Construction : Development News

Oakland University broke ground today on a $30-million student housing complex that is expected to open by August 2014 and sleep more than 500 students, a development that will further the school's move away from commuter-based to full-time campus life experience.

The freshmen and sophomore living spaces will come with a cafe, meeting rooms and study areas as well as be home to OU's Honors College.

"By investing in our students' academic and campus experience with projects like the new housing complex, we are creating a total campus community," OU president Gary Russi says, "a community that our students will remember as their home and their foundation for success."

The complex, which will be built to LEED energy efficiency standards, is the most significant of several developments changing the Auburn Hills campus, which has seen a 37-percent increase in enrollment during the last 15 years and an increasing demand for on-campus housing.

Also this week, ground will be broken for construction of a 151-foot carillon tower that's being paid for by longtime benefactors of the school, Hugh and Nancy Elliott.

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: David Groves, spokesperson, Oakland University and OU president Gary Russi

A Lansing-based credit union is expanding into southeast Michigan, first building a $30-million headquarters near Brighton and later investing in Plymouth.

Lake Trust Credit Union will invest more than $40 million in extending its network in Michigan over the next five years, says Lori Anderson, spokesperson for the credit union.

The headquarters near Brighton is on 17 acres near US 23 and I-96 and will give employees a campus with a pond, walking trails, picnic areas and a 100,000 sq. ft. workspace that brings together employees from Lansing and Plymouth.

Lake Trust formed from a 2010 merger between NuUnion Credit Union and Detroit Edison Credit Union.

Construction on the new headquarters, which is expected to cost $30 million, is scheduled for completion by 2015. At least another $10 million will go into other improvements, such as those in Plymouth and Lansing.

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Lori Anderson, spokesperson, Lake Trust Credit Union

Downtown Rochester is coming off a complete rebuild of Main Street, and now city planners see this as an ideal time to determine if parking options downtown also need updating.

To figure it out, the Rochester City Council and the Rochester Downtown Development Authority have gone the survey route, asking anyone with an opinion on what's needed and what's not when it comes to parking. The survey, which also includes an open-ended question, is getting high responses and also yielding useful information not necessarily related to parking, says Kristi Trevarrow, executive director of the Rochester Downtown Development Authority.

"We're getting an insane response, over 100 surveys in the first 40 minutes. We're at almost 800 now," she says.

The Main Street makeover, which was completed in November and included a re-do of downtown sidewalks and the addition of amenities to make being in downtown easier and more convenient, took out all parking meters.

Before deciding whether to replace those and make any other parking changes, say structures, kiosks, or re-arranged lots, the survey was sent out. The city council, planning commission and the DDA will review the findings April 10.

"It's fast. We don't want this to be a long, drawn-out thing…We want it to be a working document," says Trevarrow.

The changes will affect not only immediate parking needs, but attempt to plan for the future. The last parking study was done in 2003 and determined that the parking as it was was adequate.

"If a big development were to come in, maybe residential with retail or a large company, we want to be prepared," Trevarrow says. "The economy is snapping back. At some point there will be a development. We want to be prepared and have that answer when the time comes."

Want to share your thoughts? See the survey here.

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Kristi Trevarrow, executive director, Rochester Downtown Development Authority

Oakland University's campus will take on big changes, millions of dollars in changes, by 2014.

The changes include a $30 million student housing development, a new recreation and athletic complex, a new facility and grounds maintenance building and 1,240 parking spaces to keep up with student growth.

On top of that, the 1,443-acre campus in Rochester Hills will build a carillon tower on campus. The housing complex will provide additional parking as well as businesses such as a cafe, classrooms, student gathering space and more. The new athletic facilities will be equipped to host NCAA Division 1 events.

The future changes follow several other improvements to the campus, including a new engineering center and a human health building.

The goal is to enrich the college experience for students and to build on a 37-percent increase in student enrollment over the last 15 years.

Benjamin Eveslage, student liaison to OU's Board of Trustees, says the changes are what students have asked for.

“These improvements will greatly contribute to student life, the growth of our university, and the value every graduate holds in their diploma, Eveslage says in a statement. "I am glad to be a student at OU, at a point where OU is changing its game and improving in so many new ways”

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Oakland University

Ferndale is embarking on a major overhaul of West 9 Mile in downtown, part of a project that will take care of maintenance, such as updating underground infrastructure. The investment will also address a neglected part of downtown by creating a place that's inviting, walkable, safe and ready for economic development.

