Little House on the Urban Prairie

I spotted this house under construction in 2008. It was built just east of Eastern Market by two graduates of the master's program at the Cranbook Academy of Art as part of their thesis project on affordable single family housing. The 900 Square foot home had a budget of $60,000 and was constructed using cinder blocks and a rubber-coated roof.

It's Official!

There will be no Shield's Pizza franchise in the Kales Building.

 Detroit pizza plan in default

Louis Aguilar-The Detroit News

The attempt to bring a Shield's pizza restaurant back to Detroit has ended up in a large pile of dough owed to the bank.

The Troy-based chain left Detroit, where it started, in the mid-1980s and focused on suburban growth. In 2007, the chain announced plans for a franchise to open a street-level eatery at the Kales Building Lofts at downtown's Grand Circus Park.

The plan never came to fruition. Earlier this week, the lenders of an $819,000 loan filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court charging the investors behind the downtown plan defaulted on the loan signed in 2008. The outstanding balance is $798,777, according to the suit.

Shield's Pizza to Abandon Detroit Again?

Four Years Gone.

Cobo Renovation Update-WXYZ-TV

The Golden Hour

Overhead

The Final Stage

(Photos by A Dubs + Presto)
*Ford Auditorium Today*

Cobo Transformation Progress Report

Selected of God Choir - Lose Yourself (official music video)

Electrifying

Volt charging station in front of the GM Renaissance Center.

Four Years Gone

Way back in 2007 Paul Andoni, co-owner of Shield's Franchise Restaurants LLC, announced that Shield's Pizza was returning to Detroit. The company began to build out space on the ground floor of the Kales building for a summer 2007 opening. That never happened. Construction stalled due to an issue with the exhaust ventilation that necessitated the installation of a 19-story shaft to the roof.

As late as June, 2008 Andoni still planned to open the bar and resturant at the Grand Circus Park location. At some point afterwards a "Construction has been halted" sign was posted and space was abandoned. This recent sign confirms the obvious. Shield's has abandoned the city once more.

Growing Lafayette Greens

Work has commenced on Lafayette Greens.  The community garden, located at the site of the the demolished Lafayette building, is one of two gardens announced by Compuware back in March.