Development News

Those who've given the cold shoulder to commuting by any means other than a car may want to get their blood flowing with getDowntown's "Conquer the Cold" winter commuting challenge.

"We kind of want to give people the sense that you can dominate your commute so it's not just doing it, it's dominating it. It's approaching winter commuting with a sense of adventure and a sense of fun," says Nancy Shore, director of getDowntown.

Employees using alternative means of transportation to get to work in downtown Ann Arbor can log their commutes online during the month of January. Qualifying trips are via bike, bus, and foot. Various badges of honor will go to the most ambitious commuters, and there is a $500 grand prize gift certificate to outdoor retailer Moosejaw.

Participants can also post pictures and stories online, with the goal of "generally just trying to elevate the exposure of people that do do winter commuting, in both showing that it can be something that anybody can do, and also that it is something that is a little bit more hard core, and that people that are doing it should feel a little bit cooler than the rest of us," Shore says.

Informational winter commuting warm-up events (with free drink coupons!) will be held at Sweetwater's coffee shop on Tues., Dec. 4 at 123 W. Washington, and Wed., Dec. 5 at the Kerrytown location.

Bonus: you won't have to shovel your car out.

Source: Nancy Shore, director of getDowntown
Writer: Tanya Muzumdar

Kip Barry's Magic and Performing Arts Center is the latest nightlife and entertainment venue in Braun Court, across from Ann Arbor's Kerrytown Mall. Located at 325 Braun Court, owner and founder Kip Barry describes the center as a magic store with a theater inside.

The shop will carry a full line of magic and novelty items and be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 12-5 p.m. on Sunday. The theater seats up to 50 people in front of a new stage, where magic shows, lectures, poetry readings, and jazz performances will take place. Theatergoers can also avail themselves of a concession stand serving cupcakes, cookies, and coffee. Five employees will staff the operation.

The theater is also open for other performers. "It's going to be for community theater, where an outside group can four-wall it, which means they can rent it for their small productions...we're going to have variety acts," Barry says.

Barry has been practicing magic since age 9. He is also a jazz singer who has toured in 60 countries. This will be his sixth magic store; he previously sold his wares locally at a kiosk at Briarwood Mall and at Elmo's.

"I'm looking [for this theater] to be sort of a new-age vaudeville, especially in a place like Kerrytown, because that community there is not only smart but creative and very family-oriented," Barry says, adding, "I want things that are family-oriented yet not so mainstream that you can see them just anywhere."

A Christmas show will take place on Sat., Dec. 15. Call (734) 985-5184 for more information.

Source: Kip Barry, owner and founder, Kip Barry's Magic and Performing Arts Center
Writer: Tanya Muzumdar

Come winter, the skeleton of the long-awaited new Blake Transit Center will be erected in downtown Ann Arbor. A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled onsite on Monday, Nov. 19 at 11 a.m.

Construction will begin within 2-3 weeks after the groundbreaking and should be completed by August or September of 2013, according to Nancy Shore, a spokesperson for the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority (AATA).

The $8 million center will be built directly opposite the current center on William St., between Fourth and Fifth Avenue, which will be demolished once the new terminal is completed. It will accommodate the same number of buses as today's facility, which serves six buses in the transit mall area and nine on Fourth Avenue, including AirRide.

The 12,000-square-foot building will be LEED-Gold certified. Other enhancements over the old facility are: ADA accessibility, more bathrooms and waiting space, heated sidewalks, public art, extensive window banks, and an overarching transparent canopy penetrable by sunlight.

The center will have three levels, including a basement. "It does have the capacity to add three or four floors on top of it. This building was really designed to think about future expansion," Shore says. Since the old terminal was built in 1987, usage has increased by 60%, she adds.

"The AATA just had a record amount of transit ridership this year, reaching six million riders, so we know that the demand is going to increase. And we've got Air Ride now coming into the Blake Transit Center, so this building is really made to grow with the growing need of transit in our community."

Source: Nancy Shore, spokesperson,Ann Arbor Transportation Authority
Writer: Tanya Muzumdar

In foodie haven Ann Arbor, there's always room for another bottle of wine. The owners of Charlevoix, Mich.-based Esperance Wine are hoping to open a local outpost for their shop by the end of December, in time for New Year's Eve champagne.

Interior construction on the shop at 1251 N. Maple started this past Monday. The space is just under 1,000 square feet.

The emporium will not specialize in any particular wine or appellation; "We just chase any region that displays quality," says Pram Acharya, who co-owns Esperance Wine with his wife Suzanne.

Esperance Wine will also carry a selection of gourmet foods, such as truffles from Italy.

