A new mid-rise apartment building is heading for the greater downtown Ann Arbor area. The Residences at 615 South Main will replace three commercial buildings on the 600 block of South Main with a six-story apartment building. Plans have recently been submitted to the city and the approval process is expected to go on through this winter. The development would go up across the street from 618 South Main, another mid-rise apartment building that opened earlier this year. The Residences at 615 S Main would feature ground floor commercial space and 245 units, including townhomes, micro-studios (less than 400 square feet), studios, two-bedroom, three-bedroom, four-bedroom, and five bedroom units. "We probably have the most diverse collection of housing for any development in the city," says Brad Moore, president of J Bradley Moore & Associates, which is the co-architect on the project. About 51 percent of the units are comprised of the studios, micro studios and townhomes. The larger bedroom-count units only account for a handful of units. The townhomes will feature two bedrooms and a flex space for a potential work-from-home business. Moore says the development isn’t targeting any one specific demographic. "Anybody who wants to live close to downtown," Moore says. "We imagine the micro studios will be popular with people who work downtown and want to live close to downtown without paying a lot of money." The development will also feature one floor of underground parking of about 180 parking spots. It will also have 5,000 square feet of commercial space where the builders plan to incorporate an 19th Century buggy factory into the overall development. The current businesses that occupy the commercial space The Residences at 615 South Main will replace will also be given an opportunity to reopen in the new building. "It's possible some of the tenants from the existing buildings could locate into the new buildings," Moore says. The development is currently scheduled to go before the city's Design Review Board later this month. The approval process is expected to take the rest of this winter and possibly go into the spring. A construction timeline is roughly set for 14-18 months. Source: Brad Moore, president of J Bradley Moore & Associates Writer: Jon Zemke

When Steve Schwartz went up to collect the ceremonial $100,000 check for taking second place at the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition last week, he was surprised but not shocked. The CTO of Genomenon didn’t expect to win big, but he knew the Ann Arbor-based startup’s team has a lot of potential when it comes to the fight against cancer. "We all know someone in our lives who has been impacted by cancer," Schwartz says. "We're all passionate about it." Genomenon is a life sciences company developing a technology platform focused on personalized medicine with simplified genome interpretation software. The University of Michigan spinout's platform tackles the challenges of analyzing DNA sequencing data, including gathering, organizing and interpreting the results. This is process is called tertiary analysis and typically requires extensive manual review that can be frustratingly inefficient and error-prone. Genomenon’s software accelerates tertiary analysis so it can treat patients and publish findings faster. The 1-year-old startup’s team of seven has built out the product and has begun introducing it to its first paying customers. A larger product roll-out is planned for next year. "We are now in the process of raising a seed round," Schwartz says. "This (the Accelerate Michigan win for $100,000) is a nice little bump for our seed round." Five other Ann Arbor-based startups, all of which receive help from Ann Arbor SPARK, also walked away from Accelerate Michigan with $25,000 in prize money. Those include Akervall Technologies (winning the advanced materials category), Arborlight (alternative energy), FlexDex (medical device), Workit Health (IT), and PicoSpray (Advanced manufacturing). Accelerate Michigan is Michigan's biggest business plan competition. It awards more than $1 million in prizes each year. Ann Arbor-based startups normally dominate the winners circle each year. Source: Steve Schwartz, CTO of Genomenon Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

We here at Concentrate have long sung the praises of Ghostly Records, which was founded by U-M alum Sam Valenti. Heck, they even provided us with music for our videos. Now, the New York Times' business section is finally noticing this cooler-than-cool company. Excerpt: "A diversified product line can be a smart survival strategy in a struggling business, which the music industry continues to be 16 years after Napster shattered the highly profitable model of selling CDs. But according to Sam Valenti IV, Ghostly’s founder, the nonmusical goods that it sells are not a hedge against declining record sales. Music, he said, is profitable and by far Ghostly’s biggest product." Read the rest here.

