Category: featured

Throughout Downtown Detroit, New Dining, Entertainment Destinations Abound

This summer, a slew of new restaurants, bars and other entertainment venues are set to open throughout Downtown Detroit, further solidifying the area’s status as a destination for the millennial crowd.

According to the Detroit Free Press, many of these new hot spots will be located in The Belt, a street-art-lined alley beside downtown’s Z parking garage. The Belt’s creators plan to make their vision of a unique outdoor entertainment and nightlife destination a reality starting in early September.

Developer and gallery owner Anthony Curis — along with partners Brendon Edwards, Joe Robinson and David Goldman — will open The Skip, an outdoor bar recessed into The Belt’s alley wall, and Standby, a stylish, upscale cocktail bar and restaurant, by Sept. 1.

Outdoor bars like The Skip are never a bad idea — one recent Study Hall Research survey revealed that 43% of diners aged 25 through 34 will spend more on drinks served at outdoor bars. And The Skip and Standby are just a small slice of The Belt’s eventual offerings, Curis explained. In the future, the alley will become home to even more shops, restaurants and live entertainment events.

“We fully intend to make this a much larger project,” Curis said. “There are a lot of little puzzle pieces that we’re trying to connect, each one being something that’s really unique — something for everyone.”

Outside The Belt, Metro Detroit’s newest craft brewery, ROAK Brewing Company, opened its cozy, yet undeniably glam and modern, taproom at 330 East Lincoln on Thursday, July 18.

The 80-seat tap room arrives just a few months after ROAK Brewing Company first began brewing and bottling its first drafts of beer, which is known for being distinctly hoppy. The company’s Live Wire IPA continues to be its most popular brew, reports MLive.com.

“(Sales have) totally exceeded our expectations,” co-owner and president John Leone said.

With places like the pedestrian-friendly offerings of The Belt and ROAK Brewing Company’s craft beer palace, there’s no shortage of places for Detroit residents to check out on the weekends all summer long.

June 18, 2015

You, Too, Can Have a Luxury Home in Detroit — If You Have $3 Million


Former Michigan State football coach Brady Hoke put his 11,000-square-foot Ann Arbor mansion up for sale — and it’s already in sale pending status. The home, which is about 40 miles from Detroit, was listed for $3 million and features everything from professional grade appliances in an open concept space to spa-like bathrooms. The five bedroom, five full bath house also features two half baths and a walk-out lower level, which has a full bar, recreation and workout areas and a waterfall in the backyard. If that’s too much for you, though, then you can also consider heading to an auction to buy a home that once belonged to a mafia “lieutenant” to the “Godfather” Joseph Zerilli, a Prohibition-era gangster. The house was built in the 1950s in Gross Pointe Park and was owned by Dominic Peter Corrado. Featuring big white columns out front and a wine cellar, the house heads to auction on June 20, after one more open house on June 14. Luxury home builders of today often include a number of lavish features designed to make living there more like staying in a resort than owning a home. Considering that the rich and famous often have personal chefs, maids, and others waiting on them, the resort comparison may be an apt one. Such homes also often come with guest cottages, which tend to mimic the main house in appearance and generally amount to one- to two-bedroom dwellings totaling around 1,200 square feet. But historical homes aren’t the only ones for sale in the Detroit area. Former Detroit Lions defensive player Ndamukong Suh listed his home in the suburb of Birmingham last month. The 7,394 square foot home is going for $3.45 million, so Suh can make the move to Miami to play for the Dolphins. Earlier this spring, Suh signed a contract with that team for $114 million. Suh’s former home has five bedrooms, four full bathrooms and three half-baths. Amenities feature an “indoor sport court, full size work-out room, massage room and recreational area,” according to the listing from Hall and Hunter Realtors.

Former Michigan State football coach Brady Hoke put his 11,000-square-foot Ann Arbor mansion up for sale — and it’s already in sale pending status.

The home, which is about 40 miles from Detroit, was listed for $3 million and features everything from professional grade appliances in an open concept space to spa-like bathrooms.

The five bedroom, five full bath house also features two half baths and a walk-out lower level, which has a full bar, recreation and workout areas and a waterfall in the backyard.

