro Detroit, Jackson will ride a bus for 26 hours, round-trip, for festivities leading to Sunday's dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. About 250,000 are expected to attend the events. "I'm so excited, excited, excited," said Jackson, who has donated to museums dedicated to King's legacy. Detroiters have felt a special kinship with King, in part because of his deep ties to the city. The memorial's dedication marks the 48th anniversary of King's seminal "I Have a Dream" address at the Lincoln Memorial — a version of a speech he had delivered just weeks before at a march in Detroit. Officials at Historic King Solomon Baptist Church on the city's west side are chartering four buses to take 200 people to Washington on Friday. They'll wear red T-shirts featuring King's name and the question: "Got Jobs?" That's a reference to a Saturday march for "Jobs and Justice" that is part of five days of events leading to the unveiling. "It's going to be a very monumental occasion," said the Rev. Charles Williams II, pastor of the King Solomon church and an organizer of the bus trip. "He's the only African-American with a monument on the Mall. … That monument represents justice." The buses from Detroit plan to leave on Saturday, but Williams said he's been assured by organizers that they will tour the monument. D'Alluntae Vaughn, 16, a junior at University of Detroit Jesuit High School, was selected for the trip by church organizers because of his good grades. "It will be a great experience to be around history," said Vaughn, a member of Boys Hope Girls Hope, a privately funded program that helps high-achieving youths with financial assistance and educational opportunities. "It's also a chance to commemorate a great man." The $120 million memorial is largely funded with private donations. Fourteen years in the making, the memorial is surrounded by those of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington and is the first on the mall for a nonpresident. Beset by building delays and a controversial decision to make the statue in China, the memorial opened to the public Monday. A formal dedication ceremony featuring President Barack Obama and other celebrities is scheduled for Sunday. "This is going to be epic," said Faith Jackson, an unemployed former retail manager from Detroit who plans to visit the memorial and participate in Saturday's march. "This is something that is going to be historic." Among the passengers traveling from Detroit will be the Rev. Horace Sheffield III, pastor of New Destiny Baptist Church on West Davison. Sheffield was 9 when he took part in 1963's March on Washington with his father, the late labor leader and activist Horace Sheffield Jr., a friend of King's. "Imagine that … the son of a poor sharecropper finds central placement in the nation's capital … it shows all people that people of low degree exalt," said Sheffield. "It talks about the human capital in the context of high unemployment (and) crime. It speaks to what is doesn't have to be." But Sheffield said King would likely have preferred a more humble honor. "He was a selfless man," Sheffield said of King. "He would have preferred the nameless poor African-Americans who marched on the Edmund Pettus Bridge (during the 1965 civil rights march in Selma, Ala.). The folks whose names we will never know." Janet Threatt, the director of the Boys Hope Girls Hope program that is sending five students on the trip, said she feels "part of history." "I'm old enough to know what this man represents, and I get to internalize a great feeling," Threatt said of King. The dedication of the monument and the march are "an opportunity for people to come together," Threatt added. "Nothing but good can come from it."

Is the survey ready to send out?

Dear Residents of Rivertown Lofts,

It has been nearly one year since the Light or Dark Convenience Store and Concierge Services opened our doors. Accordingly, we are planning a Celebration Event for October 29th so mark your calendars and stay tuned for more details.

The year has been filled with remarkable relationship building and learning focused on creating a more meaningful and connected experience for our residents at Rivertown Lofts. The information and feedback we have been able to gather through our many conversations is quietly bringing about a transformation with regards to our products and services. Thank you for sharing!

Light or Dark would like to further adapt our products and services to more closely reflect your needs and wishes as a resident and we can’t do that alone. In return for your precious time spent filling out this short survey, we promise to use this knowledge to create more meaningful life and work enhancing opportunities and experiences for you.

Store & Services

If we were able to offer freshly made healthy food from mostly Michigan products, such as sandwiches, smoothies, salads, muffins, cookies, would this be something that you would enjoy? Do you have any favorites from these categories that may inform our consideration as we develop these product offerings?

We would like to offer more green products to you. Are there any that you currently use or some that you would like to see in the store?

What are your favorite Michigan Products?

We would like to create a gift and specialty shop ambiance for our store that supports local Detroit artists and manufacturers as much as possible. Are there any local artists or crafters whose products you would like to see in our store?

Are you aware of all of the services that are offered through Light or Dark? Are there any areas of your life that you could use an extra hand with?

Events

Would you be interested in more events being held at the lofts? If you have ideas, or themes that you have experienced as fun in the past, let us know!

If we were to partner with local restaurants to serve meals and drinks on designated nights in the community room, is this a service you would use? What are your favorite local restaurants?

