KEEP IT UP DETROIT

Retail development planned for Detroit’s West Village

By: Sherri Welch

A small retail development is in the works for Detroit’s historic West Village community. MARVIN SHAOUNI

The Detroit Economic Growth Corp., The Villages communities on Detroit’s east riverfront and West Village Manor Apartments and Parkstone Apartments, with assistance from the Villages Community Development Corp., are launching retail on the first floors of the two apartment buildings.

The new retail will be located near the pop-up Tashmoo Beirgarten.

The DEGC plans today to post on its website at www.degc.org a request for proposals for tenants of six retail spaces totaling 7,790 square feet and 570 square feet of kitchen space.

The organizations are seeking unique retailers and restaurants, said Michael Forsyth, retail business development manager at the DEGC.

“Our priority is to try to activate the space with full-time tenants,” he said.

“In the event we don’t fill all the spaces, that’s where pop-up offers a great solution.”

The organizations plan to host two informational meetings for interested retailers, Aug. 29 and 30 at West Village Manor, in advance of the Sept. 10 due date for all proposals.

The West Village retail initiative is the first phase of a larger retail project in development for The Villages, the DEGC said. It will also serve as a pilot for a new neighborhood pop-up retail program for other Detroit neighborhoods under development by the DEGC.

The agency plans to keep an open mind about other Detroit neighborhoods that could be candidates for pop-up retail development, Forsyth said.

“But certainly, 7 Mile and Livernois has a lot of promise,” Forsyth said.

Neighborhood pop-up retail developments require the right mix of active community partners, willing building owners with quality space, and pent-up demand for unique retail establishments from both entrepreneurs and neighborhood residents, Forsyth said.

“Where those ingredients align is ultimately where this program has promise.”

via Retail development planned for Detroit’s West Village | Crain’s Detroit Business.

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Curious Cuisiners, The Villages, FL

For today’s meeting, they each brought a dish to share, so there was so much food I couldn’t even taste it all.  Some dishes were classics and some the newest trends in food. One of my favorites was a healthy update on an old favorite. The cook had updated the Waldorf Salad, making it lighter and adding wheat berries!  It was healthy, summery and tasted great.  I want that recipe!  I know even a picky little eater would enjoy that.  I’ve belonged to several cooking clubs, gourmet clubs and adventurous dining clubs over the years.  I always learn while enjoying the camaraderie of like-minded friends.  If you don’t know of a local foodie club that fits your needs, start one.

Great food, great friends, what’s not to like?

Let’s check out how Michele and Rick Greenlee’s dream home is coming along. They’re building a customized Horizon: large garage with room for the Harley, 12ft high stone front entrance, open kitchen with granite, spacious lanai to the pool for a private backyard oasis!  They’ll soon be livin’ their dream.

Growing up in Florida I wanted nothing more than to graduate, join the Air Force, and leave the state.  Sure I enjoyed skipping school my senior year, loading up the trunk with beer and heading to Daytona with my friends to get drunk, play football, and trip over the waves.  And yes this was the time of MTV when they showed music videos not all this reality TV crap and went to Daytona durinig Spring Break.  But still I didn’t like the state.  It was just too damn hot.  You took a shower and got out and was immediately sweating again.  On top of that, despite the fact I love my family, too much of my family was around, I mean 8 generations of family all within 4 surrounding cities.  It was like we were the mafia and we ran central Florida.  Finally, there were the retirees.  I mean, come on, this was Florida, it was supposed to be the state of youth.  I was 16, 17 years old and there seemed to be more retired people than people my own age, thanks to this (at the time little) retirement villiage called The Villiages.  It has now taken over Lady Lake, Leesburg, and trying to take over Florida.

Seriously, the people thought they owned the state.  They drove around in their golf carts and if you were younger than 60 you got attitude like you had no business being in the state, it didn’t matter you were born there and they were just snowbirds from another state who migrated like geese to the warmer weather.  I hated dealing with the people and their little community, yea no kids allowed so if you happened to be retired but had kids late in life, sorry you can’t live there.  Now to give you a time frame this was the mid to late 80s.  A lot has changed since then but at the same time a lot has stayed the same.

This got me to thinking though, I am going to be 40 in a couple months, though I am not considered retirement age, I am a retired Air Force vet, so I am officially retired even though I am still working as a civilian now.  And one day I’ll be one of those retirees traveling around the U.S. in an RV and flying around the world seeing new places like Amsterdamn and Australia both of which I have every intention of seeing long before my second retirement.  Though with that said, I can say without a doubt I still, will not move back to Florida permanently (maybe for a short time until my kids are grown but that is it), and I definitely will not become one of The Villiages retirees.  I am a Floridian Air Force brat by birth but I’ll be damned if I die there.  I plan to be a retiree of no place but a resident of everyplace.