Two or three employees will staff the shop to begin with, Acharya says.

Source: Pram Acharya, co-owner of Esperance Wine
Writer: Tanya Muzumdar

Patients will soon be able to see a doctor and fill their prescriptions under one roof in Ann Arbor. Clark Professional Pharmacy will be moving from its current location on Clark Road in Ypsilanti to a shared building space with the newly opened Washtenaw Urgent Care clinic at 3280 Washtenaw Avenue. Ahed Salamen, a pharmacist who co-owns the business with Nathan Worthing, expects to open on January 10, 2013.

Salamen anticipates higher traffic and more exposure in the new space. "Nathan and I purchased the pharmacy in 2007, and since then have outgrown the business. We need an additional 2,000 square feet to be comfortable. This facility is three times the [size of the] current facility we're in."

The 3,500 square-foot store will offer special compounding services and regular prescriptions.

"It'll be similar to the CVS / Walgreen's-type model, but in addition to that you'll have a lab: 5,000 square feet of lab where you'll see medications being custom made for patients," Salamen says. The pharmacy will also carry an exclusive line of juices and high-end neutraceuticals, which are over-the-counter pharmaceutical-grade items.

Clark Professional Pharmacy has two pharmacists and seven other staff. Salamen also plans to hire a nutritionist and possibly a sterile lab technician for the new location.

Source: Ahed Salamen, pharmacist and co-owner, Clark Professional Pharmacy
Writer: Tanya Muzumdar

Downtown Ann Arbor is full of quick-service restaurants, but there's still room for upscale eateries, where dinner is a night in itself. That's the aim of Vellum Restaurant, named in the spirit of the printing press that formerly sat in the late-1800s building at 209 S. Main Street.

"We saw Ann Arbor didn't really have an American restaurant with a very composed and stylized, a little bit more technical kind of menu," says Peter Roumanis, managing partner of Vellum. Roumanis co-owns the restaurant with his father, John Roumanis, owner of the Carlyle Grill and Mediterranno restaurants in Ann Arbor.

Vellum will be open for dinner seven days a week, starting on December 10, according to Roumanis. The two-story restaurant will have seating for 135, a bar, and a small five-table lounge for waiting guests.

The restaurant occupies the former pool hall area of the Full Moon Cafe. As such, everything from plumbing to a full kitchen had to be installed. The dining room will have extensive copper, brass, and wood finishes, and the original pressed tin ceiling remains.

Forty new staff members, a mix of community residents, are undergoing training, Roumanis says. "[We hired] not just students, but also natives and locals, and we're really happy about that, because they really contribute to the lasting scene in Ann Arbor, not just the seasonal scene."

Source: Peter Roumanis, co-owner of Vellum Restaurant
Writer: Tanya Muzumdar

The Detroit Tigers may have been ousted in the World Series, but the ballpark hotdogs served at area Coney Islands are here to stay. Dexter's Coney Island is the latest new outpost of this southeast Michigan culinary emblem.

The new eatery, at 8124 Main St. in downtown Dexter, is in the space formerly occupied by Lorene's Village Cafe. Cacini plans to paint and reconfigure seating areas, adding booths. There are currently 99 seats, "plus my own," Cacini says.

Dexter's Coney Island has eight employees, including three part-time staff, serving breakfast and lunch between 6:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. Cacini plans to serve dinner and extend the hours until 8 p.m. starting at the end of March.

Source: Jim Cacini, owner, Dexter's Coney Island
Writer: Tanya Muzumdar

In a nod to newer routes of health care delivery, last month Livonia-based Michigan Urgent Care Centers opened its tenth location, at 3280 Washtenaw Avenue in Ann Arbor.

The 8,000-square-foot building at the corner of Huron and Washtenaw Avenues was formerly a Hollywood Video store. The clinic occupies about half of the space; a pharmacy is being built in the remaining area.

Washtenaw Urgent Care is open seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., and serves pediatric and adult patients.

"Health care is moving away from the hospitals, back into the primary care and urgent care settings because the care [hospitals and emergency rooms] provide is very expensive, and it is not sustainable," says Mohammed Arsiwala, an internist and the owner of Michigan Urgent Care.

The clinic has 8-12 employees on staff, including a doctor, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant on duty at all times.

Source: Mohammed Arsiwala, internist and owner of Michigan Urgent Care
Writer: Tanya Muzumdar

A medical makeover awaits clients of Procerus Skin Care, a medical spa and laser treatment center that opened in Ann Arbor last July. The spa's primary focus is cosmetic laser treatment and skin rejuvenation, says Kathleen Gilmore, a family practice physician and owner of Procerus Skin Care.

