Daily Detroit (Page 160)

Reports: Amazon to open massive $90 million fulfillment center in Livonia, hire 1,000+

Amazon has had a minor presence in Michigan for awhile, with some jobs at their downtown Detroit office, a facility in Brownstown Township as well as their holding in a Grand Rapids-based audio book company. This new project would be on a much larger scale. Amazon, according to multiple reports, is opening a large regional fulfillment center in the Detroit suburb of Livonia. The facility, according to Crain’s, would be at 13000 Eckles Road, a former General Motors-owned property. Outlets con...

1980 Promo Video: ‘Where will you be the picture of success? Where else but Detroit!’

Promotional videos aim to capture their subject in the best light, but it’s hard to feel that way in hindsight about this attempt to market Detroit to convention planners in 1980. Complete with cheesy period music, the film, which was recently converted by the Detroit Historical Society to digital format, portrays the usual list of attractions — though heavy on those in the suburbs. The 80s were a time when attention drifted from city downtowns and toward indoor shopping malls. So outside of...

Jefferson-Chalmers

Jefferson-Chalmers neighborhood gets $3 million boost

The far east side of Detroit is starting to get a steady drumbeat of good news. Recently, we wrote about and took you inside the long-vacant Vanity Ballroom on East Jefferson, and told you about big plans for the historic space. Not to mention, the designation of the area as a national historic treasure. We’ve also kayaked it’s canals and told you about an apple orchard coming together. Word comes today from the Kresge Foundation that they’re going to invest $3 million in seed money in the a...

More national praise for Detroit's food scene: Katoi named as a best new restaurant in America by Thrillist

2016 might be remembered as the year Detroit’s food scene really hit the mainstream media. It seems as if it’s every other week another positive review is coming in for all things culinary in the area. In a list of 12 best new restaurants in America by Kevin Alexander, Detroit’s Katoi made the list alongside entries from Atlanta, two from San Francisco, Nashville, Santa Monica, Chicago, Portland, New Orleans, Brooklyn, Pittsburgh, and Washington D.C. Per Thrillist: Katoi is, according to G...

boxingCoach Khali Sweeney Detroit

PODCAST: Changing lives inside and outside the ring at the Downtown Boxing Gym

[smart_track_player url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/dailydetroithappyhour/DailyDetroit_HappyHour_2_Downtown-Boxing.mp3″ image=”http://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/d/e/7/7/de7744b2a145563f/happy-hour-square-sweeney.jpg” social=”true” social_twitter=”true” social_facebook=”true” social_gplus=”true” ] This episode of the Daily Detroit Happy Hour podcast visits the Downtown Boxing Gym Youth Program. We talk to “Coach Khali” Sweeney about what they’re doing at the former book bindery on the east side...

educationMichigan Schools Schools

Anxious Michigan schools must wait until next year to learn their fate

Michigan schools waiting anxiously for word on whether they’ll be shut down next year will have to wait a little longer. State officials initially planned to release their annual state rankings, which will be used to decide which schools will be forced to close, by the end of this month. Now, they’re saying the rankings — and any closure decisions — won’t come until at least January. The delay means that schools at risk of closure won’t be getting bad news before the winter vacation. But it...

Stevie WonderStevie Wonder Avenue Where is Stevie Wonder Avenue

Detroit to name "Stevie Wonder Avenue" after Motown legend

A Motown legend is about to get his own avenue. Milwaukee near Woodward in Detroit’s New Center area will have a portion of it renamed “Stevie Wonder Avenue.” “I never imagined that in my lifetime this honor would be bestowed upon me. I didn’t, but God did,” Wonder said in a statement. “I am so thankful and filled with gratitude that the city where I grew up would give me a forever moment — a moment that is captured on Milwaukee Ave. and in my heart. I am overjoyed.” The intersection of Mi...

Detroit streetlightsStreelights working

65,000 streetlights and $185 million later, Detroit has working streetlights has in every zip code

It’s finally done. After three year of work, Detroit has streetlights in every zip code. On Thursday, December 15, the Public Lighting Authority (PLA) installed the last of 65,000 new LED streetlights in the city. That completes a massive $185 million relighting program that began in February 2014 after Mayor Mike Duggan and Detroit City Council appointed a new board to lead the project. The last stretch of replaced lights was turned on during a ceremony at dusk just east of downtown Detroit...

DetroitDetroit streetlights Editorial

We're supposed to have working streetlights

This week came the news that the $185 million relighting program for Detroit’s streetlights is complete. It’s not that the city being re-wired and re-lit with LED streetlights is a bad thing. It’s a very good step forward. It seems to have been quite the effort over multiple years to make it happen, involving the hard work of many organizations like DTE Energy, the Public Lighting Authority, and countless people. More details are here, but here’s the main point: On Thursday, December 15, t...

