Ypsilanti

Ypsi rain garden showered with attention

By Newsroom

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July 25, 2012

Rain gardens that are part of a project to remake Ypsilanti's Depot Town are undergoing some additional work to make sure they look good, function properly, and most importantly last. Tim Colbeck, executive director of the Ypsilanti Downtown Development Authority, says there have been questions and concerns about the Cross Street Rain Gardens and what's going wrong with them. The five gardens are a small part of a $1 million streetscape upgrade for the area, but an important one. They are also a component of the Cross Street Corridor Non-Motorized Enhancement Project Some of the plants have had trouble surviving and the gardens haven't fully absorbed stormwater to keep it out of drains - the purpose of their design. Recent declines in rainfall may be part of the issue. However, the Ypsi DDA, the city and the state of Michigan are working with contractors to make things right by adjusting the inlets to each garden to ensure that they have the proper soil mix. The new and improved rain gardens should be completed by the fall of 2012. Source: Tim Colbeck, executive director, Ypsilanti Downtown Development Authority Writer: Kim North Shine

Is Ypsilanti real estate a good bet? California investor thinks so

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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July 25, 2012

Washtenaw County is growing and that change is reflected in the rental housing market. Now, maybe someone can talk to these investors about Water Street. Excerpt: "San Diego-based Coseo Properties Inc. recently bought the Country Meadows Apartments for $5.9 million with the intentions of upgrading and flipping the complex in around five years. In a news release, the company called Ypsilanti “currently one of the more attractive secondary markets for real estate investment in the nation.”" Read the rest of the story here.

Meritful aims to help make student online presence presentable

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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July 25, 2012

Azarias Reda decided to combine two key aspects of his adult life when creating his new start-up, Meritful. The PhD candidate in computer science at the University of Michigan once worked at LinkedIn and has spent a fair amount of his time in Ann Arbor teaching at local high schools. While teaching he noticed every one of his students produced some sort of online content, usually through social media outlets. So last spring he began building a start-up that helped students in high school and college create a professional online presence that would make potential employers happy and their parents smile. "We want to help high school students present themselves better on the web," Reda says. "That's our underlying goal." The Ypsilanti-based start-up plans to conduct a private launch in mid August at a U-M summer camp and fully open up the site in the fall. Reda and his team of four people plan to focus on students in Michigan in the first year and then move onto a national presence in year two. "We want Meritful to become the de facto location if you want to learn the merit of high school students," Reda says. Source: Azarias Reda, founder of Meritful Writer: Jon Zemke

Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor biz pros promote entrepreneurship in Detroit

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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July 25, 2012

More and more business professionals from the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area are staking a claim in Detroit by working with programs that are helping spread entrepreneurship and technology across the Motor City. The Michigan Small Business & Technology Development Center (which is run by Eastern Michigan University Business Prof Richard King) is launching its new statewide New Venture program from Detroit. New Venture aims to help aspiring and early stage entrepreneurs establish their business through a 10-week course, which teaches the basics about opening a business, how to make sure the venture is viable and consulting with the entrepreneurs after they are up and running. It has already graduated its first two entrepreneurs. "It's going to be offered in a number of locations," says Wendy Thomas, associate regional director for the Michigan Small Business & Technology Development Center. Dave Koziol, founder of the downtown Ann Arbor-based mobile app firm Arbormoon Software, is the co-founder of Develop Detroit. The new initiative looks to help expand the mobile app workforce in the Motor City through a 12-week course that teaches the participants how to build their own mobile app. Develop Detroit is modeled after a similar program in Chicago called Code Academy. Bruce McCully, CEO of Dynamic Edge, has been growing a technology club in the Detroit Institute of Technology. The institute is one of four schools from Detroit Public School's inside the former Cody High School on the city's west side. The Ann Arbor-based tech start-up's employees teach the students how to use cutting edge technology and how to make it work for them, such as applying for job or colleges. Source: Wendy Thomas, associate regional director for the Michigan Small Business & Technology Development Center Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

CityFARM plots out urban gardens in Washtenaw County, Detroit

By Tanya Muzumdar

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Development News

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July 18, 2012

CityFARM, an Ann Arbor-based provider of urban farms and gardening services, continues to expand the fresh food supply in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and Plymouth, and is plotting out its impact on the city of Detroit. The company has installed two new gardens there and is digging deeper into the city. Since its inception in January, CityFARM has amassed 30 garden installations, some of which are up to five beds in size, according to Lauren Maloney, business director. Maloney has partnered with real estate developer Stewart Beal in the venture. All gardening clients have been residential thus far, Maloney says, but "I think as it gets more popular, we will see more commercial spaces with gardens." She anticipates having 50 clients by year-end. Urban packages include the design, installation, and materials to grow a season's worth of produce in a yard. "All of the gardens I've been back to are just huge and bountiful..." Maloney says, adding, "I just went to a client last week and she had green beans and cucumbers and eggplant and basil and cherry tomatoes already, and right now, kale, and just everything bursting out of the box. She was really happy." With each bed purchase, cityFARM installs a matching one in its donation garden at 103 N. Adams St. in Ypsilanti and then donates the produce crop to Food Gatherers. In its first year alone, the garden is already 1,500 square feet. So what happens if space runs out? "Luckily [Beal] owns a lot of properties, including open space and lots of apartments with yards and things, so we will be able to expand in Ypsi. We'll just have to move maybe down the street a few houses," Maloney says. Source: Lauren Maloney, business director of cityFARM Writer: Tanya Muzumdar

The Shadow Art Fair: Keeping Ypsi A Certain Size Of Weird

By Richard Retyi

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General

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July 18, 2012

Since Ann Arbor will be jam-packed with Art Fair goers and coverage this week, it seems only right to check up on the Ypsilanti-based Shadow Art Fair, which opens Saturday. Created five years ago as both a reaction to and comment on A2's venerable happening, it has defiantly resisted the call of "bigger and better." Concentrate's Richard Retyi digs in with the organizers as to why.