"That includes treatments for concerns regarding pigmentation, from sun damage particularly, also wrinkles, texture problems that stem from acne, that sort of thing. So we have microdermabrasion and intense pulsed light, which addresses pigmentation as well as texture. A lot of these treatments help stimulate collagen for tightening benefits."

Procerus Skin Care has three full-time and three part-time staff located at 315 Eisenhower Parkway, Suite 8.

"Some of the clientele that we have here prior to us opening were traveling as far as Birmingham to have these treatments done, but now they're able to have it done here," Gilmore says.

Source: Kathleen Gilmore, family practice physician and owner of Procerus Skin Care
Writer: Tanya Muzumdar

The final phase of Eastern Michigan University's Science Complex opened at the start of the fall 2012 semester, and now
university officials are in the process of seeking LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for the building. The Science Complex is the centerpiece of EMU's plan to invest over $200 million in capital projects over five years, beginning in 2009.

"From a cost standpoint, it's our largest construction project in the history of Eastern Michigan University," says Scott Storrar, EMU's director of facilities planning and construction.

The 256,320 square-foot complex has 107 labs and a newer addition with a planetarium and green roof containing 16 varieties of drought-resistant native plant species. It houses EMU's biology, chemistry, psychology, physics and astronomy, and geography and geology departments.

The project's final phase consisted of a renovation of the original 180,000-square-foot facility. A vivarium, an enclosed space to house animals for research and observation, was installed in the penthouse portion. Other amenities include new windows with sunshades and insulated glazing, a high-efficiency electrical chiller, occupancy sensors for lighting and temperature controls, and heat recovery in the air handlers.

And in what could be coined a construction breakthrough, the complex makes use of a new chilled beam technology that uses convection and water to cool the building. "That's an active system, and it's one of the first installed in Michigan," says Storrar.

The university is seeking LEED-silver certification for the complex, but could be eligible for LEED-gold status, Storrar adds.  A decision is forthcoming in the next six to eight months.

Source: Scott Storrar, EMU's director of facilities planning and construction
Writer: Tanya Muzumdar

Photographer Lindsey Hall finally has a place to rest her gear after years of working on location to build her business. This Friday, Nov. 2, she opens her own studio, Lindsey Hall Photography, in downtown Ypsilanti, joining other creative entrepreneurs in the area.

"There are a lot of new businesses opening up [downtown] and there are a lot of existing businesses. The Rocket is a good one," Hall says.

The 700 square-foot second-floor space at 133 W. Michigan Avenue contains an office, waiting area, and studio full of props. Hall specializes in wedding, maternity, family, and portrait photography, done indoors or outside.

Hall is working on her own for now, but hopes to hire an assistant as business picks up. "I've had a pretty busy fall...as I get busier I will have a lot of extra work so hopefully I can partner with someone that's very artistic and like-minded and gets as excited as I do about photos."

Hall will host an open house on Fri., Nov. 2 from 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. Guests will receive a complimentary short photo session.

Source: Lindsey Hall, owner,  Lindsey Hall Photography
Writer: Tanya Muzumdar

It's firms like Llamasoft that are contributing to Ann Arbor's declining jobless rate, which fell to 5% in September, according to the Michigan Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives.

Llamasoft, a global developer of supply chain software, has added another floor to its headquarters office in the First National Bank building, at 201 S. Main Street in downtown Ann Arbor. The firm is now adding the 5,800-square-foot fifth floor to its office domain. It also occupies the building's fourth floor and half of the third floor.

"We've already got about half of our folks in [the new space] and will be fully migrated in before the end of the year." Llamasoft Executive Vice President Toby Brzoznowski says.

The company recently announced a partnership with Nike, Inc. to co-develop supply chain software to facilitate the athletic wear firm's logistics and environmental aims. It also recently received a $6 million Series A financing round, a combination of venture capital and an investment from Nike.

Llamasoft has almost 150 employees. "We have pretty aggressive growth plans. We've basically doubled in size almost each of the last two years," Brzoznowki says. "I suspect that over the next twelve months, there'll be another 30-40 additional heads that will come on board."

Source: Toby Brzoznowski, Llamasoft executive vice president
Writer: Tanya Muzumdar

With its high proportion of college students, rental housing makes up a significant chunk of the housing stock in Washtenaw County. In Ann Arbor alone, rentals comprise about 50% of the residential market, according to Jamie Kidwell, a sustainability associate for the city of Ann Arbor.

