A couple of longtime rental houses just north of downtown Ann Arbor are set to be knocked down in order to make room for a small batch of townhomes. The pricetags for the units in this Main On The Park development could reach $1 million each. Coming down are 542 and 548 N Main St. Going up will be four townhomes measuring about 2,500 square feet each. All of this is pending approval from the Ann Arbor City Council, which will take up the development plans on Aug. 17th. "We will start construction as soon as possible," says Tom Fitzsimmons, builder & developer of Main on the Park. "Our goal is to move people in by the fall of 2016." The two houses proposed for demolition are nearly a century old each. They overlook North Main Park and have been rental properties for decades. Fitzsimmons company, Huron Contracting, plans to salvage some of the materials from them as part of the Main On The Park development. "We will do as much salvage of the building as we can," Fitzsimmons says. The units will also have a number of green features, such as insulations, high-efficiency furnaces. Fitzsimmons adds the new buildings will be done in a "residential style" that comes with clapboard-like siding, pitched roofs, and double-hung windows. The development is aiming to blend in with the existing housing stock in the neighborhood. "We don't want to be too overpowering," Fitzsimmons says. Source: Tom Fitzsimmons, builder & developer of Main on the Park Writer: Jon Zemke  

Ingenex Digital Marketing is practicing a common equation for growing a business in downtown Ann Arbor: New clients plus more work equals a bigger bottom line and larger staff. The company has hired three people over the last year, including a graphic designer and content producer. It is also recruiting for two more content producer positions. Ingenex Digital Marketing now has a staff of 10 employees and five interns, filling out its new space above Arbor Brewing Co, which it moved into last year. "The downtown space is so packed right now I am glad we have it," says Derek Mehraban, CEO of Ingenex Digital Marketing. The 9-year-old firm has watched its overall business grow 20 percent over the last year. It has attracted new clients include the Ann Arbor franchise for TITLE Boxing Club and Spring Arbor University. "We have definitely expanded our client portfolio," Mehraban says. Source: Derek Mehraban, CEO of Ingenex Digital Marketing Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Businesses often argue that if a city converts street parking to bike lanes they will financially suffer. Unfortunately, study after study shows that simply isn't the case. Excerpt: "But here's the thing about the "studies on possible economic impacts" requested by retailers on Polk Street, or really wherever bike-lane plans emerge—they've been done. And done. And done again. And they all reach a similar conclusion: replacing on-street parking with a bike lane has little to no impact on local business, and in some cases might even increase business. While cyclists tend to spend less per shopping trip than drivers, they also tend to make more trips, pumping more total money into the local economy over time." Read the rest here. In a related article - there's a great piece in Treehugger about the inappropriate way bikes are held to the standards of cars. You should read it here. Favorite quote: "In the meantime, the vast majority of provincial resources around lawmaking, education and enforcement should be directed towards motorists, whom a recent report found were “at fault” in 93 per cent of collisions with bikes in Metro Vancouver. Expecting both drivers and cyclists to play by the same set of rules is like equating shotguns with water pistols. Let’s not lose sight of the real weapons on our streets."

Dreams of opening a restaurant are the obvious inspiration for most pop-up eateries, but very few make the leap to a brick and mortar space. Steven Hall and Abby Olitzky are on their way to sticking that landing. The young couple (they recently became engaged) plan to open a restaurant and cheese bar in downtown Ann Arbor called Spencer. In preparation, they spent a couple of years toiling as a pop-up restaurant and catering service called Central Provisions. They intended to open the restaurant under the same name but discovered there is already an eatery with the same moniker in Maine. "We decided it's not worth the confusion," Hall says. "We saw the restaurant opening as a good opportunity to change the name." Spencer is set to open this fall at 113 E Liberty. It will occupy 1,200 square feet and be able to seat about 50 people. The couple are leaving their day jobs at Zingerman's and Sweet Heather Anne (as well as the pop-up gig) to open Spencer. "The goal had always been to have our own restaurant," Hall says. "The pop-up was an easy way to build up our name and reputation." They do have some pointers for people looking to do the same: - Take your time. Use the pop-up experience to perfect our cooking and management skills. The sharper those skills the easier the transition to a brick-and-mortar space. Also use that time to build out a support network of professionals in the space and find the best place to open shop. Hall and Olitzky thought they had found the perfect space a few times before locking down their current location. - Don't settle. Take the time you are biding to search out a number of locations. Figure out which type will work best with what you're trying to do. Hall and Olitzky figured out a place that was ADA compliant and had built in kitchen equipment meant more to them than the character of a raw space that had never been a restaurant before. - Hustle to make money. Pop-ups aren’t enough to support a comfortable adult lifestyle. Hall and Olitzky supplemented their income from pop-ups with day jobs in the food industry and after-hours catering gigs in their spare time. "It's definitely all about the hustle," Hall says. Source: Steven Hall, co-owner of Central Provisions and Spencer Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Reveal Design Automation has scored a $50,000 investment from the Zell Lurie Commercialization Fund, a pre-seed investment fund from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. The money is the last infusion of seed capital the University of Michigan spin-out will received. The angel investments and federal grants total nearly $4 million that is going toward the development of the Reveal Design Automation's semiconductor chip design technology. The $50,000 will go toward helping the Ann Arbor-based company land more customers. "We have a sales team now," says Zaher Andraus, president & CEO of Reveal Design Automation. "They also provide customer support." Reveal Design Automation specializes in developing electronic design automation software. The software helps simplify the complicated semiconductor chip design that shortens the verification timeline and lets makers bring it to market faster. The firm has already finished the Version 1 of its platform and has deployed it to a couple of initial customers in industries like telecommunications and automotive. It now has a team of 12 people after adding a couple over the last year. "I want to make sure we have more customers," Andraus says. "I'd like to have as many Tier 1 customers are we can support and 20-30 employees." Source: Zaher Andraus, president & CEO of Reveal Design Automation Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.