TURNAROUND IN REDFORD BLUEPRINT FOR DETROIT WORKS
Bustling business corridor is model mayor’s office hopes to duplicate
In the six months since Mayor Dave Bing launched the Detroit Works Project to reconfigure the city, in part by building up viable neighborhoods and concentrating resources there, Detroiters have wondered how the city will execute its plan.
The Old Redford Business Association could offer one model. Without incentives, 13 for- and nonprofit members of the association are helping transform a once-moribund neighborhood into a thriving commercial tract along a narrow block on Lahser at Grand River in northwest Detroit. The Motor City Java House coffee shop, which opened in October, is the newest member of the association, joining two bakeries, a barbershop, a hair salon, a pharmacy, a shoe repair shop, Motor City Blight Busters, the Old Redford Theatre and others. In a little more than five years, members have constructed new spaces and renovated old spaces — all while frustrated by common Detroit woes, including a dearth of streetlights, trash problems and dilapidated buildings whose owners feel no pressure to maintain them. Karla Henderson, Bing’s group executive of planning and facilities and part of the Detroit Works leadership, said the association’s development is exactly the kind of commercial revitalization the city wants to help create. “We can piggyback off that corridor,” said Henderson, who, along with other administration officials, frequents the Sweet Potato Sensations bakery on the block.
The Old Redford Theatre, open since 1927, symbolizes a neighborhood’s rebirth. The theater showed “The Harvey Girls” on Feb. 26. Allen Fitzgerald, the theater’s director of operations, says the area’s revitalization “just warms my heart so much.”
Redford has a recipe for success
Neighborhood’s loyalty is the heart of revitalization in business district
The last Saturday night in February, the Old Redford block on Lahser at Grand River in Detroit was jumping. The Old Redford Theatre, open since 1927, was showing “The Harvey Girls,” starring Judy Garland and Angela Lansbury. As always, the 8 p.m. movie was preceded by the 7:30 p.m. organ concert performed by a member of the Motor City Theatre Organ Society. The crowd of regulars and new fans came from Farming-ton Hills, Royal Oak, Birmingham and other suburbs. At Sweet Potato Sensations, Espy Thomas hosted a natural-hair forum where dozens attended, clearing out inventory in the bakery owned by her parents, Jeffrey and Cassandra Thomas, on the block for nearly 17 years. In the Public Art Workz Artist Village gallery space attached to the Motor City Java House, members of the P.A.W.Z Chess Club played, occasionally going next door for coffee and other refreshments. Allen Fitzgerald, Old Redford Theatre director of operations for 20 years, grew up in Old Redford. Fitzgerald remembers the down times in the neighborhood and credits Motor City Blight Busters for its role as an incubator for some of the businesses in the association. The area’s revitalization “just warms my heart so much,” he said. Business association The Old Redford Business Association existed decades ago, and Espy Thomas, president of the association, re-established the organization that meets once a month. She and Java House owner Alicia Marion have taken the lead in pressing the city for services. The association wants better lighting, with the existing globe streetlights restored, better snow removal, more Dumpsters for trash collection, better parking signs, parking meters removed and more pressure on owners of dilapidated buildings. They appreciate improved police presence, with a recently assigned community officer to patrol the area. Two years ago, Thomas’ family moved Sweet Potato Sensations to a larger property across the street from their old shop. “We didn’t want to leave. … We have a fan base and a loyalty in this community,” said Thomas, who grew up in the neighborhood. Paul Bologna has owned Paul’s Barber Shop since 1964, when “everything was booming … all the storefronts were occupied,” he said. He and Fitzgerald point to businesses leaving the neighborhood when Northland Mall opened in Southfield in 1954. After the 1967 riot, Bologna said, most of the businesses left. The return of businesses to the block “has been bringing more people in the neighborhood … seeing more faces,” he said. “It’s a model of cooperation between neighbors, nonprofits and artists,” Blight Busters founder John George said of the restoration. Impact of Blight Busters In the 22 years of Blight Busters’ existence, George estimates about $20 million has been invested in Old Redford’s redevelopment. In the last five years, George said construction costs for the Java House and the Artist Village gallery and performance space totaled around $250,000. “The community really embraced me,” Marion said. Karla Henderson, Mayor Dave Bing’s group executive of planning and facilities, said the city is seeking a citywide solution to the service and quality-of-life issues the association wants fixed. “It’s definitely a community place,” she said of Old Redford. “The question is, how do we — as an administration — help support that.” Gary Hoover, an economics professor and public policy analyst at the University of Alabama , said it’s a positive sign for the city that association members managed to revitalize the area without incentives or tax abatements. “Now the city itself will benefit from all the tax revenue without having to cut a deal,” Hoover said. New kid on the block The Motor City Java House features refurbished hardwood floors, copper-accented ceilings and colorful walls, adorned inside and out by artists from the Public Art Workz, managed and curated by artist Chazz Miller. Marion, who worked at Starbucks for nine months in 2007-08 learning the barista ropes, said about 50% of the coffee shop’s revenue comes from walk-ins; the other 50% of patronage comes from events at the theater, in the coffee shop and in the Artist Village gallery. “Everybody wants a neighborhood coffee shop,” Marion said. Sisters Michelle Nelson and Candice Nelson, who grew up in and still live in Old Redford, said they satisfy their sweet tooth by walking the three blocks from their home on Chapel to Sweet Potato Sensations. Michelle Nelson, 30, said their mother wouldn’t let them walk there when they were younger because of the danger. Now, said Candice Nelson, 27, they meet up with friends for the open mic poetry on Wednesday nights at the Java House. “Nobody was going around there; now it’s just beautiful,” she said. “It’s our neighborhood, and we love it.” • CONTACT NAOMI R. PATTON: 313-223-4485 OR NPATTON@FREEPRESS.COM 
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