Accordingly, the city received a grant to improve the energy efficiency of rental units in Washtenaw County, under the umbrella of the county's $3 million U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Sustainable Communities Challenge grant. The three-year, $250,000 "greening rental housing" grant will be implemented through a partnership between Washtenaw County, the cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, Eastern Michigan University, and the University of Michigan, and will focus on two big categories of rentals: student and affordable housing, Kidwell says.

Landlords tend to pass utilities costs onto tenants, which gives them little incentive to make energy-cutting improvements to their properties.

"Just to put it in scale a little bit, I think U-M cranks out about 7,000 new renters each year...Our residential sector counts for about 20% of our community-wide greenhouse gas emissions. When you start to stack these numbers up, you see that making an impact on our rental housing is going to help our community a lot in terms of energy conservation, increasing our housing affordability," says Kidwell.

While there are already city and countywide energy-savings programs in effect, such as the PACE (Property-Assessed Clean Energy) program for commercial properties and the Better Buildings for Michigan program for homeowners, "I think the challenge will be those smaller-scale landlords, trying to figure out what's the right kind of program for them."

The grant funding will cover staffing for the program over the next three years, as well as education and outreach. Over the next couple of months, focus groups of tenants, landlords, and contractors will be convened, with policies and programs likely defined by fall of 2013, says Kidwell.

She adds: "Our community energy spend, excluding [U-M's buildings], I believe is about $140 million for natural gas and electricity, so even if you could save 10% of that energy, you've got about $14 million in theory that would go back into our local economy."

Source: Jamie Kidwell, sustainability associate, city of Ann Arbor
Writer: Tanya Muzumdar

In downtown Ann Arbor you can pull a chair up to the bar for an educational session on skin care. DBTS Skin Bar is opening on Nov. 1, with the mission of informing patrons on how to take care of their skin.

DBTS Skin Bar is an offshoot of owner Nancy Young's Delicate Beauty Therapeutic Spa in Pittsfield Township, however: "We don't consider ourselves as a spa at all," Young says. "We consider ourselves a skin therapy studio because what we specialize in is specifically skin science. You're not just going to find someone lathering a bunch of stuff on your face and sending you on your way with products that you don't know how to use."

While patrons can have services such as facial waxing and treatments, the studio caters to the "on-the-go" client, with no service taking more than 30 minutes. "There's a lot of walking traffic [downtown], so that's a perfect location to have this type of business model, where it's meant to have people coming in and out, taking a look at the skin care products we have and try them out, then going on their way."

Young had only cosmetic work, such as painting and floor polishing, to do in the 1,000 square-foot space at 111 W. Liberty St., which formerly housed the Acme Mercantile. She also installed a four-seat bar and an esthetic chair. The original lighting fixtures have been retained.

Young and four other employees, all licensed cosmetologists or estheticians, will staff the studio to begin with, although "We definitely are looking to expand our team," she says. "We're always looking for people that are motivated and passionate about the skin care industry and not just doing it just to pass time."

Source: Nancy Young, owner, DBTS Skin Bar and Delicate Beauty Therapeutic Spa
Writer: Tanya Muzumdar

It has yet to catch up to toy stores, McDonald's, and tot couture, but the kids' haircare industry is now in a growth spurt.

Ilze Meija, a former attorney and stay-at-home mom, was surprised at the lack of a children's salon in Ann Arbor. Other moms she knew were either taking their kids to the big chains, which can turn out uneven results, or to their own fancier salons, a pricey option for young ones.

"So there was nothing in between that was just for kids," Meija says. Hence, she founded zoey + joey, a hair care studio dedicated to the under-18 set.

zoey + joey, located at 3260 Washtenaw Avenue, in the Arlington Square Plaza on the corner of Huron Parkway and Washtenaw, will hold its grand opening on Saturday, Nov. 17 from 11-4.

The build-out is still underway at the 1,750 square-foot full-service salon, which will have seven hair-cutting stations. Younger clients will sit in mini Mini Cooper cars while getting hair-dos, and the older set can watch sports or play video games while seated in regular chairs. And expect an indoor play structure with a slide in the waiting area. Adults can't fit in the Mini Cooper seats (the main focus is kids, after all) but they, too, can get coiffed.

Meija, who owns the salon, will be managing a staff of five stylists and a receptionist.

A "green salon", zoey + joey will use vegan shampoo and non-toxic nail polish for girls' mini-manicures. A wash, cut, and style runs $21 for boys, $23 for girls.

"It's a growing industry; we just haven't seen it here in Ann Arbor," Meija says. "On both coasts, in California and New York, it's a really big booming industry to open up a hair salon that's just for kids."

Source: Ilse Meija, owner and founder, zoey + joey
Writer: Tanya Muzumdar