Historic Detroit Pottery Stands the Test of Time

Pewabic Pottery Celebrates 103rd Birthday Today


Pewabic Tiles in the Times Square People Mover Station

In today's age of mergers and acquisitions, downsizing and ever-changing consumer tastes, it's difficult to imagine a company being around longer than 10 years, let alone fifty or seventy-five.

That a company could survive past 100 years is a rarity; one that only a handful of businesses statewide have achieved.


One of Pewabic's fabulous tiles

Pewabic Pottery, an organization conceived and brought to life in a small stable on John R., celebrates its 103rd anniversary today.

Congratulations, Pewabic, on this milestone achievement. May your continued commitment to the field of art bring you another 103 years of success.

Pewabic is celebrating its milestone achievement today from 11 am - 3 pm with guided tours of the facility, along with demonstrations of tile-pressing and wheel-throwing. Cake and refreshments will also be served. Pewabic is located a mile and a half east of Belle Isle at 10125 East Jefferson in Detroit.

To learn more about the history of Pewabic Pottery, please click here.

Have a question or comment on this post?
I'd love to hear from you!
E-mail me at girl.in.the.d@gmail.com

Technorati Tags:
Detroit
Pewabic Pottery
103

Wounds of Sarah hits the DPM

Detroit fashion duo to unveil Fall menswear collection aboard the Detroit People Mover



They've turned Detroit's fashion scene upside-down with their unique, ultra-hip boutique known as the Pure Detroit Design Lab, so it shouldn't be surprising that the Motor City's "it" girls of fashion have come up with another primo idea: they're taking the runway concept to a whole new level.

Literally.

Sarah Lurtz and Sarah Lapinski, the creative minds behind the trendy menswear line known as Wounds of Sarah will introduce their Fall 2006 collection aboard the Detroit People Mover this Saturday.

The ultra-cool fashion trip begins at 3:30 pm on March 11 at the DPM's Financial District Station, located at Larned and Shelby.

Be among the first to see the new collection: all that's required is the fifty-cent ride fair. Team Sarah and producer Phillip Cooley will take care of the rest.

Guests are invited to attend a post-show reception at Pure Detroit Design lab immediately following the event. Slow’s, Baile Corcaigh, Olso, Mosaic, Coach Insignia, Twingo's and Greektown's Pegasus will supply the food, while Motor City Brewing Works and Veritas will supply the beer, wine and champagne.

For more information, please visit

Wounds of Sarah on the Web.

Have a question or comment on this post?
I'd love to hear from you!
E-mail me at girl.in.the.d@gmail.com

Technorati Tags:
Detroit
DPM
Fashion
Wounds

City Living Detroit Presents the City Living Expo

Interested in finding out more about residential properties in Detroit? Look no further than the 2006 City Living Expo this weekend at Ford Field.


Grinnell Lofts

The City Living Expo presented by City Living Detroit, an organization which aims to promote housing in the Motor City, has teamed up with the Michigan Home and Garden Show this year to offer its biggest and best showcasing of Detroit homes yet.

Individuals interested in Detroit housing that attend the event, which runs from March 10 - 12 at Ford Field, will have the opportunity to speak with a number of individuals -- developers, sales professionals and representatives -- from various residential properties located in the city.



Real estate agents and lenders will also be on hand to answer questions about finding and purchasing Detroit properties.

As an added bonus, City Living Detroit is offering bus tours of residential developments in Downtown and Midtown on Saturday and Sunday from nonn - 4 pm. The tours depart from Ford Field every 15 minutes and are free for event attendees.


Riverfront Condominiums

Properties on the City Living Expo's Housing Tour include:

Grinnell Lofts
The Carlton
The Lamar
The Ellington
Riverfront Condominiums
The Park Shelton
Mid-Med Lofts
Art Center Town Homes
55 West Canfield


Park Shelton

The Michigan Home and Garden Show at Ford Field runs from Friday, March 10 through Sunday, March 12. Hours for the event are as follows:

Friday, March 10: 12:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Saturday, March 11: 10:00 am – 9:00 pm
Sunday, March 12: 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

Admission to the 2006 City Living Expo at Ford Field is $8.00 for adults and $4.00 for children ages 6 – 14. Children under 6 are free.

