EMAGINE THEATER PLANS NEWEST VENUE FOR DOWNTOWN ROYAL OAK

It seems like an obvious concept, but around Metro Detroit, Emagine Theater was the first to do it. It, in this case, is serving beer and hard alcohol during movies. Emagine now plans to open its newest theater in downtown Royal Oak. Ultimately, the question will be, can crowds of drunk twenty somethings be able to control themselves?

Apparently Emagine Entertainment founder Paul Glantz thinks so. In a statement in the Detroit News recently Glantz stated, "We're at the very outset but we're very excited about the process and hope to get all the government applications wrapped up this summer. "First we're applying for a liquor license and then we'll have to apply to the building department for a construction permit."

This could be a lot of fun for a growing downtown...or be a complete drunken catastrophe. Let's hope for the former, or if it suits you better, the latter.

For more details on the proposed Emagine Theater Royal Oak, click here

Detroit Army

COLLEGE FOR CREATIVE STUDIES' RENOVATION OF ARGONAUT BUILDING ON TRACK FOR SEPTEMBER

The $145 million renovation of the Argonaut Building at 2nd and Milwaukee in Detroit's New Center neighborhood is moving full steam ahead. Abandoned by General Motors in 1999, Detroit based College for Creative Studies (CCS) announced plans to transform the Argonaut Building into a second campus in 2008, and as of now, completion of the $145 million renovation is scheduled for September.

DBusiness magazine reports that the new campus will include a partnership with the University of Michigan's Stephen M. Ross School of Business which will enhance already established CCS programs providing practical business skills for students. Additional highlights include 150 dorm rooms, studios, fitness rooms, game rooms and all CCS undergraduate design departments, along with a color and materials library, continuing education classes, community arts programs, public galleries, and 80,000 square feet of commercial office space. An art centric middle and high school are also planned for the new campus and will be run by Henry Ford Academy.

Once the new campus is finished, CCS will expand its current programs at the school's main campus in Midtown including fine arts, illustration, entertainment arts, and photography, among others.

For more details see the May/June 2009 issue of DBusiness Magazine as well as the Detroit News here.

Detroit Army

CAFE CON LECHE

While he at first did not succeed, Jordi Carbonell is trying again. Actually, he wasn't the one who did not succeed, but instead, it was the the initial location of Jordi's neighborhood coffee shop, Cafe Con Leche, inside the Mexicantown Mercado at Bagley and 21st, which failed and, which is now padlocked, unfinished, and void of even a single business. (For more information on the mercado's circumstances click here) After less than a year at the Mexicantown Mercado, it was readily apparent to Jordi that he needed to move his business to a new location if it had any hope of surviving.

With floor to ceiling windows, painted walls, and art on display and for sale, Cafe Con Leche in its new location facing Clark Park at W. Vernor and Scotten in the Carnival Bar's former location, is doing more than surviving, it's flourishing. The comment overheard which I found most entertaining as I enjoyed my espresso was from a young lady who exclaimed, "Wow, this place is really nice, I don't feel like we're in Detroit." While a bit back handed, the message was clear.

Jordi believed he could do better in a new location, but Cafe Con Leche's instantaneous success was a surprise. According to Jordi, revenue increased two times over within the first month. Located nearby on Scotten, students and teachers from Western International High School continually stop in, along with passersby, and even customers from the coffee shop's Mexican Mercado days who just can't do without caffeine from Jordi. Inside, Spanish was the predominate language spoken, and it adds to an engaging ethnic atmosphere.

Cafe Con Leche serves up standard coffee shop fare such as freshly brewed coffee, and espresso drinks, but features some interesting options such as Cuban Coffee. Drink prices are more than reasonable which was even more painfully evident when I ordered the same triple shot of espresso in Birmingham at Java Hutt II and paid 50% more.

Additionally, sandwiches are catered from (I believe) Lunchtime Global, located downtown, in the First National Building, 1/2 block east of Woodward on Congress (CORRECTION: Sandwiches are catered from "Lunchtime", in New Center, located next to the Fisher Building in the New Center One Building at 3031 W. Grand Blvd.). Donuts, croissants, and home baked pastries, including brownies, and pecan pie were displayed on the counter. Wifi, and newspapers, both in English and in Spanish, are also available.

Even with all that's available, Jordi seems to be a main attraction for adoring customers, and I have to admit, he seems like a good guy. I immediately took to him, when, after a bottle of the Mexican soda, Jarritos, caught my eye, I asked him if he had the grapefruit flavor and he assured me that while he did not, he would get it.

When I first walked in, it crossed my mind that Jordi wasn't from Latin America, yet he spoke Spanish with customers and, hey, it's Southwest Detroit we're talking about here. Turns out he's from Barcelona, which was a nice surprise, as I'm not aware of too many Spaniards living in the Metro Detroit.

As a tapas fan, I asked him if he knew of any good tapas restaurants here in Metro Detroit. His response was drawn out, but it was evident that his answer was some version of "no." When I pressed him further, he said that if one was to eat tapas here, Sangria in Royal Oak is not somewhere he would recommend, and while downtown's Vicente's tapas weren't completely up to his standards, Vicente's paella was the closest that he has tasted to that of his native land.