If that’s too much for you, though, then you can also consider heading to an auction to buy a home that once belonged to a mafia “lieutenant” to the “Godfather” Joseph Zerilli, a Prohibition-era gangster.

The house was built in the 1950s in Gross Pointe Park and was owned by Dominic Peter Corrado. Featuring big white columns out front and a wine cellar, the house heads to auction on June 20, after one more open house on June 14.

Luxury home builders of today often include a number of lavish features designed to make living there more like staying in a resort than owning a home. Considering that the rich and famous often have personal chefs, maids, and others waiting on them, the resort comparison may be an apt one.

Such homes also often come with guest cottages, which tend to mimic the main house in appearance and generally amount to one- to two-bedroom dwellings totaling around 1,200 square feet.

But historical homes aren’t the only ones for sale in the Detroit area. Former Detroit Lions defensive player Ndamukong Suh listed his home in the suburb of Birmingham last month.

The 7,394 square foot home is going for $3.45 million, so Suh can make the move to Miami to play for the Dolphins. Earlier this spring, Suh signed a contract with that team for $114 million.

Suh’s former home has five bedrooms, four full bathrooms and three half-baths. Amenities feature an “indoor sport court, full size work-out room, massage room and recreational area,” according to the listing from Hall and Hunter Realtors.

June 15, 2015

Duggan: Repair Detroit One House at a Time


On Friday, June 5, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan unveiled a new initiative that will help city employees buy and repair homes in the city. The new pilot mortgage loan program is available to all active and contract city workers who purchase a home through the Detroit Land Bank Authority’s home auctions this year. The Great Recession and high unemployment led to a rash of vacant urban homes in Detroit; however, Mayor Duggan says the new loan program will be a salve for neighborhoods suffering from urban blight. And because only half of the city’s employees actually live within the Detroit city limits, the mayor hopes the program will boost employee residency as well. Detroit city workers with a credit score of at least 620 will be eligible for the loans, so long as they volunteer for financial counseling. Then, home buyers can receive 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages of up to 300% of the home’s value to make needed repairs. The loans will be available to city employees, retirees, contract workers, and their families. “We want to find constructive ways to get folks back,” said Mayor Duggan. “This is what we are going to continue to do. It’s our way of saying thank you to the employees.” In March, the mayor rolled out another home improvement incentive program to help the city’s low-income residents. The Duggan administration and nonprofit Local Initiatives Support Corp. offered low-income homeowners interest-free loans of up to $25,000 for home repair and improvement projects. Typically, homeowners spend as much as 4% of their home’s value on repairs every year, and many residents in high-poverty neighborhoods will benefit from the program. The interest-free home improvement loans cover necessities like window replacement, plumbing, and roof repair costs. The programs are just the latest headlines to come from an ongoing effort to revitalize Detroit’s neighborhoods. In February, the Mayor offered a 50% discount to employees who bought homes at auction. “This isn’t about publicity,” said Sandro DiNello, CEO of Flagstar Bank, which partnered with the mayor for the new loan program. “This is about getting something together that works…It’s important that we provide this little boost to getting these neighborhoods back on their feet.”

Man Examining and Repairing Rotten Leaking House Roof

On Friday, June 5, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan unveiled a new initiative that will help city employees buy and repair homes in the city. The new pilot mortgage loan program is available to all active and contract city workers who purchase a home through the Detroit Land Bank Authority’s home auctions this year.

The Great Recession and high unemployment led to a rash of vacant urban homes in Detroit; however, Mayor Duggan says the new loan program will be a salve for neighborhoods suffering from urban blight. And because only half of the city’s employees actually live within the Detroit city limits, the mayor hopes the program will boost employee residency as well.

Detroit city workers with a credit score of at least 620 will be eligible for the loans, so long as they volunteer for financial counseling. Then, home buyers can receive 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages of up to 300% of the home’s value to make needed repairs. The loans will be available to city employees, retirees, contract workers, and their families.

“We want to find constructive ways to get folks back,” said Mayor Duggan. “This is what we are going to continue to do. It’s our way of saying thank you to the employees.”