Incubator

We are proposing to facilitate the development of a social-networked incubator vehicle for our multi-talented residents at the Lofts to provide for seamless connections to one another, sharing of assets, ideas, skills and resources culminating in refined personal and professional services. Does this sound like something that you might like to participate in?

Do you have any skills or talents that you would be interested in sharing via mentoring of a young person, or projects that you might include them in (job shadowing)? If so, could you briefly explain what they are?

Do you work with or volunteer your time with any community organizations in the surrounding area? If so, what is their mission and what areas are they in need of partnered help with?

Loft Demand "Getting Hot" Submitted by Jim Ross

LOFT LIVING WHERE ALL THE ACTION IS

DEMAND IS GETTING HOT, ESPECIALLY IN DETROIT

By JUDY ROSE FREE PRESS SPECIAL WRITER

From her third-floor balcony in Willys Overland Lofts, Patricia Wren’s view is the downtown Detroit skyline. She rides her bike to Detroit Tigers games, to Hart Plaza for festivals and to Eastern Market for produce. When Wren and her partner Melissa Smiley are home, they share 2,000 wide-open square feet. That space is their living room, dining room, kitchen, office — everything but their two bedrooms and two baths. Says Wren, “It’s quite a spectacular place to live.”

Wren, 47, and Smiley, 34, are part of the loft boom in the core of Detroit and a few other “cool, 24/7 areas like Royal Oak,” to quote developer Andy Farbman. From vintage city buildings to flashy, from-scratch suburban construction, lofts have snagged a significant chunk of housing for younger, unfettered professionals.

And inside Detroit, city-boosters report a happy phenomenon: The great majority of people who move into a Detroit loft come from outside the city.

That’s the case with Wren and Smiley. Wren had owned her home in Ann Arbor for 16 years before she became director of the Health Science Department at Oakland University. The pair could have made the predictable buy, a house nearby in Rochester Hills.

Instead, urban life called them. “We walk to dinner, walk to the dry cleaner, walk to the bank,” Wren says. Both bicyclers, they reach farther destinations on their bikes.

After living on the west side of Ann Arbor, Wren says there’s a lot more to do and see in Detroit.

“There’s a festival every weekend, movies in the park. There’s a huge dodge ball tournament going on this weekend,” Wren says.

Tenants on cutting edge

Developers say folks who like lofts often like other innovations. On Garfield Street near Woodward, there’s a project called 71 Garfield. Zachary and Associates converted a vintage building into business space and lofts, warmed and cooled by sustainable energy.

The company drilled deep wells for geothermal heating, added solar water heaters as well as a water recovery system . “Utility costs are so low we don’t charge for utilities,” Ernest Zachary says.

In its first 100 days, 71 Garfield completely rented out, he says, crediting “the very knowledgeable tenant base that wants to live here.”

Zachary says about 70% of these tenants are newcomers to the city, and about 60% are from a creative field like architecture or design.

Now the company has brought the same super-efficient energy system to its conversion of the old Newberry Building, an 1895 nurses residence near Detroit Medical Center that will be ready to rent in September.

Heavy demand means short supply

In Detroit or in the suburbs, if you hunt for a loft, you’ll find 90% are rentals.

When low-down-payment mortgages crashed around 2007, they took the for-sale loft market with them. Back then, developers building lofts for sale found they had to rent them or fold.

Now both locally and nationally almost all new lofts are for rent, says Andy Farbman, president and CEO of the Farbman Group in Southfield.

But even for rent, he says, Detroit is close to running short of lofts. For the first time, his company’s Woodward Lofts in Midtown has a waiting list.

“With all the young work force coming downtown, you’d have to be blind to not see what’s happening.”

At The Loft Warehouse, owner/ broker Sabra Sanzotta handles both sales and rentals in areas like downtown, Midtown and Cork-town. The larger part of her business is rentals, she says, but she could sell more lofts if she had them.

“People moving into Detroit is a phenomenon,” Sanzotta says. “We really have to work hard to find individual condo owners who want to sell.” As with single-house sales, she says many loft sales are foreclosures or short sales.

The loft idea is so popular, many apartments now incorrectly call themselves “lofts.” Of true lofts for sale right now, the largest is Willys Overland Lofts on Canfield near Cass, where Wren and Smiley bought two smaller lofts and combined them into one. The complex only offers lofts for sale.

This 1918 building was a service center for Willys Overland autos. Willys built it four stories tall; the developer, DeMattia Group in Plymouth, added two floors of penthouses.

The structure was built strong enough for cars to drive on interior floors, so it can support two more floors, says DeMattia President Gary Roberts.

“You can have a tap dancer over your head, and you won’t hear anything.”

Ramps that funneled Willys cars into the building now lead to two floors of indoor parking, a luxury downtown.