Len and Sandy Viscito porch addition

In the summer of 2011 Gingerich Construction hired Fran Overholt, Inc. to help create a piece of Italy in Len and Sandy’s backyard.  Fran Overholt, Inc. installed all of the cultured stone and brick on the arches surrounding the pool, as well on the one-of-a-kind jacuzzi, pizza oven and pergola features.

Fran specializes in bringing custom designs to life for his customers, and in August of 2011 he spent a week finding and perfecting the look the Viscitos and Gingerich Construction were looking for.  This look has been replicated throughout the entire project.

After the porch area was completed Fran Overholt, Inc., was retained to lay the block and to create an exterior veneer of cultured stone and brick to match the porch for the Viscito’s expansive new RV garage.  Cultured stone and brick accents were also added to the front of the house to tie the look of the entire home together.

In May Len and Sandy showed their appreciation by inviting Fran and his wife Elma up to their home in celebration of Fran and Elma’s 50^th anniversary.  The centerpiece of the event was fresh pizza from the Viscito’s pizza oven.  Each delicious pie took less than 10 minutes to bake in the wood-fired oven chamber.  Temperatures in the oven ranged well over 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

Now, a year later, the Viscito’s home has been transformed from just another residence into an Italian resort and wood-fired pizza café.

What dream can Fran Overholt, Inc. help you bring to life?

A CONCIERGE4U.COM IS YOUR PERSONAL ASSISTANT

Successful real estate agents are experts at multitasking-juggling open houses, taking calls from clients, and coming up with innovative marketing strategies-all while trying to maintain a balanced personal life. For some agents, the demands on their time become too great, and certain tasks fall by the wayside. In order to restore efficiency and ease the pressure, many realtors today hire personal assistants.

Is a personal assistant right for you? If you’re a real estate agent who has yellow sticky notes and to-do lists blanketing your desk, then you might need a personal assistant. If you can’t find important paperwork within a minute or two, then yes, you need an assistant. If your family can’t remember who you are when you walk in the front door, then you definitely need a personal assistant.

What kinds of things can personal assistants do for you? If they have their real estate license, they can handle many of your regular responsibilities such as showing properties, hosting open houses, advertising the business, going over contracts with clients, and accepting payment.

An assistant that does not have his real estate license is more limited in what he can do for you, but he can still make your life much easier. He can see to the daily administrative tasks such as handling contact leads, answering the telephone, responding to email inquiries, as well as general office jobs such as faxing documents and filing papers. These chores often require focus and attention to detail, which can quickly eat up your time; if someone else can take care of them for you, you can devote that time to generating more income, or to spending quality time with family.

If you like the idea of hiring a personal assistant, but only need help on occasion, consider getting a virtual assistant. VA’s can help you with appointments, phone calls, and time management. Some virtual assistants can even help with the maintenance of your website. VA’s are independent contractors, so you don’t have to worry about offering benefits and taking off taxes from their paycheck. You also don’t have to furnish them with office space and equipment because they perform their work offsite, from their home office.

Make sure that if you decide to hire a virtual assistant you check out their references before handing over critical information such as credit card numbers and website passwords. You want to know the person as well as possible, so that you can feel good about entrusting them with your business.

A personal assistant isn’t just for celebrities or the very wealthy; it’s for anyone who has a successful business and limited time. If you hire an assistant, you not only rid yourself of some of the more menial tasks associated with the real estate profession, but you can also use your newly acquired free time to garner new business, or simply to take some much needed down time. A personal assistant can help your real estate business run smoothly, and enable you to use your time in a more productive way.

www.davedefourneaux.com/Photography/iWorld/

Geraldine has blown bubbles on 6 May in The Villages in Florida, USA

FHP officials said the accident occurred while a 1999 Saab, driven by Charles L. Kusiak, 23, of The Villages, was heading north on Buena Vista Boulevard at 2:25 a.m. Sunday.

It took Florida Highway Patrol troopers 12 hours to determine the identity of the passgener, Robert J. Kokinakis, 22, also of The Villages, because he was carrying no identification.

via Charles L. Kusiak charged with DUI/manslaughter in crash that killed passenger | Ocala.com.

As my “Yes Experiment” began to wind down in “The Villages” part of our vacation, I began to look at what my Yeses had accomplished up to that point.