In March, the mayor rolled out another home improvement incentive program to help the city’s low-income residents. The Duggan administration and nonprofit Local Initiatives Support Corp. offered low-income homeowners interest-free loans of up to $25,000 for home repair and improvement projects. Typically, homeowners spend as much as 4% of their home’s value on repairs every year, and many residents in high-poverty neighborhoods will benefit from the program. The interest-free home improvement loans cover necessities like window replacement, plumbing, and roof repair costs.

The programs are just the latest headlines to come from an ongoing effort to revitalize Detroit’s neighborhoods. In February, the Mayor offered a 50% discount to employees who bought homes at auction.

“This isn’t about publicity,” said Sandro DiNello, CEO of Flagstar Bank, which partnered with the mayor for the new loan program. “This is about getting something together that works…It’s important that we provide this little boost to getting these neighborhoods back on their feet.”

June 15, 2015

Detroit Residents Face Increased Health Problems


A shocking new study released this week revealed that 95% of the world’s population suffers from health problems, and one in three people suffer from multiple ailments simultaneously. That means 2.3 billion individuals struggled to cope with five or more illnesses at once in 2013, a dramatic increase over previous years. According to the “Global Burden of Disease Study,” the most common health problems worldwide include lower back and neck pain, depression, and drug and alcohol abuse disorders. That study’s release coincides with a local report issued this week about the unique health problems facing Detroit’s low-income residents. A University of Michigan study found that the stress of coping with extreme poverty accelerates the onset of age-related illnesses, and can dramatically lower life expectancy in the city. “Currently, residents of Detroit are struggling — whether they are white, black, or of Mexican descent — in ways that measurably impact their health negatively,” said Arline Geronimus, a University of Michigan professor. Last week, state lawmakers invited residents from the Detroit area to discuss concerns over toxic, possibly even cancerous, drinking water. In Flint, citizens draw their water from the Flint River, which has been poisoned by decades of pollution from auto factories. According to reports, politicians knew about the dangerous water for more than 10 months. Now, residents are demanding the state restore access to the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department’s safer water sources. According to the studies, lower back and neck pain is one of the most common health problems, both in Detroit and internationally. More than 80% of the global population will suffer from back or neck pain in their lifetime, while in the U.S. back and neck pain is the leading cause of disability in Americans under the age of 45. Every year, Americans spend $50 billion to treat the condition. “The fact that mortality is declining faster than non-fatal disease and injury prevalence is further evidence of the importance of paying attention to the rising health loss from these leading causes of disability, and not simply focusing on reducing mortality,” said GBD lead author Theo Voss, a professor at the University of Washington. The Global Burden of Disease Study analyzed world health problems in 2013 and was sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Doctor explaining diagnosis to her female patient

A shocking new study released this week revealed that 95% of the world’s population suffers from health problems, and one in three people suffer from multiple ailments simultaneously. That means 2.3 billion individuals struggled to cope with five or more illnesses at once in 2013, a dramatic increase over previous years. According to the “Global Burden of Disease Study,” the most common health problems worldwide include lower back and neck pain, depression, and drug and alcohol abuse disorders.

That study’s release coincides with a local report issued this week about the unique health problems facing Detroit’s low-income residents. A University of Michigan study found that the stress of coping with extreme poverty accelerates the onset of age-related illnesses, and can dramatically lower life expectancy in the city.

“Currently, residents of Detroit are struggling — whether they are white, black, or of Mexican descent — in ways that measurably impact their health negatively,” said Arline Geronimus, a University of Michigan professor.

Last week, state lawmakers invited residents from the Detroit area to discuss concerns over toxic, possibly even cancerous, drinking water. In Flint, citizens draw their water from the Flint River, which has been poisoned by decades of pollution from auto factories. According to reports, politicians knew about the dangerous water for more than 10 months. Now, residents are demanding the state restore access to the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department’s safer water sources.

According to the studies, lower back and neck pain is one of the most common health problems, both in Detroit and internationally. More than 80% of the global population will suffer from back or neck pain in their lifetime, while in the U.S. back and neck pain is the leading cause of disability in Americans under the age of 45. Every year, Americans spend $50 billion to treat the condition.

“The fact that mortality is declining faster than non-fatal disease and injury prevalence is further evidence of the importance of paying attention to the rising health loss from these leading causes of disability, and not simply focusing on reducing mortality,” said GBD lead author Theo Voss, a professor at the University of Washington.

