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Adam
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I think this is great news. Hopefully within a few years uptown will restore these buildings and we will no longer have a boarded up downtown Flint. I think the Mott Foundation made a bad decision in the 1990's to block the use of these buildings but I am glad we are finally moving in the right direction.
http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-38/1157894454138600.xml&coll=5
FLINT - Five key pieces of property in the heart of downtown Flint have been handed from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation to an arm of Uptown Reinvestment Corp., and plans for the properties could be known by the end of the year.
The foundation announced the agreement in a news release, and President William S. White said in a statement that Mott expects the transfer to "add momentum to the redevelopment of Flint's downtown."
The properties are located between E. Second Street and the annex to the Mott Foundation building. They are the former Copa Nite Club, the former Jewish Federation building, the former local office of Legal Services of Eastern Michigan, the NBD Trust building and Blackstone's.
The buildings were donated to the foundation for the Uptown Reinvestment Corp. - set up so Uptown could accept donations such as this one, said Tim Herman, chief executive officer of the Genesee Regional Chamber of Commerce.
The properties total about 50,000 square feet, Herman said, and a recent appraisal put their total value at about $653,000.
In planning studies for downtown, the block has been referred to as the "entertainment block," where clubs and bars could be developed.
Tracey Whelpley, owner of the Lunch Studio, 444 S. Saginaw St., said doing something with the vacant buildings is a beginning, but she hopes "we don't get too much of one thing."
Whelpley, a member of the Downtown Small Business Association, said she hopes new development will complement existing businesses and cater to people who live in or near downtown.
Across Saginaw Street from the properties, construction is continuing on a new headquarters for Rowe Inc., and Uptown currently has a total of seven building projects, worth $22 million, completed or planned for downtown, Mott said in its news release.
Mott began buying Saginaw Street properties immediately south of the Mott Foundation Building, 503 S. Saginaw St., in the 1990s in an effort to control future uses of the buildings. |
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Sun Sep 10, 2006 3:25 pm |
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Joe
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| How can a NON PROFIT FOUNDATION, give their buildings to a FOR PROFIT GROUP filled with middle aged, balding white guys? |
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Thu Sep 14, 2006 6:17 pm |
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frank
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| Uptown Reinvestment is non-profit, the they give the properties to uptown developments, a private team of investers. |
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Fri Sep 15, 2006 2:58 pm |
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Biggie9
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quote:
Joe schreef:
How can a NON PROFIT FOUNDATION, give their buildings to a FOR PROFIT GROUP filled with middle aged, balding white guys?
Why not?
And what's the problem with middle-aged, follically challenged white males? |
_________________
Biggie |
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Fri Sep 15, 2006 3:26 pm |
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Wood Ether
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| Uptown will sit on these properties FOREVER. Development downtown has taken too long. These mega investors who are hoping to lease their property to a Starbucks cash cow are fooling themselves and anyone who buys their line of bull. When real estate speculation has hit downtown Flint you know its gone overboard. I'd be a bit more hopeful if Uptown actually help develop new local business or if they could quickly refurbish and rent out space to a corporate franchise but they ain't gonna do either. And as far as condos go, sure a few will fill up, but face it, mass demand ain't there. Downtown will be the same in five years, basically the Torch and a few other bars unless the needs of the rest of the city are met. The "creative class" ain't comin' to Flint. |
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Fri Sep 15, 2006 5:51 pm |
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frank
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quote:
Wood Ether schreef:
Uptown will sit on these properties FOREVER. Development downtown has taken too long. These mega investors who are hoping to lease their property to a Starbucks cash cow are fooling themselves and anyone who buys their line of bull. When real estate speculation has hit downtown Flint you know its gone overboard. I'd be a bit more hopeful if Uptown actually help develop new local business or if they could quickly refurbish and rent out space to a corporate franchise but they ain't gonna do either. And as far as condos go, sure a few will fill up, but face it, mass demand ain't there. Downtown will be the same in five years, basically the Torch and a few other bars unless the needs of the rest of the city are met. The "creative class" ain't comin' to Flint.
Are u ignorant or just plain dumb? Uptown has done alot and is planning alot for downtown. Here is one of the current projects under construction:
W
quote:
ith its temporary name of "The 500 Block Project", the Rowe Building project is mixed-use in every sense of the phrase. When finished, this building will house two restaurants, and nightclub, office space, and will even have 8 loft apartments on the top floor.
The building will be created by combining the former PSI building, the Carlton building, and Jewelry World, and adding floors to make all three of them four stories. After reconstruction Jewerly World will have a mostly glass facade and will contain catwalks connecting the other two buildings.
The first floor will be host to a brew pub and a Brazillian steakhouse. A nightclub will be located in the basement of the Carlton. The Blue Collar Gourmet (Redwood Lodge) is the group bringing these new dining spots to the project.