Ypsilanti library embraces cafe culture

By Newsroom

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General

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July 18, 2012

Believe it or not, Starbucks moved into Portland, Oregon's main library branch more than ten years ago. Now, Ypsi's Whittaker Branch library will have a coffee shop - the first in Washtenaw County. Excerpt: "Downtown Ypsilanti’s B-24’s Expresso Bar has partnered with the Ypsilanti District Library and opened a new location inside the Whittaker branch library. Visitors can even walk throughout the library with beverage in-hand, provided it has a lid and cannot be taken to any of the computer terminals." Read the rest here.

Arbor Brewing Company to put solar on display tonight

By Tanya Muzumdar

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Arts & Culture

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July 11, 2012

It's not just beer as usual at Arbor Brewing Company tonight. The brewery will be hosting a ribbon cutting for its newly implemented solar thermal and solar photovoltaic (PV) system. Photo boards showing the system's components will be on display. The $95,000 cost was offset by a $20,000 grant from the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority's Energy Conservation grant program, various tax credits, and incentives from DTE. The system has a 2.4 kW solar photovoltaic array (visible from the roof of the parking structure across the street), 300 solar thermal collector tubes, and a high-efficiency tankless water heater system. Other savings will be realized from CFL and LED lighting and the installation of low-flow sprayers and occupancy sensors. It is expected that gas and electricity usage will decline by up to 40% and 15%, respectively. The project cost will be recouped in five years, according to Rene Greff, co-owner of Arbor Brewing Company. A $250,000 project showcasing solar-thermal, photovoltaic, and geo-thermal technologies as well as new windows, awnings and energy-efficient chiller equipment is still underway at Corner Brewery, Arbor Brewing Co.'s sister brewery in Ypsilanti. A ribbon cutting is scheduled for August 29. To the best of his knowledge, says Jarett Diamond, the company's sustainability director. "This is the largest installation of a solar panel array for a craft brewery east of Colorado." New Belgium and Sierra Nevada also have large solar arrays, but those breweries make hundreds of thousands of barrels every year, whereas Corner Brewery does under 10,000, Diamond says. "Relative to the next step up, this is very significant for the size of the brewery we're looking at." Energy stats and savings will be available at a later date on Arbor Brewing's website, Diamond says. "The idea being this will validate our projections and demonstrate to the public at large that renewable energy is feasible, cost effective, and can work well in Michigan." Source: Rene Greff, co-owner, Arbor Brewing Co.; Jarett Diamond, sustainability director, Arbor Brewing Co. Writer: Tanya Muzumdar

LiveYpsi program to offer forgivable home loans for EMU employees

By Tanya Muzumdar

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Development News

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June 20, 2012

Helping to shore up Ypsilanti's ranks of homeowners is LiveYpsi, a new home loan program being rolled out for Eastern Michigan University employees. The program offers $7,500 grants to buy primary residences within Ypsilanti city limits. The proceeds may be used towards a down payment or other purchase costs and are forgivable on a pro-rata basis, at 20% of the amount each year; after five years, the entire amount is forgiven. Funded by EMU, Washtenaw County, and the DTE Energy Foundation, the new program is a smaller-scale version of Live Midtown, which offers forgivable loans for employees of Wayne State University, Henry Ford Health System, and the Detroit Medical Center, to purchase homes in Midtown Detroit, according to Leigh Greden, EMU's executive director of governmental and community relations "We believe that having EMU employees live in the city of Ypsilanti is a win-win-win for everyone," Greden says, in reference to the city, the university, and its employees. "It's a win for the city because it assures that our employees, who tend to be highly educated and to have stable employment with the university, will own a home in the community, they'll take care of the home, they'll pay taxes, they're more likely to walk to work, they're more likely to become involved in the community, and they're more likely to shop at local businesses here in Ypsilanti." The pilot project becomes official and will begin taking applications within the next week, says Greden. Current funds available total $70,000, or enough for nine home purchases. EMU will continue to seek additional funding sources and partners. "Based on the interest we've received so far...we think we'll run out of the money quickly because there's a lot of demand amongst our employees." More information on the program is available here. Source: Leigh Greden, EMU's executive director of governmental and community relations Writer: Tanya Muzumdar

PHOTO ESSAY: Take Me To The River

By Doug Coombe

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Health

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June 20, 2012

Norman Maclean once wrote, "Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it." Here in Washtenaw County, we see that quote made manifest through The Huron River. As a life source, thread that connects our communities, and recreational destination, we are, in many ways, only just beginning to recognize its importance and potential. Doug Coombe tries to capture all those things in his wonderful photo essay.