The Willys has 75 lofts from 1,100 square feet at $140,000 to the best view penthouse, with balconies on two sides, for $640,000.

MetLife offers mortgages there with 20% down, says Austin Black II, broker/owner at City Living Detroit, which handles Willys’ sales. “But we are very close to getting approval for FHA loans,” he says, which would make down payments as low as 3.5%.

After that, it’ll be easy, Black says. “This neighborhood sells itself.”

Willys Overland Lofts building overlooks an active neighborhood in Detroit’s Midtown.

Photos by JESSICA J. TREVINO/Detroit Free Press

Patricia Wren, 47, moved to the Willys in Midtown Detroit in December with her partner, Melissa Smiley, 34.

ABOVE: The open kitchen has a painting by Detroit artist Cedric Tai.

AGENDA: Today's Meeting Wednesday, August 24, 2011 10:00AM

Hello Everyone,

Here is a rough outline of what we will try to tackle this Wednesday 8/24 at 10 am at Rivertown. See you there!

Property Management

- Discuss corporate rentals, new strategies as this is the immediate revenue stream generator that will allow the transition to go more smoothly

Oct 29th Event:

 - Visualization of Event, What does the Interactivity of the Event look like - how do we communicate what is new by demonstration  (Products, Services, Youth Program, Incubator, Community Room Events)

- Consider partnerships and sponsors, specifics of how to approach - also, residents that may be contributing time and food (Dahlia (to develop products for store, gourment dog treats etc.), Theresa (gourmet caterer, would donate time to preparing food so to market her business), Felicia (volunteer, will do running or any grunt work, needs lots of tasks)

- Survey - is it ready to go? Event Flyer, work on concept/design - to promote event, and to hand out at event directing residents to new services

Time Management 

- Develop Timeline and Action List management system for Event

- Explore new strategies for using Google + as point of interaction for Bernadette's engagement with incubator, she will be up to speed on the basics of the software

Store 

- Discuss whether or not micro-funding would be a possibility, to cover new inventory, design and Keshonna 

- Lay out initial elements of youth program to present to WC3 & for announcement of upcoming event at party, based on list given by JaWaun and Keshonna - designate new potential youth groups (King Solomon, Greater Faith Assembly)

- Begin to decide on new inventory (a list will be generated by me by Tuesday on the blog that we can add to or remove)

Incubator

- Visualization on what the End Game looks like to be clear, how are revenues generated and allocated 

Website/Social Media

- Determine basic functions of site as it functions for the store, incubator, services (we have a designer that will create site after we provide concept and content)

Local Market Tour

I RESERVED SPACE FOR ALL OF US

The Fresh Food Share would like to celebrate you next month! We are planning a small reception at Gleaners (snacks and refreshments) immediately followed by a Farm to Fork Tour led by Kido at the Greening of Detroit. The tour will cover local food system destinations, including markets and farms. Greening will provide transportation (15 passenger van or two).

Please mark your calendars for Wednesday, September 28^th from 5:30 – 7:30 PM.

Villages Open House and Community Festival

http://thevillagesofdetroit.com/events/living-in-the-v/

Join us in a celebration of City Living – our 5th Annual ‘Living in the V!’ on Sunday September 25th from 12 noon until 5 p.m. at The Parkstone, Parker at Agnes, West Village, Detroit.

The Villages Community Development Corporation sponsors the annual ‘Living in the V!’ Real Estate Open House & Community Festival to spotlight the great values in housing inherent in our near-eastside Community. And, we’ll make it a fun afternoon for our residents and visitors with a Community Festival! Join us on Agnes between Parker and Van Dyke in West Village.

Register at The Parkstone to tour residential properties for sale and rent, as well as get info on community groups, local businesses and neighborhood clubs, and see a PowerPoint presentation about our Neighborhood along with an HGTV segment filmed in Indian Village.

Browse arts and crafts offered for sale by local artisans
Listen to the sounds of local performers on the hour - This year featuring Morrow’s Boys, Billy Davis, and special guest jazz song-stylist Shahida Nurullah
Purchase a snack or beverage to enjoy at our outdoor cafe
Hop on a bus for a free guided bus tour of the Villages Neighborhood: six communities with loads of history and charm, parks, historic homes and churches, local businesses and lovely riverfront features, and end the trip with a tour of the Henry Ford Medical Center at Harbortown
Participate in a “Poochapalooza” sponsored by Canine to Five and show off your pooch!
Face-painting for the Kids along with the antics of a local clown
Take a bike tour of the Villages with WheelHouse (our neighborhood bicycling emporium on the RiverWalk) or hop in a pedi-cab courtesy of RickshawDetroit for a leisurely ride in the Villages

A Blessed Day!