Over 2000 parking spots are available within a block of Ford Field at $3 each.

Please visit www.fordfieldhomeshow.com or City Living Detroit's 2006 Expo page for more information.


Art Center Town Homes

City Living Detroit seeks to promote Detroit as a vibrant urban community. It does this by providing Detroit-related housing information and resources to individuals and by organizing tours and home fairs that showcase city properties. For more information about City Living Detroit or to view residential properties in Detroit, please visit www.citylivingdetroit.com.

55 West Canfield model unit

Have a question or comment on this post?

E-mail me at girl.in.the.d@gmail.com

Technorati Tags:
Detroit
City Living Detroit
Michigan Home and Garden Show

Windows on the city

The number of people providing relevant information about Detroit never ceases to amaze me.


View from Grinnell Lofts

From MotorCityRocks, a fab site dedicated to the Detroit music scene, to the The World is Coming, Get in the Game, a website featuring one of the most definitive collections of Detroit-related resources and current events out there, the creativity swarming in this midwestern city cannot be denied.


View of downtown from Slow's BBQ

Whether you're curious about what Detroit neighborhoods are really like or want to know more about things to do in the Metro Detroit area, the men and women of Detroit have got you covered.

Some of my newest Detroit reads:
The Urban Flavor weekly e-zine
Why Detroit Works e-newsletter

Enjoy. And keep up the great work, Detroit!

Have a question or comment on this post?
I'd love to hear from you!
E-mail me at girl.in.the.d@gmail.com

Technorati Tags:

Detroit
Resources
Girl in the D

Your free pass to the Detroit Boat Show

**Girl in the D is giving away 4 free tickets to this event!

Read below for information on how you can win them**

Ahoy, Maties!

It's time once again for the annual Detroit Boat Show, the D's late-winter tradition celebrating all things watercraft.


Photo courtesy Michigan Boating Industries Association

This year's show, the forty-eighth of its kind, features 1000 boats, from fishing boats and luxury power boats to pontoons and personal watercrafts. After a ten-year hiatus from the Detroit Boat Show, sailboats are back, too.

In addition to sizing up all the boats, attendees have the opportunity to partake in a variety of watercraft-related activities and events, including fishing and boating seminars, the 'Catch and Release' at the Huck Fin Trout Pond and much more.

History buffs will enjoy the antique and classic boats on display courtesy of the Michigan Chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society (ACBS) and shoppers will revel in the variety of boating-themed gear, accessories, artwork and jewelry being sold by a variety of merchants.

Girl in the D is giving away four free passes to this event! For your chance to win, send me a quick e-mail with your name*, address*, and a sentence or two about why you love Detroit. If you're the 7th person to e-mail me, you and three friends are going to the boat show this weekend -- for free! (*All information will be kept strictly confidential and will not be used for any purpose other than this giveaway).

What's the catch? There isn't one. Why would anyone give away free tickets to total strangers? Why do I write this blog? Because I want to help spread the Detroit Experience and I want people to spend time in Detroit.

***

The Detroit Boat Show runs through Sunday, February 26, 2006 at Cobo Hall.

Hours are from 3 - 9 pm on Friday, 11 am - 9 pm on Saturday, and 11 pm - 6 pm on Sunday.

Adult tickets are $11 each on Saturday and Sunday ($10 if you buy them online) and 2-for-1 on weekdays. Children 12 and under are free.

For more information on the Detroit Boat Show, please call 800.224.3008 or visit http://www.detroitboatshow.net.

Have a question or comment on this post?
I'd love to hear from you!
E-mail me at girl.in.the.d@gmail.com

Technorati Tags:
Detroit
Boat Show
Giveaway

Detroit's Housing Boom

Detroit has long fought the battle of a declining population, so when the Southeastern Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) recently announced that the Motor City came out on top for new residential developments in Southeastern Michigan in 2005, pro-Detroit backers couldn't be happier.


Lofts like these being constructed at the old Grinnell Brothers Piano Warehouse in Corktown, have taken off in the city

And rightly so.

