Dexter

Concentrate Speaker Event – Take Me To The River

Imagine paddling in your kayak from Ann Arbor to Lake Erie. Or up into Oakland County. Pretty cool, huh? The Huron River Watershed Council is hoping to create a 100-mile water trail that does just that. HRWC planner Elizabeth Riggs will speak at our next Concentrate Speaker event about what the trail, and the Huron, means for our community. Sign up now for this May 26th event.

Gordon Hall landmark gets a grand restoration plan

Gordon Hall, a circa-1840s manse with a suspected tie to the Underground Railroad, is getting the once-over from a team of consultants preparing a historic building rehabilitation master plan. The Dexter Area Historical Society & Museum (DAHSM) owned property sits on a 50-acre plot in Webster and Scio Townships but is visible from downtown Dexter, says Melissa Milton-Pung, a project manager with the Washtenaw County Department of Economic Development and Energy. "I believe that there is a connection to the Underground Railroad - a lot of people do," Milton-Pung says. "It's just difficult to find documentation, obviously, for something that was so hidden during the time when it was active."The work on the storied property is funded by a $14,752 grant from the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office along with a $10,000 grant from the Knight Foundation. Local architecture firm HopkinsBurns Design Studio won out over a dozen bidders to lead the project, which Milton-Pung expects will be completed this summer. Katherine Dexter McCormick, early supporter of birth control pill research and granddaughter of original owner Judge Samuel Dexter, for whom the village of Dexter is named, gifted the property to the University of Michigan in 1950. In 2000, the DAHSM purchased the 9,900-square-foot home from the university, which had divided it into four faculty apartments in the 1950s. "In doing so...they gutted the entire interior, and so there is practically no original historic fabric left on the interior, and the exterior has been sided aluminum," explains Milton-Pung. "So there is a lot that needs to be done to assess the current condition of the property in terms of its historic integrity, but the property is not in disrepair." The original central staircase and grand entry foyer were removed during the reconfiguration.The team will have access to drawings done by U-M's first dean of architecture, Emile Lorch, (for whom Lorch Hall is named) and the Historic American Building Survey prior to its alteration, which Milton-Pung believes will be incorporated into the consultants' recommendations. Estimated rehab costs are unavailable but will be addressed in the plan.Its purpose, she says, is to make recommendations for maintenance and restoration of the property for different possible uses. "There is some desire to have it as a house museum, and there is also some desire to make sure that we have it in a more active use so that people can continue to want to go there and not say, 'Oh, well, I've already been there.'" Gordon Hall has hosted weddings and other events, school trips, and it is also the site of a Civil War days commemorative event from June 10-12.And the completed plan will be a mark of credibility behind future funding requests when it comes time to do the actual rehabilitation. Says Milton-Pung, "I have every confidence that major work will be taking place at the property over the next several years."Source: Melissa Milton-Pung, project manager with the Washtenaw County Department of Economic Development and EnergyWriter: Tanya Muzumdar