Another 100-year-old building is coming back online in downtown Ypsilanti, making room for five new businesses.  The single-story commercial structure at 10 N Washington had been vacant for a couple of years before new ownership took over in the summer of 2014. It has since executed a complete renovation, filling it with five local small businesses, including Bodies by Yogi, Betty Green Organic Beauty, Paint Ypsilanti, Five Star Care Network, and Go! Ice Cream. "It's all done with the exception of Go! Ice Cream," says Stewart Beal, construction contractor and property manager of 10 N Washington. Go! Ice Cream recently closed a successful crowdfunding campaign to build out a commercial kitchen and soda shop on the alley side of the building early next year. 10 N Washington had been used by a couple of office tenants before it went vacant. The whole building needed love but its exterior hadn't been improved in decades. Beal's team brought it back to its original design. They team also subdivided the commercial space to accommodate Ypsilanti’s emerging small business scene. Originally Beal the ownership were looking for one tenant to occupy the 2,800 square feet on the ground floor and 1,800-square-foot basement. "We never got any takers sop we decided to split it onto five spaces," Beal says. "In some cases it's easier to rent out five smaller spaces." Source: Stewart Beal, construction contractor and property manager of 10 N Washington Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

SkySpecs is gearing up to launch its drone technology early next year. It's on the brink of raising a significant amount of seed capital and already testing its product with customers. The Ann Arbor-based startup is developing aerial drone technology that uses artificial intelligence to inspect infrastructure in dangerous locations, such as the blades of wind turbines. It's WingMan platform allows the aircraft to hover near an object without fear of hitting it. Check out a demonstration of the company's WingMan technology here. "Our first field prototypes are working well," says Danny Ellis, CEO of SkySpecs. "We have customers who are working with them in the field. We’re planning a full roll-out in 2016." SkySpecs got its start three years ago with aspirations of making drones in the rapidly growing industry. That focus shifted to creating technology that makes sure drones can avoid running into objects they are buzzing around, such as wind turbines or hard-to-reach parts of bridges. Now SkySpecs has shifted again to offering an end-to-end solution for its customers, equipping drones with its technology so operations are turn-key for its customers. Ellis noticed many of SkySpecs potential customers loved the technology but didn’t know much about drones. "It was extra work for us," Ellis says. "They would come to us and ask us which drones to buy." SkySpecs won the grand prize worth $500,000 from last year's Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition and is part of the Techstars accelerator in New York City. It currently has a team of eight people mainly based in Ann Arbor after hiring a couple of engineers and a business development professional over the last year. The seed capital raise is expected to help SkySpecs grow out its team rapidly next year as it begins to roll out its technology on a national scale. It currently has two enterprise customers but Ellis doesn’t expect that his client list to remain that short for long. "We have more in the pipeline," Ellis says. Source: Danny Ellis, CEO of SkySpecs Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Steve Powers, Ann Arbor's city administrator is moving on. Concentrate asks him to talk about his four years with the city, what challenges it faces in the future, and what advice he has for his replacement.

It's the kind of acquisition many a startup hopes will come true: lithium-ion battery developer Sakti3 was bought by UK vacuum-maker Dyson to the tune of $90 million. No plans have yet been announced for where the battery production facility will be based but Michigan is a possibility. Excerpt: "The $90 million acquisition — first reported by business-news site Quartz — reflects a win for clean-tech investors in Sakti3, including General Motors and Khosla Ventures. Dyson itself had already invested $15 million in Sakti3. The University of Michigan spinoff company's founder and CEO Ann Marie Sastry will lead development of her technology as an executive for Dyson." Read the rest here.

Work has begun in earnest on building out the first permanent home for Go! Ice Cream. The business plans to open early next year, adding one more cool thing to downtown Ypsilanti. Go! Ice Cream is taking over a vacant storefront on the alley side of 10 N Washington. It is utilizing $35,029 from a successful crowdfunding campaign to help jump start the build out. "We just tore out all of the stuff that was there before," says Rob Hess, owner of Go! Ice Cream. "It was an old office space with a drop ceiling and carpet." Hess started making ice cream in his home as a hobby. That grew into a part-time business of him selling his cold treats at events and from a tricycle all across Ypsilanti. Opening a brick-and-mortar storefront was the next logical step. The new space will feature a commercial kitchen for ice cream production. It will also have a 1920s-themed soda shop. Both are expected to open early next year. "We want to open up the kitchen by February and keep working on the soda shop," Hess says. "We want to have the soda shop open by May." Source: Rob Hess, owner of Go! Ice Cream Writer: Jon Zemke