Although Detroit has come close to being the numbero uno in new housing permits in the last few years - the city had 925 in 2004 and 872 in 2003 - this is the first time Detroit has taken the top spot.

It's also the first time in a long time that the D beat-out metro Detroit's current hotbeds of sprawl, Macomb and Canton. The 2005 permits for these outer ring suburbs came in at 814 and 805, respectively.

In 2004, Macomb Township ended the year with 1086 new housing permits. Canton was a close second at 1067.

Have a question or comment on this post?
I'd love to hear from you!
E-mail me at girl.in.the.d@gmail.com

Technorati Tags:
Detroit
Residential Building Permits
Urban Growth

Detroit Properties to be featured on HGTV, Fine Living

Ever wonder how Detroit housing measures up to the rest of the country? Here's your chance to find out.

The wildly-successful "What You Get for the Money" - a cable program that looks at how much home a set amount of money gets in six different parts of the country - shines a spotlight on the D three times during the next week and a half when it compares Detroit homes at the $300,000, $700,000 and $900,000 price levels to similarly-priced homes in other cities.

"What You Get for the Money" episodes featuring Detroit homes will air on HGTV on February 15, and on Fine Living on February 16 and February 23.

Sound interesting? Here's the nitty-gritty:

*On February 15, tune into HGTV at 10:30 pm and follow show host Mike Seagal across the country as he visits Omaha, East Hampton, San Diego, Baltimore, Detroit and Reno to find out just how much house a $900,000 budget affords in varying parts of the U.S. Sabra Sanzotta, Detroit real estate agent and owner of The Loft Warehouse, will present the Motor City's $900,000 property - a mansion in the city's historic Boston-Edison neighborhood. Night owls can tune in at 2:30 for a repeat showing of this episode.

*On February 16 at 8 pm and 11 pm, look for Sanzotta again as she showcases another Detroit property on Fine Living, this time at a lower price point. See how Detroit's $300,000 residence measures up against homes in the same price range located in Portland, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver and Seattle.

*On February 23, viewers tuning into Fine Living at 8 pm or 11 pm can get a sneak-peek of what $700,000 will get them in a home. Along with residences with a $700,000 price tag in Portland, Harlem, Omaha, Pittsburgh and Lone Tree, Colorado, Detroit real estate agent Ilene Wolf will showcase a unit at The Lofts at Rivertown, the former Frederick Stearns pharmaceutical lab that was redeveloped into 175 luxury lofts in 2002.

Have a question or comment on this post?
I'd love to hear from you!
E-mail me at girl.in.the.d@gmail.com

Technorati Tags:
Detroit
Homes
The Loft Warehouse
The Lofts at Rivertown

MEDC Approves Three Brownfield Redevelopment Projects in Detroit

Tax incentives will turn blighted structures into new single-family homes, lofts, apartments and retail space

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) acted last week to keep Detroit's Super Bowl momentum going strong when it approved brownfield tax incentives for three proposed projects in the city.

The incentives -- which, together, will bring more than $724,703 to the three projects -- will be used along with private funds to turn blighted, vacant buildings into new residential and mixed-use developments.

Here are the specifics:

*Gratiot McDougall Homes LLC will use its $319,000+ brownfield tax credit along with $3.1 in private funds to redevelop 22 blighted homes near Gratiot and McDougall on the city's east side.

*The development team at University Lofts LLC will use $2.2 million along with its recently-approved $226,811 brownfield tax credit to redevelop the currently-vacant Mortuary Science Building at Wayne State University into 10 new loft-style condos.

*With its $178,892 brownfield tax credit, Vernor/Scotten Partners plans to redevelop two historic buildings in southwest Detroit into 10 apartments with several hundred feet of ground-floor retail space. Vernor/Scotten Partners will use $1.7 million of private funds to make this project a reality.

Created in 1999, the MEDC is Michigan's one-stop resource for businesses seeking to grow within the state. A partnership between state and local communities, the MEDC promotes smart economic growth by developing strategies and providing services to create and retain good jobs and a high quality of life. For more information, please visit michigan.org/medc.

Have a question or comment on this post?
I'd love to hear from you!
E-mail me at girl.in.the.d@gmail.com

Technorati Tags:
Detroit
Redevelopment