News

La Feria Tapas has won the 2012 Hatch Detroit contest and plans to use the prize money to help speed along its opening next spring.

La Feria Tapas, a Spanish-style tapas restaurant, is turning a vacant, non-descript building at 4130 Cass into a showpiece near the rapidly developing intersection of Cass Avenue and Willis Street. The stretch of Cass between Alexandrine and Canfield streets is quickly becoming a commercial hub in Midtown.

Five years ago it was best known as the home to Avalon International Breads but now it houses a number of other boutique business, such as Slows To Go and Curl Up & Dye, and several other newly renovated commercial spaces. The location helped make the decision easy for the co-founding trio of Pilar Baron-Hidalgo, Naomi Khalil and Elias Khalil.

"In my mind it's a no-brainer," Elias Khalil says, adding Detroit's lack of Spanish-style tapas restaurants has created a void in the market. "If you go to any other big city there are a lot of them. Here it's a major missing link."

La Feria Tapas plans to use the $50,000 first place prize from Hatch Detroit to pay for a large chunk of the kitchen equipment. The trio of partners have been working on the restaurant since January and expect to open in April.

Source: Elias Khalil, co-owner of La Feria Tapas
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Did you know Phil Cooley has a brother? Well he does. And his name is Ryan. And he's pretty freakin' hilarious. Check out this fantastic Q&A with the Other Cooley Brother (who is the main force behind O'Connor Realty and Development) from the Detroit News.

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What was once a reviled part of city life is now the very thing making life in the city more pleasurable: street art. More than just graffiti, street art is re-shaping neighborhoods with colorful murals covering whole sides of buildings from respected international street artists, all in the name of "beautification." The Grand River Creative Corridor is the latest large-scale effort in beautification-via-murals, and has already added over 100 murals and outdoor art gallery exhibits.

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The Avenue of Fashion, a two-mile stretch of storefronts that stretches from McNichols to 8 Mile Rd. on Livernois Ave., is positioned to once again become a Detroit destination as increasingly more independent retailers and restaurateurs set up shop.

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Amy Kaherl is the driving force behind Detroit SOUP, Detroit's monthly DIY-style dinner event which acts as a fundraiser to provide various community-oriented projects with microgrants -- think of it as Kickstarter with community engagement. After 27 events, SOUP has granted more than $18,000 in funds -- and considering the money is raised a scant $5 per person at a time, the sum is quite sizable. Now SOUP is looking at having their own space inside the former Jam Handy Building, which would also be available as a low-cost community and artist space for all to enjoy. SOUP is also the recent recipient of an $80,000 grant from the Knight Foundation, which will enable Amy to continue doing her good work full time.

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Also check out the UIX profile of Amy here.

Do you ever imagine what Detroit might look like in the year 2025? What do you see? This piece in Popular Mechanics does exactly that, and the imaginary future is bright indeed. Wouldn't it be nice if it all came true?

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Imaginary futures aren't the only things Popular Mechanics sees in Detroit -- the present is pretty exciting too. Here writer Bill Morris examines the DIY entrepreneurial culture taking root in the city that Ford built. "DIY" should stand for "Detroit-it-yourself"!

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The American Way charts the recent revitalization efforts in this most American of cities, Detroit. Where we have been, where we are going and how we are getting there is examined in excellent detail.

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Sometimes it takes a village; sometimes it takes a park. The residents of Palmer Park are working together to revitalize their neighborhood on their own terms through the nonprofit group People for Palmer Park, and are already seeing significant changes in their community. 

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From banks to nonprofits, hospitals to ad agencies, restaurants to retail stores, this year's 40 under 40 are the leaders of Detroit's revitalization.

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Kiva Detroit is coming out with more options in its 2.0 version, which the micro-lending website launched last week.

The nonprofit debuted Kiva Zip, which it bills as "an experimental site ... that enables (users) to make direct loans to borrowers, at an increased risk, using innovations like mobile payment technologies."

"We believe that these new tools give us all new power," says Rishi Jaitly, co-founder of Kiva Detroit.

Kiva Zip is being tested out by Puzzle Piece Theatre in Detroit. The non-profit performance art company is looking to raise $5,000 to help it bring more arts and culture to everyday Detroit through its form of theater that specializes in focusing productions on how a script is framed for the audience.

"We know that everyone wants to see a play," says D.B. Schroeder, producing artistic director for Puzzle Piece Theatre. "But we're excited to ring art into the community."

Source: Rishi Jaitly, co-founder of Kiva Detroit D.B. Schroeder, producing artistic director for Puzzle Piece Theatre
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

"Motor City has become a cycling town ... Riders have great dining choices if they just cruise around the city, stopping for Slows Bar BQ's Triple Threat Pork sandwich, and then beer samples at Atwater Brewery."

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The Atlantic's Senior Editor Alexis C. Madrigal visits from the Bay Area to examine Detroit's "dark euphoria" and meets with Detroit Venture Partners' Josh Linkner.

"People want to be excited for Detroit. They want Clint Eastwood and Eminem to be right. They want grit to count for something in today's economy. Linkner, for his part, is sure that it does. 'I'll put a Detroit entrepreneur up against anyone against anyone from the coasts and I think we'd kick their ass,' he tells us. He quotes the Chrysler commercial, 'The hottest fire makes the strongest steel.'"

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"For decades Detroit has been a poster child of the misfiring American dream but amid block after block of post-industrial decline there are signs that Motor City is jump-starting its economy. Years of under investment have left a blank canvas for social entrepreneurs and small business owners keen to revitalise a broken metropolis. Monocle heads downtown to sample the green shoots of recovery."

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Forbes writer Tamara Warren was recently one of 125 "thinkers, doers, entrepreneurs and activists from across North America" invited to spend a weekend in Detroit. The purpose? To show these from all over the country that Another Detroit is Happening. They camped at Pony Ride, had coffee from Anthology, explored the DIA and MoCAD, had dinner in Roosevelt Park catered by Slows, and in a host of other ways experienced first-hand the creative grassroots energy that flows through the city.

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