New ‘Food Truck Fridays’ event an opportunity to check out Ferndale’s nascent Iron Ridge District

What’s happening: With construction of the Flats at Iron Ridge currently underway, efforts to transform a once industrial site into a “live-work-play” campus are that much closer to reality. The 94-unit apartment building at Bermuda and 10 Mile on Ferndale’s north end serves as a key component of the Iron Ridge District, a 12-acre adaptive reuse project first announced in 2017. Now First Holding Management, owner and developer of the site, has unveiled a new series, Food Truck Fridays, to further welcome the surrounding community to the burgeoning campus — and to help feed the construction workers, too.

Food Truck Fridays run from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. each Friday through Labor Day.

Good will: “We’re building the apartments across the street and as a gesture of good will to the workers there, we wanted to treat them to new lunch options on Fridays. We’re also hoping it helps our tenants to get out and meet each other. And it’s open to the public, too,” says Katie Riedy, property manager for the Iron Ridge District. “We only hope that this event will grow as the district does, too.”

What it is: The Iron Ridge District has been steadily building on its plans to transform the former industrial site into a mixed-use campus since it was first announced in 2017, reactivating vacant, underutilized industrial buildings and opening the site to the surrounding community. Sozo Health, a cannabis retail store, and Cognex Corporation, a machine vision technology company, are among their most recent tenants signed.

Progress: A number of Iron Ridge District projects could be completed within a year, Riedy says. These include the Flats at Iron Ridge apartments, pocket parks, and an activated alley. The Breezeway, a recently completed public space, is open to the public and perhaps ideal for Food Truck Fridays, with picnic tables and more.

What they’re saying: “This is an up-and-coming district, a walkable and workable area for the community and ourselves as well,” Riedy says. “We’re really hitting our stride of things coming together now.”

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MJ Galbraith is a writer and musician living in Detroit. Follow him on Twitter @mikegalbraith.