Meridianthings to do winter blast

Meridian Winter Blast makes changes with new dates, new layout and more attractions

For the past 13 years the Winter Blast has brought winter fun downtown for kids and adults alike. This year there will be some changes and new additions to the Meridian Winter Blast. The newest partner with the Winter Blast will be the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS). Along with that partnership, there will be a new date for the Winter Blast. The Winter Blast will now fall in the last weekend of the Auto Show, January 20 through 22 of 2017. “The new festival date takes us ba...

Walled Lake Northern High School adopts Lincoln-King Academy for the holidays

What happens when a group of high school students decide to adopt an entire school for Christmas? I found out Thursday morning when we went to Lincoln-King Academy in Detroit. The idea to adopt a school came from students in a leadership class at Walled Lake Northern High School. Megan Pearl and Mikayla Ryder two students from Walled Lake Northern took the lead on the giant project. The project was completely student lead and sponsored. Students from Lincoln-King filled out a wish list of...

Macomb CountyMound road Rebuild

Macomb County: No money for regional transit, but pushing $150 million rebuild and widening of Mound Road

Leaders in this part of metro Detroit are betting on wider roads as the way of the future. According to multiple reports, Macomb officials including County Executive Mark Hackel are going to actively push for a $150 million rebuild of Mound Road called “Innovate Mound” to create a “Mound Innovation Corridor.” For economic growth, business leaders in the city of Detroit have been focused on density, with projects like QLINE and the efforts for bike sharing. But business leaders and governme...

commutingDetroit megaregion economics

Is Detroit, the mitten of Michigan and Toledo really one megaregion?

It’s an interesting thought experiment. For as much as people like to talk about whether you’re an actual Detroiter, or the folks who won’t travel below 8 Mile (or lately, 696 … yes, from experience, that’s a real and crazy thing), or the rise of Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor as economic centers, or Royal Oak’s marketing push as the downtown of Oakland County, at least economically, a new map that shows the borders many perceive between us are more in our heads than real things. Historical geog...

best beer in MichiganBest brewery in Michigan

This is the best brewery in Michigan, according to Yelp

Michiganders love our beer. It’s been a growing industry in our state, and it’s hard to match the buzz when a new brewery opens nearby. But which brewery is the best of them all in the mitten state? When it comes to a good brew, this Detroit establishment, at least according to data compiled from tons of Yelp reviews and published by the website BuzzFeed, is the best in Michigan. Having had a few different beers in the confines of this Corktown-based Hatch Detroit winner, we can’t say we fin...

Detroit Bus COmpanyMitten Market Santarchy

Your City 5: Things to do in Detroit for the weekend of December 16-18

I know that technically winter doesn’t start until December 21, however it seems that the freezing temperature and snow has finally decided to grace us with it’s presents. Frankly, I’m already ready for spring. There is only one week left before Christmas, and if you’re like me you’re probably scrambling to get everything together. So what can you expect this weekend for events? There’s some shopping, lots of buses, alcohol, and kids wearing gloves (boxing gloves that is). Merry & Bright:...

DetroitFort Wayne historic sites

For every step forward, Detroit has to be wary of taking multiple steps back

There is so much good going on in Detroit right now. The M1 Rail is on the tracks as we speak, being tested for operation. The Detroit Pistons are slated to move downtown, creating huge synergy among the city’s sports teams. Businesses are opening with such regularity that it’s becoming difficult to keep track. Housing is starting to show improvement with new developments like the one in Brush Park and major lenders moving into Detroit with budgets for rehab and more. This is where you start t...

Fisher BuildingNew Center Peregrine Falcon

VIDEO: Up close with a beautiful Peregrine falcon that has the best view of Detroit

Some of Detroit’s tallest buildings also are home to some of Detroit’s most amazing birds. The Fisher Building, the AT&T building and others have nests for these birds that almost vanished from the United States east of the Mississippi in the late 1960s due to the effects of DDT. Here’s a video shared with Daily Detroit by the person who shot it, commercial real estate broker Benji Rosenzweig who had a special encounter with the bird. We’ve uploaded it with his permission. Their populations...

Kevin AllisonMichelle Walson podcast

QUICK TIP: Live storytelling show Risk! comes to Ferndale this Thursday 12/15

Are you looking for something fun to do on Thursday night? Do you like listening to people tell their true stories? Do you like listening to podcasts? If the answer to all of those questions is yes, then you need to hurry up and get your tickets for Risk! at the Magic Bag in Ferndale. If you’ve never heard of Risk! before, that’s ok – I can fill you in. Risk! was started in August of 2009 by Kevin Allison and Michelle Walson as a live storytelling show. In October of 2009 it also became a po...

What to know and where to go in Metro Detroit