Apparently Jordi is in Detroit because, but of course, his wife is from here. He told me that he met his wife while she was studying abroad in Spain. I don't know the details, but the bottom line is that he's here now, and he's brought a refreshing coffee shop option to Southwest Detroit. Just as Charles Sorel and Le Petit Zinc are great additions to Metro Detroit, Jordi and Cafe Con Leche are as well.

Below are photographs taken at Cafe Con Leche.

You can find the entire flickr set from Cafe Con Leche here.





Cafe Con Leche
4200 W Vernor Hwy
Detroit, MI 48209
(248) 736-1196
Detroit Army

FILM STUDIO ANNOUNCES $146 MILLION ALLEN PARK PROJECT

In possibly the biggest film news in Michigan to date, Unity Studios plans to turn a shuttered Visteon Corp. facility in Allen Park into the state's largest integrated entertainment production house. Credit can be given to Jimmy Lifton, a native Metro Detroiter as well as a Hollywood executive and veteran sound producer, who is responsible for spearheading this project. The Detroit News reports that,

"Officials said the project will be built in phases, the first of which is expected to open by this fall. That will bring sound stages and production facilities online, as well as a skills training center that will educate up to 1,000 students per semester.

Later phases will bring more sound stages and production facilities and eventually incorporate retail and housing components in the middle-class Downriver community of 27,500 residents, officials said."

For details on Michigan's newest proposed film studio, see full articles from the Detroit News here and here.

Detroit Army

FERNDALE FIRST INITIATIVE STRIVES TO PROMOTE LOCAL ENTREPRENEURS

A few weeks ago, the Ferndale Chamber of Commerce, the City of Ferndale and the Ferndale DDA promoting plans for Ferndale First! — Keeping Your Business First. Jennifer Roosenberg, executive director of the Ferndale Chamber of Commerce, stated in hometownlife.com, "A collaborative effort of the three organizations, the Ferndale First initiative is meant to educate the community on thinking locally first and supporting your local community. The goal is also to help promote local business and provide sustainability to those businesses."

The breakfast meeting on March 26, 2009, held at the Emory, located near Woodward and 9 Mile, was to educate and provide awareness to local businesses of the wealth of information and resources available to small businesses, as well as to launch the Ferndale First business consultation program which makes businesses located in Ferndale, along with members of the Ferndale Chamber and Ferndale DDA, eligible to receive a 90-minute evaluation of their business from a team of five small-business experts.

While some of the programs announced are new, many of the programs of which Ferndale is touting for small business have been in place for some time, but awareness of such programs was lacking. Programs such as this one are worth noting in order to bolster Michigan's reputation for starting new businesses.

If you own a business located in Ferndale or are interested in starting one, you can learn more about the program here.

Questions can also be directed to Jennifer Roosenberg, executive director of the Ferndale Chamber of Commerce, at jennifer@ferndalechamber.com

TECHNOW09 EVENT CELEBRATING MICHIGAN BASED TECH COMPANIES SET FOR APRIL 23

If it isn't clear by now that the auto industry isn't going to be around forever, or at least not as behemoths with which we have become accustomed, well, it should be. What course of action the State of Michigan takes right now will have a profound effect on the future. That said, although it is increasingly clear that updating DetroitArmy with every event occurring in Metro Detroit is futile, the TechNow09 event caught my attention.

Three young twenty something entrepreneurs, Zach Lipson, Jordan Wolfe and Mason Levey, decided that they're sick (so am I), of hearing doom and gloom regarding young educated individuals leaving the state after school. In response, they've decided to plan TechNow09, an event which will be held at the Royal Oak Music Theater on April 23, which will include Michigan based tech company presentations, an interactive panel discussion with Michigan business leaders, a networking cocktail hour, and finally a concert by latin rock influenced Michigan band, Manolete.

Please take a look at the website for the TechNow09 event here. Tickets can be purchased for as little as $1 (or as much as you like) and will be donated to the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Such events provide the perfect opportunity to help Michigan regain its stature as the nation's leader in innovative ideas and technology.

Detroit Army

NEW BAR AND GRILLE PLANNED FOR BIRMINGHAM

Larry Bongiovanni, owner of Salvatore Scallopini, hopes to bring some additional activity to the north end of downtown Birmingham with plans for a new bar and grille, two doors down from his current restaurant on Old Woodward. Proposed for the former home of Aunt Olive's Good Food to Go at 525 N. Old Woodward, Bongiovanni's plans state that he will serve classic American bar and grille food, which is really something downtown Birmingham is lacking.

The plans also include a request for the Birmingham specialty, a bistro liquor liscense. It's the first bistro liquor liscense request of the city commission for 2009. Two liquor liscenses are available from Birmingham each year, which are defined by rules regarding seating, entertainment, and hours. Outdoor dining will also accompany the bar and grille, if approved.

You can find the entire article in at hometownlife.com here.