Washtenaw County’s 6.8% pop. growth counters state’s regional decline

Population trends in Washtenaw County are moving at crosscurrents with much of the region represented by the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG). Collectively over the last decade, the seven-county area lost 2.7% of its population, or 128,625 people, while Washtenaw County gained 22,021 residents, for a 6.8% increase, according to the 2010 U.S. Census figures. That growth rate was second only to that seen in Livingston County, which saw a 15.1% jump in residents."Washtenaw County has the advantage with the universities, and some of the other businesses...the economy is already more diversified than other parts of the region, and that is probably the biggest reason that Washtenaw County did better than the rest of the region," says Paul Tait, executive director of SEMCOG.The county's two largest cities posted flat to declining numbers, with headcounts in Ann Arbor dropping .1% and Ypsilanti losing 12.6%. Much of the growth was in the townships and outlying communities, with the village of Dexter's 74% rise as the standout exception. The cities of Milan, Chelsea, and Saline gained 23%, 12.4% and 9.7%, respectively."These are good numbers for Washtenaw County," Tait says. But maintenance and enhancement of the county's core infrastructure is still of concern. Tait points to U.S. 23, slated by the Michigan Department of Transportation for a major rebuild and widening - a project that will probably not be daylighted, for now. "We're driving more fuel efficient cars, and in part because of the economy, we're not driving as much. We're driving alternative fueled vehicles, hybrids and electric vehicles, so we're not getting the gas tax money that we need to again, even maintain what we've got." Tait still calls the 6.8% rise "fairly sustainable growth". And that figure is lower than the overall U.S. population growth, a remarkable 9.7% over the decade. Much of that, he says, was due to immigration to the south and southwest to fill entry-level jobs not necessarily requiring a college degree. The Census Bureau will be releasing educational demographic data this fall. By comparison, Tait says, "when you look at immigration in our region, it tends to be much more highly educated people with advanced degrees."Source: Paul Tait, executive director of SEMCOGWriter: Tanya Muzumdar

More links coming to Border to Border Trail

Dexter’s Mill Creek Park rises on banks of Mill Creek

The lay of the land at the newly approved Mill Creek Park project is rapidly unfolding with the Dexter Village Council's recent approval of the project's site plan. Approval from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is expected shortly. "The village has been talking for probably 20 years about taking the [Mill Creek] dam out and making the reclaimed property into a park, so it's just the final steps in the vision that the village has had for at least a decade," says Allison Bishop, community development manager for the village of Dexter. The dam was removed in 2008.The Mill Creek Park project, located south of the Main Street bridge and just west of the downtown along Mill Creek, is expected to cost in the range of $950,000 to $1.1 million, Bishop says. The park's physical features include a circular trail network (it will spur off of Washtenaw County's Border to Border Trail), boardwalks, a fishing and observation dock and non-motorized boat and canoe and kayak put-ins and take-outs above and below the Main Street Bridge, wetland enhancement areas, an amphitheater with natural stone outcroppings for seating, expanses of lawn, and enhancements to stormwater outlets currently on the site.The project is funded by a $450,000 Natural Resources Trust Fund allocation, along with a $50,000 grant from the Waterways Infrastructure Program to aid in the boating access portion, Bishop says. "We're doing a lot of the stream restoration so hopefully we can help stabilize the stream that's ever-changing because of the dam removal," she adds. The balance comes from a mix of county Border to Border and village general funds and other restricted park funds.The village is planning to put the project out for bids this month, Bishop says, and to start construction by May.Source: Allison Bishop, community development manager for the village of DexterWriter: Tanya Muzumdar

WSJ spotlights Recellular’s rise to top of electronic recycling market

When it comes to refurbishing and reconditioning cellphones, tablets, e-readers, and iPads, Dexter-based Recellular dominates the market. Yeah, old news to Concentrate readers. Nice to see the Wall Street Journal finally catch up. Excerpt: "Until recently, the privately owned company acquired phones only in bulk, getting them from charities that held collection drives and retailers or others with returned merchandise. Now ReCellular advertises on cable TV that it is willing to buy phones one at a time from individuals via the Usell.com Web site. ReCellular projects that its revenue will grow more than 50% in 2011 from $66 million in 2010. It has raised $20 million of capital from private-equity firms over the past two years. Global sales of used phones total a few hundred million units a year, estimates Andy Castonguay, an analyst at consulting firm Yankee Group. That compares with the 1.6 billion new phones sold world-wide last year, he says. Though a few used-cellphone dealers have been around for decades, the business is expanding now because today's most advanced "smart" phones are costlier to begin with and can fetch hundreds of dollars even after a year or more of use. Meanwhile, a weak economy encourages thrift, and some people seek out simpler phones made years ago to avoid having to learn new routines." Read the rest of the story here.

