Sven Gustafson - Daily Detroit (Page 10)

PODCAST: How The Mixed-Use 'dot' Parking Structure Will Change Downtown Ferndale

On today’s show we focus on everyone’s favorite suburb, Funky/Fabulous/Fashionable Ferndale. There, the city is preparing to break ground on a $28 million mixed-use parking structure adorably named “the dot” — short for “development on Troy” Street. It’s a major development for the city, nearly tripling parking capacity on the site, adding four stories plus one underground level of parking, adding more than 11,000 square feet of new retail space and, possibly, new office space an...

PODCAST: Some Big Bike And Trail Projects Are Coming In 2019, With Todd Scott Of The Detroit Greenways Coalition

Happy Tuesday, automatons! Today your Daily Detroit gets wonky and talks all about bike lanes and trail projects with Todd Scott of the Detroit Greenways Coalition. He put together an interesting (and lengthy!) list of bike and trail projects due to see action in 2019. They include groundbreaking at the long-delayed Uniroyal site near the bridge to Belle Isle, movement on the long-planned Joe Louis Greenway (formerly known as the Inner Circle Greenway) and new protected bike lane...

LISTEN: Talking Detroit City FC's New Coach With Fletcher Sharpe, Warren's Rat Fight, And 5 Restaurant Openings and Closings

On today’s episode, we check in with soccer correspondent Fletcher Sharpe about Detroit City FC’s new coach, Trevor James, and what it means for the club as it prepares for its first (semi) season of professional soccer. Elsewhere, I-696 has now been almost fully reopened after the long delay following a labor dispute and problems encountered by cold and wet winter weather. In Warren, construction has apparently loosed a plague of rats on Jim Fouts’ fair city. Gov. Gretchen...

Trevor James

Detroit City FC Names England Native, Former Pro Player Trevor James As Head Coach

A new coach will steer Detroit City FC into its pivotal 2019 season, which will see them transition to pro soccer. The club on Friday announced the hiring of veteran coach and scout Trevor James, a former professional soccer player who has worked with big European clubs including FC Barcelona and FC Porto, the English men’s national team and several Major League Soccer clubs. The club will host a public meet-and-greet with the new coach at the new City Clubhouse, 3401 E. Lafayette St., a...

PODCAST: John Sinclair's New Pot Hangout & 5 Things To Know Around Town

Our show for today… A ritual of regional togetherness is no more. The annual “Big Four” gathering of the Detroit Mayor and the three county executives from Wayne, Oakland and Macomb will not happen this year around the North American International Auto Show. (Oakland Press) The Seller-Lehrer Family Foundation, founded by Detroit native and Broadway producer Jeffrey Seller and his partner Josh Lehrer, has given the Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit a $1 million grant. It’ll fund their Summer Ca...

PODCAST: The Best New Bars And Restaurants Of 2018

The end of the year is fast approaching, and Daily Detroit is starting to look back at this crazy year, which was an eventful one for the city. On today’s episode, our Man About Town, Devon O’Reilly, joins us in the studio to discuss his favorite bars and restaurants that swung open their doors in 2018. We talk about new bars like the Keisling and Lost River, plus restaurants including Second Best, Urban Ramen and Bakersfield. We run down a few places that closed down in 2018, and we also l...

Jefferson-Chalmers

Two Long-Vacant Apartment Buildings To Be Redeveloped On Detroit's East Side

There’s some neighborhood development news over on Detroit’s far east side in Jefferson Chalmers. Two historic apartment buildings on Marlborough Street just off of Jefferson will be redeveloped into 23 new apartments. The buildings have been vacant for more than 30 years. Here’s a current photo and then a rendering of the IDAO building. The $5.4 million dollar project will be done by the nonprofit Jefferson East Incorporated and Shelbourne Development. More than half of the units will...

Jefferson-Chalmers

PODCAST: The Empowerment Plan Expands & 5 More Things To Know Around Detroit

The Empowerment Plan is a great nonprofit organization that provides jobs to homeless women making coats that double as sleeping bags and are distributed to other homeless people. The women, in turn, get a chance to find permanent housing and a new start on life. Now, the program is expanding. Daily Detroit’s Shianne Nocerini went down to Empowerment Plan’s Islandview headquarters to speak with founder Veronika Scott. Elsewhere, we discuss the news of layoffs at General Motors’ Detroit-...

LISTEN: Detroit's Metropolitan Building Gets New Life With Developer David Di Rita & Historian Dan Austin

Developers on Monday took the wraps off the redeveloped Metropolitan Building, which will re-open soon as the 110-room Element Hotel by Westin after four decades of abandonment. As Dan Austin of HistoricDetroit.org tells us, she’s a “real looker” of a building, with a triangle-shaped footprint and terra cotta tiles adorning its impressive facade. But the Metropolitan survived several scrapes with demolition over the years — plus an effort to decontaminate it of radioactive elements back in t...