The Global Burden of Disease Study analyzed world health problems in 2013 and was sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

June 12, 2015

Inside Jack White’s Homecoming: Musician to Open Third Man Records Outpost in Detroit


After years of operating out of Nashville, Jack White’s Third Man Records is finally coming home. According to a June 2 Rolling Stone article, White — the Detroit native behind the White Stripes, the Raconteurs, the Dead Weather and two solo albums — plans to open a retail and office space for his Third Man Records in Detroit by November 27. White originally founded Third Man Records in Detroit in 2001; the label didn’t get a physical location until 2009, when White set up its headquarters in Nashville. Third Man’s Detroit outpost will be located at 441 W. Canfield Street, in the heart of the Cass Corridor neighborhood. It’s a fitting location for the rocker’s record label; White went to high school in this area, and the White Stripes played their very first show in the Cass Corridor nearly two decades ago. “(It’s) the most inspiring area of Detroit for me as an artist and as a Detroiter,” White said in a statement. “From the great visual artists like Gordon Newton to the music of the Gories, and the birth of the Detroit garage rock scene, the Corridor has nurtured Detroit’s soul and inventiveness for decades.” Third Man Records acquired the retail space through a partnership with lifestyle brand Shinola, a company that has helped bring manufacturing jobs back to Motor City. The record label plans to pattern its Detroit location after its warehouse-like Nashville space, which is outfitted in a catchy yellow-and-red motif, the Detroit Free Press reported. While there are, on average, about 5.5 warehouse-related injuries per 100 workers, the Nashville warehouse space — which features a recording studio and label offices — is undoubtedly a perfectly safe place to work. And while Third Man Records continues to thrive at its Nashville quarters, its executives say it’s the right time to make a long-awaited return to where it all started. “Detroit will always be our hometown, by birth and by mindset too,” said Third Man’s Ben Blackwell. “We’ve always wanted to have some sort of presence back here. This was the right time.”

Strings electric guitar closeup in black tones

After years of operating out of Nashville, Jack White’s Third Man Records is finally coming home.

According to a June 2 Rolling Stone article, White — the Detroit native behind the White Stripes, the Raconteurs, the Dead Weather and two solo albums — plans to open a retail and office space for his Third Man Records in Detroit by November 27.

White originally founded Third Man Records in Detroit in 2001; the label didn’t get a physical location until 2009, when White set up its headquarters in Nashville. Third Man’s Detroit outpost will be located at 441 W. Canfield Street, in the heart of the Cass Corridor neighborhood.

It’s a fitting location for the rocker’s record label; White went to high school in this area, and the White Stripes played their very first show in the Cass Corridor nearly two decades ago.

“(It’s) the most inspiring area of Detroit for me as an artist and as a Detroiter,” White said in a statement. “From the great visual artists like Gordon Newton to the music of the Gories, and the birth of the Detroit garage rock scene, the Corridor has nurtured Detroit’s soul and inventiveness for decades.”

Third Man Records acquired the retail space through a partnership with lifestyle brand Shinola, a company that has helped bring manufacturing jobs back to Motor City.

The record label plans to pattern its Detroit location after its warehouse-like Nashville space, which is outfitted in a catchy yellow-and-red motif, the Detroit Free Press reported. While there are, on average, about 5.5 warehouse-related injuries per 100 workers, the Nashville warehouse space — which features a recording studio and label offices — is undoubtedly a perfectly safe place to work.

And while Third Man Records continues to thrive at its Nashville quarters, its executives say it’s the right time to make a long-awaited return to where it all started.

“Detroit will always be our hometown, by birth and by mindset too,” said Third Man’s Ben Blackwell. “We’ve always wanted to have some sort of presence back here. This was the right time.”

June 5, 2015

Category: featured

Throughout Downtown Detroit, New Dining, Entertainment Destinations Abound

You, Too, Can Have a Luxury Home in Detroit — If You Have $3 Million

Duggan: Repair Detroit One House at a Time

Detroit Residents Face Increased Health Problems

Inside Jack White’s Homecoming: Musician to Open Third Man Records Outpost in Detroit