Dexter adds a new cafe to its small and soon-to-be livelier downtown

With downtowns desiring to fill vacancies with active businesses that attract a steady stream of patrons, rather than, say, banks and offices that go dark in the evening, downtown Dexter's sole coffee shop is one of those "third places" where community apart from work and home life happens in this village of about 3,300 residents.Rachel Shelley, who opened Joe and Rosie Coffee and Tea last November at 8074 Main Street, at the corner of Main and Broad, aims to bring a bit of the community together. In time for spring, she plans to stay open later in the evening, bring in live music and host poetry slams, and add outdoor seating. Shelley, who hails from England, also plans on starting traditional English cream tea service soon. Also on the menu and not easily found elsewhere are flapjacks – crunchy bars of oats, brown sugar, butter, and golden syrup.Joe and Rosie's is popular with cyclists, who rack their bikes outside, she says. And the shop will probably keep the lights on for 24 hours during the Cancer Relay For Life, the village's 24-hour walkathon taking place on May 14-15.Since moving in Shelley hasn't made any significant alterations, preferring to keep the shop's Victorian-period architecture intact. "It's what people like. It's why they keep coming back," she says. "I want to keep it old-looking, in keeping, I think, with Dexter." No new downtown development projects are in the pipeline, says Allison Bishop, Dexter's manager of community development, but Main Street is keeping an even keel. Of the approximately 22 businesses located downtown, two restaurants recently closed but two new businesses, Modern Vintage and an antique shop called Joyce's Acquisitions, opened the first week in March. Sources: Rachel Shelley, owner of Joe and Rosie Coffee and Tea; Allison Bishop, manager of community development for the village of Dexter; 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimateWriter: Tanya Muzumdar

ReCellular aims for $100M in sales, moves into former Borders HQ space

Many growing companies talk about making the $1 million club; add a couple of zeroes and that's where ReCellular looks to make its mark. The cell phone recycler plans to become a $100 million operation and is taking its place as one of the Ann Arbor area's big business hitters, leasing space at the headquarters of the once mighty Borders."This space represent where we are today," says Mike Newman, vice president of marketing for ReCellular. "Ann Arbor is where we got our start and it's where we're staying. Being in the area is very important to us."ReCellular got its start in the early 1990s renting out then-costly cell phones. It entered the cell phone recycling business over the last decade as those phones became ubiquitous. It plans to keep its plant operation in Dexter while moving much of its corporate staff to the new space alongside Borders. The 300-person company expects to hire a few dozen people between both locations this year. Recellular recently closed out its "best year in company history" and expects to hit $100 million in revenue in 2011. The company has evolved its business model to take cell phones directly from consumers through its website and act as a direct reseller of refurbished cell phones. Its eBay operations generate $1 million or more each month. Officials are also looking into expansion into other electronic segments, such as netbooks."We're being strategic about the product categories we're entering," Newman says.Source: Mike Newman, vice president of marketing for ReCellularWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Dexter’s Thomson-Shore rides high on bestselling Mark Twain autobiography

The book publishing industry is far from dead, and printers like Thomson-Shore are leading the revival. The Dexter-based company is turning a short-run of Mark Twain's autobiography into a multi-million contract, among other business.Excerpt:The runaway success of Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1 was something of a surprise. Dexter-based printer Thomson-Shore Inc.'s first bid on a job to produce the autobiography of the long-dead American literary icon was for 1,500 volumes. Then the University of California Press, publisher of the book, upped the number to 4,500 ... then to 7,500. Now, Thomson-Shore has printed more than 250,000 Mark Twain books, said President Kevin Spall, and likely will produce about 500,000 before the multimillion-dollar contract runs its course. A few weeks before Christmas, the book is on back-order at online and bricks-and-mortar stores alike. It's No. 3 on both The New York Times Bestsellers List and at online bookseller www.Amazon.com. And the folks at Thomson-Shore are working overtime.Read the rest of the story here.