Michigan’s ‘Cool Cities’ Incubator – Michigan’s Governor announces 20 projects in 17 cities designed to lure back young, creative professionals.

Granholm gives grants to 20 projects, including 3 in Detroit, Ferndale, Warren

By Mark Hornbeck / Detroit News Lansing Bureau

http://www.detnews.com/2004/metro/0406/03/d01-172337.htm

Surrounded by crates of fruit, vegetables and petunia flats, Gov. Granholm announces that a revamped vendor shed at Detroit’s Eastern Market has won a state grant.

A revamped vendor shed at Detroit’s Eastern Market, a gay and lesbian community center in Ferndale, and a downtown fountain and ice rink in Warren are among 20 projects in 17 cities deemed cool enough to get up to $100,000 each under a new state grant program, Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced Wednesday.

These so-called “cool cities” pilot projects also will be first in line, eventually, to draw from another $100 million in grants, loans and other state resources, said the governor, who made the announcement surrounded by crates of fruit and vegetables and flats of petunias at Detroit’s Eastern Market.

“These projects have priority status,” Granholm said. “They’re destined to attract a work force for the 21st century.

“There’s no reason the city of Detroit can’t be like Chicago.”

The idea behind Granholm’s cool cities initiative is to draw and retain the young, creative professionals who according to census figures have been migrating to other states in droves. They embody the kind of cutting-edge business and artistic talent the state covets.

But critics question whether a handful of grants for art galleries, outdoor markets and loft housing really can turn around cities such as Detroit and Flint, which are beset by profound social and economic problems.

“The small grant is a negligible inducement,” said Michael LaFaive, director of fiscal policy at the Midland-based Mackinac Center for Public Policy Research, a free-market think tank. “And the hip artists and creative young people they hope to draw are not going to make investments on the mere promise of extra goodies.”

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Cool grants

Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced Wednesday 20 projects that won Cool Cities grants of up to $100,000. Metro Detroit projects include:

Detroit: Renovate shed at Eastern Market; redevelop three buildings on East Jefferson to apartments and commercial businesses; revamp Odd Fellows Hall in Mexicantown.

Ferndale: Exterior building improvements in downtown area, including gay and lesbian community center.

Warren: Improvements to two-acre, four-season urban park that will contain a fountain in summer and ice rink in winter.

More Online

The Cool Cities site http://www.coolcities.com

The Governor’s Announcment http://www.michigan.gov/gov

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LaFaive said channeling tax dollars to one city or program siphons money away from other state-supported projects.

“Coolness created in Detroit is coolness destroyed in Ishpeming, or whatever city doesn’t get the favor,” he said.

As it happens, Ishpeming wasn’t one of the chosen few in the first year of the three-year cool cities program. Detroit won three grants and Grand Rapids two along with one each for Ferndale and Warren. Other cities with winning projects are: Alpena, Bay City, Flint, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Marquette, Port Huron, Portland, Saginaw, Saugatuck, Sault Ste. Marie, Traverse City and Ypsilanti.

Besides the Eastern Market project, Detroit will redevelop three ramshackle buildings on East Jefferson to apartments, a TV studio and shops and restaurants. Also, the Odd Fellows Hall in southwest Detroit will be renovated to a community center.

Saugatuck will transform an abandoned pie factory into an arts center. Flint will fix up an old bank building downtown to build 16 lofts.

Granholm said projects were selected for their quality and public-private partnerships. But geographic balance also was taken into account.

The winning proposals were chosen from 151 applications. Detroit alone submitted proposals for 29 projects.

Cool cities, unveiled a year ago at the Detroit Regional Chamber’s annual spring conference on Mackinac Island, is the centerpiece of Granholm’s urban revitalization effort promised in her 2002 gubernatorial campaign. It also allows her to spread some money to Democratic constituencies at a time when severe budget constraints have forced her to cut or limit spending on human services and other programs important to her Democratic base.

“We have the greatest suburbs here in Michigan,” Granholm said. “But our cities need a little TLC.”

She heard Wednesday from local officials who said cities suffered under former Gov. John Engler’s 12-year administration.

“I’ve been mayor of Jackson for nine years and my first seven years we had a governor with no urban policy,” said Jackson Mayor Martin Griffin, whose city got a grant to convert an armory building to an arts and cultural center.

Added Andy Coulouris, a member of the Saginaw City Council: “It’s nice for cities to get some loving. We haven’t had any loving for a long time.”

Saginaw’s grant will be used to redevelop two vacant downtown buildings for businesses and lofts.

Southeast Michigan business leaders agree with the goals of Granholm’s “cool cities” initiative, a survey on the eve of the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Mackinac Policy Conference showed.

Ninety-seven percent of the 202 respondents believe vibrant, urban neighborhoods that appeal to young, creative professionals will help Metro Detroit compete with other U.S. cities for the best, brightest workers, according to the May survey by the public relations firm of John Bailey and Associates.