My Yeses in the airport resulted in a happy 10-year-old who’s mom confirmed his opinion that the tater tots he had for dinner were in deed the best tater tots he had ever eaten. My Yes to McKenna that involved buying a book in the airport store, resulted in the purchase of a book that she and I thoroughly enjoyed and have now passed on and recommended to my mother, sister, and mother-in-law. We all also learned about the airports new Read and Return programs where one can return the book that you bought back to another participating airport store after you have read it, and receive 50 percent of the purchase price back in cash. And the Yes to Shea in that same store revealed to him that you better think carefully about how you choose to spend your money because that $5 spend on the squiggly toys was definitely not worth not being able to buy an extra $5 memento in Universal.

Then there were the Yeses in The Villages. I had a nice walk/jog with Max, and we chatted and bonded, and planned to do more of these “workouts” together when we got home. I swam with kids, enjoyed a game of pickleball, and once again saw Shea’s face light up when he was allowed to purchase a leather Alabama bracelet and Alabama sunglasses (with his own money, of course).

Another Yes, resulted in secret glances and seductive eyebrow raises between Mark and I for the rest of the trip, and Yeses involving our itinerary that occurred before we even got to The Villages resulted in a fun afternoon of golf with Mark, Dad, Mom and I, an exciting afternoon of polo, where once again the kids were reminded of what chuckers were, how to stomp divots, and to always avoid the “steaming divot” (Max was much more successful with that this year than last).

And if I hadn’t said yes to a dinner show to celebrate our last evening in The Villages we never would have gotten to see the likes of Tammy Winet, Patsy Cline, Elton John, Sonny & Cher, Elvis, and Lady Gaga, among others, entertaining the sold-out crowd at the legendary Katie Belles in Spanish Springs.

Lady Gaga

Dad and me in a very rare picture together.

Kenna got to enjoy both her Grandma and Mima in Florida, due to Grandma saying Yes to coming to visit us all in Florida, and Mima and Papa's Yes to having Grandma join us in the first place.

Shea was very happy when I said yes to dessert: warm apple pie, ice cream, and whipped cream.

Most of us were smiling that night.

Armed with the product of my Village Yeses, I prepared for two and half days of Yes at Universal Studios Orlando. I knew the parks would be a treasure trove of, well treasures, for my kids to take home, so I decided to modify my Yeses when it came to money. Unlimited yeses were not a possibility on this trip. I did, however, decided that I would say Yes to every request to experience a new adventure with my kids at least once. Yes, that meant getting on every attraction regardless of how scary or nausea-inducing it was, and enjoy the ride (literally and figuratively). And except for one No from both Mark and me to avoid one of the water-soaking attractions, I was able to do just that (I did remedy that No though by going on the next ride, that drenched me 10 times more the one I had said, “No” to). Ahh, sweet revenge from the Yes Gods.

YES, I was drenched after one of my Yeses.

And YES Shea and Kenna were soaked, too!

And I have to say, my positive attitude paid off. We all had a blast. We rode the Harry Potter ride twice, and when it broke down the second time leaving us stranded and strapped in in the middle of the action for 5 minutes, that Yes attitude stayed with me, and I accepted the experience as just another funny anecdote to tell when we got home. I rode the Hippogriff coaster, and flew on the Dragon coaster, bought some sour suckers from Honeydukes Candy store, enjoyed an English Breakfast and the Three Broomsticks, and tried my first Butter Beer. Yum!

Butterbeer mustaches for everyone!

I also visited Olivanders Wand Shop, and said, “Yes” to anyone who wanted to purchase a wand, which McKenna and Shea took me up on later that day in a different store. I braved the giant coasters — The Hulk, Rip Ride Rockit, and more — which absolutely intimidated me, and experienced an incredible thrill right along with my kids and husband, although once was definitely enough for me.

A YES to Max had the two of us posing for a photo with Woody Woodpecker.

My favorite Yeses, resulted in two trips on the Spider Man ride, two incredibly cute kids having their faces panted, a family caricature for our house, and meeting up with two women from Maine and there incredible boys who immediately became part of our unforgettable Universal experience, and hopefully, part of lives.

So what did I learn about becoming Yes Mom for eleven days?

1. Some yeses to children have to come in limited doses or one will go broke in only a matter of days.
2. Some no(s) are meant to keep them safe and following the rules/law and cannot be avoided. (i.e. No Max, you cannot drive the golf cart around The Villages, the rules are you have to be 14.)
3. A simple yes to tasting a tater tot, going for a walk, riding a much-dreaded roller coaster, or letting your child play in a water fountain fully clothed can leave a lasting smile on a child’s face (and yours) for days.

*** And on a side note: Saying yes more will most definitely improve your relationship with your spouse or significant other.