LISTEN: A Drag Queen Storytime Brouhaha, An I-696 Update And Lincoln Brings Back Suicide Doors

It’s Monday, Dec. 17 in the mystical land known as Detroit. Here’s what you get when you listen to your beloved Daily Detroit podcast today: Lincoln has made good on its pledge to reintroduce suicide doors on the Continental luxury sedan. The 80th Anniversary Coach Door Edition is an homage to the first Continental introduced in 1939 and to the center-opening doors that graced the car during the 1960s. Just 80 examples will be made for 2019. Elsewhere, unpredictable winter weather continu...

A Tour Inside The RenCen’s Little Brother, L.A.’s Westin Bonaventure Hotel

I traveled to Los Angeles recently to cover the auto show and got to stay in a hotel in a familiar-looking building. You might recognize it from movies like “Strange Days,” “True Lies” or “Interstellar.” Or, if you’re a Detroiter, you might think, “what the hell is the RenCen doing set among palm trees?” The Westin Bonaventure, located in downtown L.A., is kind of a smaller sibling to the Renaissance Center, both having been designed by architect John C. Portman. The Bonaventure opened in 1976...

PODCAST: Ground Breaks On Dan Gilbert's Monroe Block Development. We Discuss Its Past, Present and Exciting Future

The big news around Detroit today is the groundbreaking on the Monroe Block. That’s the two-block site adjacent to Campus Martius where Dan Gilbert and Bedrock plan an $830 million development to add 1.4 million square feet of housing, office, retail and public space. On today’s podcast, we discuss the Monroe Block’s colorful history as a theater district, its mostly moribund present and its potentially very exciting future. Gilbert, through Bedrock Detroit, plans to build two new towers — a 3...

LISTEN: Comedy Central Axes 'Detroiters,' Doner Agency's Actual CEO Weighs In

It’s a sad day for Detroiters who were fan of the TV show of the same name. Comedy Central today opted against bringing the buddy comedy “Detroiters” back for a third season, co-star Sam Richardson announced via Twitter. Sadly, @Detroiters won’t be picked up for a season 3 at Comedy Central. I want to thank everyone who watched and supported the show. It was a dream to make and I’m proud that those who did see it enjoyed it. Maybe it will find a home elsewhere, who knows? But truly, than...

Grandmont-RosedaleJefferson-Chalmers Russell Woods

PODCAST: $35M To Help 7 Detroit Neighborhoods, Condado Tacos Coming To Royal Oak, Mosaic Founder Retires

On today’s show: Detroit’s Strategic Neighborhood Fund gets a $35 million infusion from seven companies in what’s said to be the largest corporate donation to Detroit neighborhoods, ever. The city will splash the cash in seven new east- and westside neighborhoods to strengthen housing and commercial districts. It’s part of Mayor Duggan’s “20-minute neighborhoods” initiative, which aims to redevelop neighborhoods into places where residents can walk or bike to do their errands, get to tran...

PODCAST: GM's Monday Massacre And The Closure Of Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly

General Motors dropped a bomb on Monday, saying it will likely close three assembly plants including Detroit-Hamtramck in a pre-emptive move to cut costs and headcount ahead of an expected downturn. The moves mean the elimination of as many as 14,000 jobs — including 1,500 at Detroit-Hamtramck — and the elimination of slow-selling sedans like the Chevrolet Volt and Impala and the Buick LaCrosse. A transmission plant in Warren could also close. It’s a particularly dubious cap to the s...

PODCAST: Dan Gilbert's Point Man On Reforming Michigan's No-Fault Auto Insurance

Dan Gilbert made headlines this week when he issued an ultimatum to state lawmakers: Find a fix for Michigan’s broken no-fault auto insurance system by mid-2019 or I’ll bankroll an effort to put a proposal on the statewide ballot in 2020. On today’s show, Jer interviews Jared Fleisher, vice president of government relations for the Quicken Loans Family of Companies, about why Gilbert and Quicken are jumping into the fray. Fleisher, who is running point for Gilbert’s push to overhaul...

PODCAST: Inside Downtown's New Restaurant Besa & Detroit's Most Instagrammable Places

Devon O’Reilly, international man of intrigue, is Daily Detroit’s Man About Town. He joins us today for a week-ending episode devoted to the things that truly matter: Where to eat, what to drink and where are the best place around town to broadcast your every waking moment to the world on Instagram. O’Reilly gives us the lowdown on Besa, one of Detroit’s newest restaurants. It just opened for business inside the refurbished Vinton Building, with a killer wine list, a raw bar and a dish...

Northville

PODCAST: 4 Things To Know And 3 Places To Go In Detroit

Welcome to the work week, automatons! On today’s episode, we talk about the report Moody’s Investors Services released on Detroit, which essentially asks where’s the love (and money) for the neighborhoods. Some development news: In Ferndale, craft beer retailer 8 Degrees Plato says it will close it store on Nine Mile by the end of the year. The beer will continue to flow at the Cass Corridor location, however. And in Northville, there’s a battle brewing over the proposed demolition of a h...