The project, affectionately dubbed "How The West Was One," is expected to run from April to September 2013 and give attention to the stretch of West 9 Mile from Planavon to Pinecrest.

The finished product will be a new road that's narrowed from five lanes to three and that's painted with bike friendly sharrows (sharing arrows). There will be wider sidewalks, a new water main, a streetscape with benches, trash and recycling containers, 60 trees and perennial beds and sidewalk and on-street bike corrals, new lighting and more crosswalks.

The $1.1 million construction project is a cooperative effort between the Ferndale Downtown Development Authority and the City of Ferndale.

The streetscape portion of the project was developed by the DDA and has been a work in progress for more than ten years. Last summer, the DDA won a Transportation Enhancement grant to cover nearly half of the cost.

In October, the Ferndale City Council voted to match the grant.

“This project, and the city’s investment in it, is critical to the improvement of a long-neglected section of our Downtown,” said Cristina Sheppard-Decius, executive director of the Ferndale DDA. “Private redevelopment follows public investment. The City Council’s commitment is exactly the kind of leadership that will kick start a great future for that end of town and all of Ferndale."

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Chris Hughes, Ferndale Downtown Development Authority

The final touches are being put on the massive rebuild of Main Street in downtown Rochester.

Kristi Trevarrow says the project, which rebuild the road, the infrastructure under it, sidewalks and more, will be done Nov. 23 in time for the start of holiday shopping.

Currently, trees, decorative fencing, benches and street signs are going in - the last of the work.

While the project has been a headache and hassle for some business owners and locals, amazingly, Trevarrow says, downtown's occupancy rate is higher than before construction.

Although about four businesses closed during the project, she says, more have moved in or expanded, bringing the occupancy rate to 97 percent.

Pre-construction that number was 95 percent, she says.

"We've had a lot of people who came in saying they want to start a business. They say, 'We knew before that this is a great place to be, and now we with all the improvements we want to get in before anyone else.' "

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Kristi Trevarrow, executive director Rochester Downtown Development Authority

A retail and residential loft development that has potential to be a development magnet for downtown Lincoln Park is breaking ground in November.

Lincoln Park Lofts, an $11.7 million project spearheaded by the Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency, will take the place of a the Lincoln Park Theater that's been closed for several years.

The project is a rehab and restoration of the theater, which is local landmark. Construction will take about a year to complete and be leased by December 2013, says Erin Southward, communications manager for Wayne Metropolitan Action Agency.

Lincoln Park Lofts consists of 12 loft apartments, two retail spaces of about 1,200 square feet each. A separate building behind the theater will be built as well and consist of 24 units of affordable housing, Southward says.

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Erin Southward, communications manager for Wayne Metropolitan Action Agency

In less than a month downtown Pontiac will have a grocery store, one with fresh foods, take-out lunch and dinner, a butcher, a cafe with coffee and baked goods and wide selection of merchandise like nothing the downtown has seen in years.

The 10,000-square-foot The Layfayette Market will be run by Chris Monette, who's managed a successful market at Oakland University, and is part of the larger Lafayette Place Lofts, a project of developer Kyle Westberg's West Construction Services.

Next door to the market, which is at 154 N. Saginaw, will be an Anytime Fitness, and above the two businesses will be 46 loft apartments. It's all inside the former Sears Department Store, a behemoth of a building that's been closed for years. The structure has historic architectural components that are being incorporated into the renovation, including the market's wood floors, which are original.

The Lafayette Market will open Saturday, Nov. 17, and the apartments are expected to be completed in December. The market and lofts are close to Oakland McLaren Oakland Hospital.

In the meantime there is an effort to learn what the community wants in the store through an online survey.

"The community is very excited about this," says spokesperson Corinne Petras. "But the survey is to make sure it's clear what the community wants."

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Corinne Petras, spokesperson, Lafayette Lofts

Downtown Northville's been waiting months for an old, art deco gas station - with barber shop inside - to be renovated into a restaurant and bar.

Garage Brill & Fuel Bar's much-watched spot on Main Street at Wing is around the corner, coming this fall, according the Garage Grill's website.

Besides a restaurant and bar looking out on Northville's historic downtown, the Garage Grill will offer a banquet room and 80-seat private room that'll be for rent and comes with the view of a restored 1930 Ford Model A.

There will be an outdoor cafe and an easy-in-out to-go counter, and new employees will be hired, bringing the Gulf Oil Gas Station back to life.