MLK JR. NATIONAL MEMORIAL

A SYMBOL OF A DREAM ARISES

Long-awaited park opens on National Mall

By TODD SPANGLER FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF

   WASHINGTON — Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.

   In the nation’s capital, on the banks of the Tidal Basin, a new memorial opened Monday — one that many believed might never come.

   A 30-foot-tall vision of a resolute Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., rising from a block of granite, peering across the peaceful waters toward the neoclassical pillars and dome of the Jefferson Memorial. Behind him, across Independence Avenue, stands the Lincoln Memorial — the site of the slain civil rights leader’s most famous speech 48 years ago.

   “I think it’s beautiful — just as beautiful as the Lincoln or the Jefferson or any other memorials,” said Renee Robinson, 49, of Washington, D.C. “It makes you think there’s hope out here.” Hundreds of thousands are expected for the memorial’s formal dedication Sunday. Nineteen-year-old Melissa Frohman of Maryland — she will be a sophomore at the University of Michigan this fall — proclaimed it “really cool.” “It’s very important,” she said, “and it’s definitely been a long time coming.”

MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

   The sculpture of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is named “Stone of Hope” and is one of three structures that make up the King memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. In the background is the Washington Monument.

ANDRE CHUNG/McClatchy-Tribune

Visitors to the King memorial on Monday look up at his 30-foot-tall image. The 4-acre memorial park, begun in November 2006, will be dedicated Sunday.

MEMORIAL BRINGS JOY, TEARS

By TODD SPANGLER FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF

   WASHINGTON — When Larry Choates was a young man, growing up in Atlanta — and, later, during summers working the assembly line for Chrysler in Hamtramck to raise money for school — he looked at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a hero and a prophet of what might be someday.

   On Monday, the 63-year-old Choates — now a Alexandria, Va., resident — stood below a granite sculpture of the civil rights leader, situated in a place of honor along an axis between presidents Lincoln and Jefferson’s memorials in the nation’s capital, surrounded by the words with which King moved the nation.

   “It’s wonderful to come out here and see this today,” Choates said. “It’s been a long time coming. I was thinking this might not come.”

   He was one of the first: The 4-acre, $120-million Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial doesn’t get its official dedication until Sunday, the 48th anniversary of his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech, which was given on the steps of the neighboring Lincoln Memorial. But the King memorial opened Monday and those in attendance appeared to feel honored — and maybe a little blessed to miss what could be huge crowds Sunday — to see it first.

   “I think it’s truly magnificent,” said Rita Davis, 80, of Maryland. She sat on a granite bench shaded by Japanese cherry trees, a cool summer breeze coming off the Tidal Basin. Above her, the 3-story-high statue of King stood, his arms crossed, his face showing a look, she said, of determination.

   “I see in his determination that we can be whoever we want to be if we have love in our hearts,” she said.

   The memorial has had its challenges. Not all of the money has yet been raised for its construction, and some critics have railed against the choice of a Chinese artist, Lei Yixin, as the sculptor. At Monday’s opening, a group quietly handed out leaflets complaining that the granite for the statue had come from China.

   But there was no denying the beauty of the setting or that those who came to Washington to see it were glad they did so, coming through two huge stones called “Mountain of Despair” to the statue of King, rising out of “Stone of Hope” — referring to a phrase King used at the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963. (In Detroit, two months earlier, he had called for carving a “tunnel of hope through the mountain of despair.”)

   King was assassinated in 1968.

   “This is history,” said Dave Sartin, 64, who lives outside Cleveland, but attended Farmington High School and Michigan State University. He and his wife, Ann Sartin, were visiting Washington and were packing their car to return to Ohio when they heard the memorial was opening Monday and decided to stay a few hours longer.

   “I hope this turns into a major tourist attraction — I think it will,” Sartin said.

   The dedication ceremony is set for 11 a.m. Sunday to be followed by a concert on the National Mall. Both are free and open to the public, but tickets will be required for access into some areas. For information, go towww.dedicatethedream.org  .

   • CONTACT TODD SPANGLER: 202-906-8203

   OR TSPANGLER@FREEPRESS.COM  

JACQUELYN MARTIN/Associated Press

   With the statue of “Stone of Hope” reflected in her sunglasses, Kwanzaa Nivens of Washington, D.C., sheds a tear at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial in Washington, not far from the Lincoln Memorial, where King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech on Aug. 28, 1963.

SUSAN WALSH/Associated Press

   James (Plunky) Branch plays his soprano saxophone with the 30-foottall “Stone of Hope” in the background.

JACQUELYN MARTIN/Associated Press

   Michael Berry of Washington, D.C., drew a picture of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during his visit to the King memorial park.