Leaders also were asked which cities in southeast Michigan and the country are the “coolest.”

The results:

* Royal Oak was rated the region’s coolest city by the most respondents, 26.7 percent. Birmingham and Ann Arbor finished second and third. Detroit and Plymouth were a distant fourth and fifth.

* Chicago was rated the coolest city in the United States, followed in order by San Francisco, New York, Boston and Atlanta.

Mary Thomas, a 46-year-old secretary from Detroit, was bewildered by Granholm’s warning on Tuesday that she may have to cut school aid by $28 a student followed Wednesday by the cool cities grant announcements.

“In other words, it’s OK to be dumb as long as we’re cool. What a joke,” said Thomas, who is thinking about moving to Warren so she can put her son in a better school.

Detroit News Staff Writer Gary Heinlein contributed to this report. You can reach Mark Hornbeck at (517) 371-3660 or [email protected].

List of projects getting Cool Cities grants

The 20 projects that are getting $100,000 catalyst grants under Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s Cool Cities initiative:

Alpena: The grant will be used to develop a pedestrian-oriented walkway through downtown on both sides of the river, providing non-motorized linkage between the downtown and public and private development projects occurring along the river.

Bay City: The project is Waterfall Park, to be located at the end of Third Street and extending to the first bridge to cross the Saginaw River.

Detroit: The Greater Downtown Partnership proposes to renovate Shed No. 2 which will allow an additional 50 vendors to conduct business. In addition, the project establishes the Eastern Market neighborhood as a link to the riverfront and downtown.

Detroit: The Jefferson East Business Association proposes to redevelop three dilapidated buildings into Entertainment and Technology Incubators. They will contain 28 residential loft apartments, a TV production studio and a number of retail and food service establishments.

Detroit: The Southwest Detroit Business Association proposes the renovation of the Odd Fellows Hall located in the heart of the Springwells neighborhood. It will become a key anchor in the multicultural area.

Ferndale: The Ferndale Downtown Development Authority would use the catalyst grant to expand the BUILD Program, which offers a 20 percent reimbursement for exterior building improvements to properties within the downtown area. Additional Cool Cities funding would enable up to five properties to be added to the program.

Flint: The grant will be used to restore the exterior of the Republic Bank Building which will become First Street Lofts, a 16-unit loft development downtown.

Grand Rapids: The Avenue for the Arts Project includes the historic renovation of seven buildings, streetscape improvements along with the creation of public art, murals and the development of 35 loft apartments.

Grand Rapids: The Uptown Revitalization Project contains a new retail development utilizing green technology that is compatible with historic district standards, a faEcade improvement program for historic commercial structures and a wayfinding design program to increase the walkability of the Uptown area.

Jackson: The Jackson Armory Arts Project will include the redevelopment of an abandoned industrial site into a center for the arts and culture, including 39 loft apartments.

Kalamazoo: The city will use the grant monies to move Smartshop, a unique metalworking school, gallery, and sculpture garden to a new location on the cityäs north side.

Marquette: The Marquette Commons Project will consist of a groomed, refrigerated ice plaza with a skating rink, warming house, a non-motorized trail and a fountain located near the heart of the city on the site of an old parking lot and elevated railroad trestle.

Port Huron: The catalyst project is conversion of the Relic Building into an Art Incubator for artists. The neighborhood is a vibrant, traditional downtown neighborhood offering diverse arts and culture.

Portland: The catalyst project is a boardwalk that will connect the pedestrian bridge over the confluence of the Grand and Looking rivers. The boardwalk will run along the back of the commercial buildings on the 100 block of Kent Street. The grant will leverage additional funding for the development of lofts in the buildings.

Saginaw: The catalyst grant will be used to redevelop two currently vacant buildings into first-floor commercial and second-floor residential uses. The two buildings are the former Aubry Cleaners building and the Federal Building.

Saugatuck: The project involves the renovation of the old Pie Factory into the Saugatuck Center for the Arts and the enhancement of the adjacent city parking area, including streetscape improvements on Mason Street and Culver Street.

Sault Ste. Marie: The project proposes to restore and renovate the classic and historic Soo Theatre Complex to its original grandeur of the 1930’s. The project is part of the downtown revitalization and will provide economic development and other economic benefits.

Traverse City: The project will establish an Entrepreneurial Institute to help instill an independent entrepreneurial culture into the Grand Traverse community.

Warren: The City Square Project is a 2-acre urban park that will contain a multipurpose improvement that is a fountain in the warmer months and an ice rink in the winter. The City Square will be bounded by the new City Hall/Library, high-density residential and commercial retail, and a childcare center.

Ypsilanti: Plans include facility improvements to the Riverside Arts Center and to partner with DTE to expand the project. The project will involve the reutilization of a vacant office structure for retail gallery, studio, office and theater set construction and other Arts Center uses in Ypsilanti’s downtown historic neighborhood.

Source: Granholm’s office.