Ron Rea and his Birmingham architectural design firm, Ron & Roman, came up with the transformation plans for the spot, where construction started in February and has involved the remediation of a brownfield land where the 1940s-era station operated. Grants have been given to support the redevelopment. The menu is not yet public, though a pizza oven was brought in earlier this week.

Source: Garage Grill & Fuel Bar
Writer: Kim North Shine

The Lafayette Place Lofts, billed as an urban chic, environmentally conscious renovation and an ideal downtown residential-commercial development, are entering the final phase of construction.

Lafayette Place Lofts, which are now accepting tenant applications, fill in the 80,000-square-foot historic, vacant Sears building downtown and at $19.8 million it is the largest construction project to come to downtown Pontiac about 30 years.

When construction is complete in December, 46 one- and two-bedroom rental lofts ranging in price from $675 to $1,295 per month, will set atop a fresh food grocer and cafe and an Anytime Fitness.

The grocer, Lafayette Market, will open Nov. 17, in time for Thanksgiving.

The apartments are designed with exposed brick walls, bamboo floors, open floor plans, historic large pane windows, granite countertops and other high-end or urban styled amenities.

The building will be heated and cooled with a geothermal system that spares the environment and costs less. Other eco-conscious features, from materials used to energy efficient designs, have earned the Lafayeete Place Lofts LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Source: Corinne Petras, spokesperson, Lafayette Place Lofts
Writer: Kim North Shine

A national educational architectural firm is expanding its space, its menu, and staff in response to growing demand for the metro Detroit office.

SHW Group broke ground Sept. 4 on a 13,480-square-foot addition to its Berkley office at 2338 Coolidge, nearly doubling the size of the building to 28,680 square feet.

The company, which has offices in Austin, Dallas, Baltimore, Charlottsville, Houston, San Antonio and Washington, D.C., opened in Berkley in 2003 and has doubled its personnel since then, including 16 more jobs in the last six months, says Maggie Turner, a spokesperson.

The job creation has come from high demand from educational institutions and also from new areas the company ventured into: mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering. As the business has grown, so has staff, including a laid-off automotive engineer who's found a new career.

“In a little less than 10 years, we have experienced great growth, making us the second-largest employer in Berkley,” SHW Group CEO Marjorie Simmons says. “This addition will allow us to continue to provide our clients with the same quality of service and specialized expertise they have come to expect from SHW Group.”

SHW's new office, which is expected to be completed in February, will be built with conservation and environmental protection in mind and according to a plan that meets the standards for silver LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Source: Maggie Turner, Sunwest Communications, spokesperson for SHW Group
Writer: Kim North Shine

All the eco-conscious bells and whistles that earned Oakland County International Airport a LEED Gold certification are also saving the county money by running at about half the utility costs prior to energy-focused rebuild.

According to Oakland County the new airport operates at 44 percent greater efficiency. From October 2011 through March 2012 the average cost of utilities dropped from 49 cents per square foot to 27.5 cents per square foot.

Features such as wind and solar electricity generators, a solar hot water heater, geothermal heating and cooling, fluorescent and LED lighting and, one of the more obvious for passengers, a living wall of tropical plants that clean the indoor air.

“These are real savings,” Oakland County executive L. Brooks Patterson says in a statement announcing the utility cost analysis. “The energy efficient technology is part of the wow factor business and general aviation travelers encounter when they use the new terminal as their gateway to the region.”

“The airport has a great impact on southeast Michigan,” says Oakland County Director of Central Services J. David VanderVeen. He oversees the airport - the second busiest in Michigan. The airport, which is located in Waterford, underwent a $7.5 million update last August. Airport user fees and federal and state grants covered the cost.

“Nearly every Fortune 500 company flies through here in the course of a year and it has a $175 million impact on the region,” he says.

Source: Bill Mullan, media and communications officer, Oakland County
Writer: Kim North Shine

Downtown Rochester's big dig of 2012 is turning up some finds that may dull the pain of the Main Street rebuild that has disrupted business.

Two discoveries that were unearthed when the street was ripped up are already bringing more people into downtown and could result in new points of interest for visitors to downtown.

One major find was the original brick road that ran through town, some 600,000 bricks, from two brick-makers. One was a stamped brick called Hocking Block, the other comes from a company Speedway because it built the International Speedway in Indianapolis,

The masonry motherlode were put up for sale at a special event that pulled hundreds of visitors into downtown last week. They also came to buy lamp posts, parking meters and other items that are being replaced during the road rebuild and streetscape makeover.

