City approves Zingerman's Deli expansion plans

Wednesday, July 21, 2010 | Source: Concentrate

Yes, Zingerman's still has a long way to go before it can begin construction on its expansion plans. But Monday night's city council approval was an important step.

The city voted to approve the deli's plans for expansion of its Kerrytown location, 422 Detroit St., earlier this week. Those plans call for renovating most of those buildings and adding a denser structure behind its 2-story commercial building. That would replace a couple of smaller houses, including one that was burned.

There are still many steps that have to happen for the project, says Zingerman's co-founder Paul Saginaw. "Getting approval from the city is a big step, but not the biggest step," he says.

The city must then now approve a brownfield plan, which makes it eligible for special financing. That then goes to the county and then the state, through the Michigan Economic Development Corp, to receive Michigan business tax credits. But it doesn't end there: The financing needs to be approved, and then Zingerman's can seek approval from the Historic District Commission to tear down the one building and incorporate the other into the design. Whew!

Saginaw said a best-case scenario would be completing the expansion by March of 2012, which will be the deli’s 30th anniversary.

"We could have a pretty nice 30th anniversary event around that," he says. "But there's a lot of ifs. We continue to trust the process and follow it."

Source: Paul Saginaw, co-founder of Zingerman's
Writer: Kristin Lukowski