Rowe Incorporated - an engineering and surveying company (among other things) - will occupy the second and third floors for a combined 30,000 square feet of office space. Close to 100 of their 135 employees will be moved to the new offices which have been leased for the next 10 years.
On the top floor of the complex, the eight apartments ranging from 1,500 to 2,500 sq. ft. will feature 18-foot high ceilings over the living area. Two prospective tenants had put down payments on lofts even before preliminary demolition work was complete.
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Sat Sep 16, 2006 11:53 pm |
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Wood Ether
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Frank- I'm not ignorant or dumb. Dude, I've got a well thought out cogent arguement. Dig this:
I'm downtown at least once a week. Uptown has sat on property for what seems like 4-5 years now. They have bought ALOT of property, but they've actually fully developed very little. The Rowe headquarters have taken FOREVER to complete. Their Red Brick brewpub, Blue Collar Gourmet, and Brazilian Steakhouse will flop without THOUSANDS of new residents in the downtown. 8 new lofts will equal 16-20 new residents. The new condos already built downtown are a drop in the bucket. History has shown suburbanites will not flock to downtown Flint just because a few shiny new businesses are opened. Mark my words, Uptown planned/plans on flipping the property, but they have'nt seen any serious increase in value that would make it worth their while- that's why their draggin their heels. If you ask me Uptown has stifled development downtown. I've heard their proposed rents are outrageous. They've gobbled up property, but have done little to improve it. These aren't people who are investing in downtown out of the kindness of their hearts. They want to see mega-profits, something that WILL NOT happen given their gameplan. A Brazilian Steakhouse? Brewpub? Entertainment District? These things have Water St./Autoworld/Windmill Place boondoogle written all over them. Look at the businesses that have survived downtown: Churchill's, The Torch, Lunch Studio, Loft, Bailiwick, Farmers Market, etc. All of them are small businesses. That is what downtown needs- small, concerned business owners who aren't in it just for the quick buck. Big plans will fail. Small biz will too (Page's?) if Uptown doesn't release it's strangelhold. Uptown isn't the savior, in fact I question if they are even much of a positive. |
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Mon Sep 18, 2006 7:39 pm |
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frank
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| The businesses that they are bringing downtown are all local and small business's. I can see, in five years, when all the UM Flint dorms are builts, the lofts finished, the capitol restored downtown is bustling once again. The reasonthese properties have sat is because they needed to secure government funding and stable tenants. In five years, we'll see who is right and who is wrong. Downtown will
never
change with people like you bitching and downplaying it. |
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Mon Sep 18, 2006 7:44 pm |
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Wood Ether
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First off, downtown won't change for the better until the neighborhoods do. Flint residents will have to support downtown for it to be viable, the suburbanites won't come en masse. Second of all, I support downtown... have for YEARS. You call it bitching, but I'm one of the few who actually now spends $$ downtown. It's my belief that a gaggle of suburban real estate speculators will flee as soon as they don't see the big bucks. Dude, this HAS happened before, numerous times. I've seen grandios project after grandiose proect fail. This is more of the same. What made places like Royal Oak and Ferndale great 10-20 years ago were the VERY small entreprenuers whose heart was in it and who benefitted from affordable rent. They created that scene out of nothing. No master plans, government funds, or environmental impact assessments were needed.
A few hundred college kids and a few dozen condo dwellers won't change things. Flintoids from the surrounding neighborhoods are needed to make downtown thrive. This creative class bread and circuses plot is a non starter. It's been tried before and has FLOPPED. Besides, if it takes years to secure "stable" tenants there may be a reason why. Uh, also why are government funds needed to prop up private enterprise? If the profits were there developers would be lining up.
In five years this forum may not be around to tell who is right and who is wrong. Hell, I'd like to be wrong, but what I've seen out of Uptown in THE PAST FIVE YEARS is diddly squat. I prefer to support small independent businesses whose motivations go beyond dollars. These are the ones that have and will stick it out downtown. |
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Mon Sep 18, 2006 9:00 pm |
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Wood Ether
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By the way, just WHEN will we see these Uptown projects come to fruition. How long has it been and how long will it be? I'd like to see a timeline. I remember seeing a quote about two or three years ago from some kid named Scott Whipple from GB. He had big plans for downtown and stated "theres no turning back". So, uhh what exactly has been accomplished. No turning back or have you tuened your back on downtown?
Will these small local businesses wait five years for the dorms to be built? Will 100 or so loft dwellers really make a difference? Restoration of the Capitol has been talked about for over TEN years. Meanwhile Pages, The Lunch Studio, The Torch, Consolidated, Soggy Bottom, Jag, have struggled to survive through thick and thin. These are the type of folks downtown should invest in. Dedicated folks who have been HARD at work while Uptown has twiddled it's thumbs. |
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Mon Sep 18, 2006 9:08 pm |
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Wood Ether
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Fri Sep 22, 2006 10:08 pm |
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