About 15,000 of the bricks will go back into the streetscape, into planters and other parts, Kristi Trevarrow, executive director of Rochester Downtown Development Authority.

More are available to the public, and thousands have already been sold.

"People can get a couple or thousands," she says. "People want to build fireplaces with them, do driveways with them. It's great.

Another "very exciting, very cool thing" was a collection of papers shoved into an underground coal bin. They turned out to be operation and instruction sheets from a Kroger that few knew was once located downtown, Trevarrow says. The selling tip sheets and other explainers from 1931-1933 store "are hysterical," she says. Pictures can be seen on the Downtown Rochester's Facebook page.

Kroger officials were so excited about the find, she says, they donated $2,500 to help Rochester's Historical Commission preserve and display the papers.

"This is the most exciting thing so far…This is the one that stood out as a piece of Rochester," Trevarrow says. This is a very stressful project for everyone. Our biggest thing for us was we wanted people to have access to our history."

Source: Kristi Trevarrow, executive director, Rochester Downtown Development Authority
Writer: Kim North Shine

Thomas M. Cooley Law School's main purpose is teaching the law to students, but it's the school's efforts to build an energy-efficient, sustainable and eco-conscious campus in Auburn Hills that's become the latest learning experience.

The school has achieved Silver LEED status, a certification that comes from the U.S. Green Building Council after a review of projects seeking the LEED - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design - designation.

The certification was awarded to Cooley's renovation of of an existing 68,227-square-foot building previously owned Daimler Chrysler. The renovation began in 2007 and was ready for students in January 2008. The project also added a 64,518-square-foot structure to the building. The addition was completed in early 2009.

Cooley’s Auburn Hills campus, 2630 Featherstone Road, was designed and constructed in collaboration with Rockford Construction and SHW Group, both LEED-accredited firms charged with incorporating sustainable design practices into the project.

“Cooley Law School takes into account the best possible practices being used in construction, including sustainability, in all of its construction,” says William Schoettle, Cooley COO and vice president of operations, in a statement announcing the silver LEED award. “Ultimately, LEED building practices made sense financially. It saves money for the school over the long term and preserves natural resources in the process.

Cooley's conservation focused features include:

-The use of no or low toxicity paints, sealants, carpets and wood materials
-A reflective roof that cuts reflects light, insulates the building and keeps it cooler in warm months
-A roof with soil and plants that will soak up water and keep it out of storm and sewer systems. It also reduces energy consumption year round
-Low flow toilets and plumbing fixtures will conserve water
-The use of water efficient landscaping
-Interior lighting will be controlled by room usage and also use lower wattage lights. The building design uses natural light to provide lighting.
-A heating and cooling system that uses outdoor fresh air for power and cooling
-Maintenance practices such as lowering window shades during the warm months were added to staff duties

Cooley Law School’s Auburn Hills campus is the only law school facility in Michigan to achieve LEED certification. The school is only the fourth law school in the nation to be LEED-certified.

“Cooley Law School has answered my call for Oakland County businesses and residents to find ways to reduce their energy consumption,” L. Brooks Patterson, Oakland County executive, says in the statement. “Last year, we opened the nation’s first LEED Gold certified airport terminal at Oakland County International Airport. The terminal’s utility costs have dropped from 70 cents-per-square- foot to 39 cents-per-square-foot, a real savings to taxpayers. I’m sure we’ll see some of those savings at Cooley.”

Source: Tyler Lecceadone, spokesman, Thomas M. Cooley Law School
Writer: Kim North Shine

New sidewalks, street lamps, benches, bike racks, planters, median landscaping and other improvements are done and on display on Fort Street in Lincoln Park.

The four-block area near Southfield Road is designated as Lincoln Park's downtown and the approximate $1 million streetscape is seen as a way to attract businesses and customers by making the corridor appealing to the eye for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers alike.

Grants from the Michigan Department of Transportation and DTE Energy are covering most of the project cost, which also includes improvements as major as roadway changes and parking lots and as simple as garbage cans, recycling bins. The city's Downtown Development Authority has invested about $250,000 in the streetscape and other improvements, including energy efficient lighting that will save the city tax dollars.

The new streetscape is combined with other economic development projects, including a cooperative effort with neighboring communities to make roads and sidewalks more attractive and walkable and to advertise the cities' connection to I-94 and the Detroit River. Another project has the state assigning extra liquor licenses to Lincoln Park with the goal of attracting restaurants and bars.

Source: Lincoln Park Downtown Development Authority
Writer: Kim North Shine