[animatedmartian]

Developer plans $5 million project along Detroit's Avenue of Fashion
KIRK PINHO. Crain's Detroit. February 05, 2016.



Can Matt Hessler re-create the success he has found in Detroit’s one-time Chinatown neighborhood far from the boom of Midtown in northwest Detroit’s Avenue of Fashion?

He sure thinks so.

Hessler, who is managing member of Bagley Forest Property LLC, just spent $438,000 on an approximately 34,000-square-foot retail strip at the southwest corner of Livernois Avenue and Seven Mile Road.

It’s there that he plans to spend $5 million, including property acquisition costs, to renovate the building, which contains multiple vacant storefronts and was once home to a B. Siegel Co. department store.

What’s in the future for the property, which he purchased from Farmington Hills-based Howard Schwartz Commercial Real Estate LLC on Friday?

Look for retail stores, restaurants and, yes, even about a dozen apartments ranging from 600 to 1,000 square feet catering to the nearby University of Detroit Mercy students, he said.

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http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...oreUserAgent=1

QStride moves headquarters from Troy to downtown Detroit
By Crain's Detroit Business. February 05, 2016.



Technology solutions provider QStride Inc. has relocated its headquarters from Troy to the Fifth Third Bank at One Woodward in downtown Detroit.

QStride’s new offices are in about 3,000 square feet on the 16th floor of the Minoru Yamasaki-designed skyscraper owned and managed by Dan Gilbert's Bedrock Real Estate Services LLC.

The company moved 10 employees to the new space and expects to hire another 30.

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QStride's new neighbors include Amazon’s new regional downtown Detroit office, Lear’s new innovation and design center and the headquarters of online financial news startup Benzinga.

"It is clear that Woodward has quickly become one of the nation’s most innovative technology districts,” said Dan Mullen, Bedrock's executive vice president.

The 29-story One Woodward building is now 100 percent occupied, Bedrock said in a release.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...wntown-detroit

Shipping container food hall coming to Cass Corridor
Posted By Serena Maria Daniels on Mon, Feb 1, 2016.



It looks like another new restaurant development is headed to the Cass and Peterboro area, this time in the form of a food hall made out of shipping containers. To be known as ShipYard Detroit, the founders James Therkalsen, Jonathan Hartzell, and Timothy Tharp (of Grand Trunk Pub and Checker Bar, who is serving as a limited partner) plan to repurpose 19 foot former freight boxes to create an 11,600 square-foot, two-level space, that will have room enough for about five restaurant venues, two bars, a pop-up gallery, communal dining area, and a huge television for sports-watching, etc.

Sale of the three vacant lots at 460, 468, and 474 has not been finalized yet, but co-founder Therkalsen tells us he expects the team will close within the next 60 days. He adds he is hopeful for a mid to late summer opening date.

Behind the project is architectural firm Independent Arch and Three Squared, the engineering company that also built a condo building made of empty container condos in North Corktown.

Therkalsen tells us the team is looking for a mix of "elevated street food" vendors, so not quite a food truck, but also not necessarily over-priced fare. As for booze, ShipYard Detroit will hold the liquor license and manage the bars.

The area appealed to the founders because of its close proximity to the Red Wings arena, M1 Rail, and Wayne State University, as well as its neighbors, which now include 8 Degrees Plato and Iconic Tattoo (and soon two restaurants, The Peterboro and Jim Brady Detroit). The group had originally vied for a location in Corktown, but the deal fell through.

http://www.metrotimes.com/Blogs/arch...-cass-corridor