GRDC in the News

The five communities that make up Detroit’s Grandmont Rosedale district found themselves confronting — and ultimately overcoming — a serious crisis during the late 2000s. Known for its historic homes and close-knit community, Grandmont Rosedale has earned itself a reputation for being a highly desirable place to live. But at that time, residents were leaving the area in droves.

In 2009, a Vacant Property Task Force (VPTF) led by neighborhood residents formed in the Grandmont-Rosedale neighborhoods of Detroit to address the high number of vacancies due to the foreclosure crisis. Residents held multiple meetings and invited Grandmont Rosedale Development Corporation (GRDC) to the table to help identify solutions, priorities, and strategies for success.

The Detroit Board of Zoning Appeals voted Tuesday to uphold a previous decision denying approval for a controversial asphalt mixing facility on the city’s northwest side. The board voted unanimously in rejecting the appeal from the Detroit Asphalt Company, siding with the previous decision of Detroit’s Buildings, Safety, Engineering…

What’s happening: A new business association is forming along the Grand River Avenue corridor, one that serves to connect fellow small business owners with one another and help further entice customers to the area. And while the Grand River Business Association (GRBA) has its roots in the Grandmont Rosedale community of neighborhoods…

Vacant commercial spaces can have a profoundly negative influence on communities. They represent disinvestment and can bring down property values, plus be a magnet for vandalism or unfavorable activity. Repurposing these spaces can be a challenge based on the size of the building and scope of the project but may be worth exploring.

Chantele Jones ships her famous vegan pound cake to points as far as California and Washington state, her customers catching word of her baked goods thanks to her social media presence, she says. But it’s here on Grand River Avenue where Jones really wants to make an impact, to put her roots down and open a permanent location in the Grandmont Rosedale community of neighborhoods.

After both of Asia Hamilton’s parents passed away last year, she found solace in flowers. Fields of tulips and lavender painted gardens in technicolor that offered her peace during the chaos. It was the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and most businesses were closed, but nature is always open.

Last Wednesday, Outlier Media published a piece in partnership with NBC News about a scam where people rent out or sell houses they don’t actually own. The residents I interviewed struggled to hold the scammers accountable. Many lower income Detroiters are forced into parts of the housing market that are less formal because mortgage companies, real estate agents and rental companies are uninterested in lower dollar deals or those they consider risky.

This story is part of the series Exploring Economic Equity, supported and directed by Detroit Future City. This Model D and Metromode series aims to report everyday Detroiters and their experiences as they live their lives and make choices about their neighborhoods, health, education, jobs, transportation, and other factors related to economic equity.

Residents in Grandmont Rosedale are remembering what their neighbors look like as they stroll from one colorful tent to the next outside the North Rosedale Park Community House. It’s been over a year since some have seen each other face-to-face.

The New Economy Initiative (NEI) has announced a $1.2 million grant from The Kresge Foundation in Troy for a new anchor business grant program that will provide grant support and practical assistance to 25 small, underserved anchor businesses and communities located in key commercial areas in Detroit.

At 143 square miles, Detroit is one of the largest cities in the United States, yet for many, it’s the biggest small town they’ve ever lived in as an adult. The Motor City is a city of neighborhoods. Residential areas where people get to know one another, where block clubs thrive, and where quality of life means…

Neil Rubin and photographer Todd McInturf from the Detroit News stopped by Pages Bookshop, 19560 Grand River, last week and talked to Pages owner Susan Murphy about how she felt about the shooting that destroyed her front window. Susan assured him that she was not leaving Grandmont Rosedale, and that GRDC is “the best landlord in the city.” Check out the full article (subscription access).

For our third challenge of the 2020-2021 program year, we partnered with nonprofit Grandmont Rosedale Development Corporation (GRDC). GRDC is led by Executive Director Sherita Smith and we were honored to collaborate alongside Sherita and her staff as well as Grandmont Rosedale community members during our six-week project collaboration.

Though there’s a significant age gap between them, the brothers Edwards, Jason, 36, and James, 22, maintain a close relationship. That familial bond draws tighter as the two prepare the opening of their new business together, a neighborhood coffee shop in Grandmont Rosedale.

Even though they were not able to be together in-person, residents of Detroit’s Grandmont Rosedale neighborhoods had a lot to discuss earlier this month during a virtual town hall focused on a proposed mixed-use development that could be coming to the city’s northwest side.

When a stretch of Grand River Avenue was undergoing construction for a 2019 streetscape project, the offices of the Grandmont Rosedale Development Corporation became a de facto community hub, welcoming in neighbors and passers-by with any questions they had about the traffic-calming project underway.

“Our Grandmont Rosedale business district is comprised of three vibrant commercial corridors: Grand River, Schoolcraft, and McNichols; and about 500 small businesses ranging from service-based businesses like spas, hair salons and barbershops to insurance firms, pharmacies, medical offices, and restaurants,” says GRDC executive director Sherita Smith.

An awkward intersection along Grand River in the Grandmont Rosedale area frequently attracts speeding motorists and trash. So the community and the city came up with a big idea for a very small space: redesign the 7,500-square-foot patch as a minipark, or “parklet.”

Who doesn’t love a good trip to a local farmers market? Check out the best farmers’ markets to visit this fall on this week’s IT list – all picked by our national ambassadors!

As part of a planned $5 million investment with the Strategic Neighborhood Fund, TCF Bank will soon open up a new branch at 18570 Grand River.

This weekend is Small Business Saturday, the grassroots answer to the mainstream shopping bonanza that is Black Friday.

A new STEM lab for Cooke Elementary School and a new branch bank to serve neighborhood needs are among the benefits coming to the Grandmont Rosedale neighborhood on Detroit’s northwest side thanks to the latest contribution to Detroit’s Strategic Neighborhood Fund.

After decades of decline that led to bankruptcy in 2013, Detroit has made a comeback. Under the leadership of Mayor Mike Duggan, the city has stronger internal controls, and developers are moving in. However, growth and investment have been skewed toward the city’s central business district.

Michigan State University, in partnership with Grandmont/Rosedale Development Corporation, has received $28,332 from the Detroit Journalism Engagement Fund to train and equip neighborhood communication outlets to produce high-quality videos with cellphones.

To promote quality journalism and ensure local reporting meets community information needs, nine journalism projects, representing collaborations of 18 southeast Michigan organizations, will receive a share of $333,952 from the Detroit Journalism Engagement Fund.

Detroit is a city known for its DIY culture, but Grandmont Rosedale, a collection of five neighborhoods on the city’s northwest side, is known for its numerous homegrown outlets. The community boasts a 45-year-old art fair, a 27-year-old baseball league, an 88-year-old annual June Day community picnic, and more.

Ground breaks today on a new project that will bring for-sale homes to two Detroit neighborhoods. Develop Detroit—along with The Ford Foundation, Kresge Foundation. JPMorgan Chase, and U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation—is leading a project to rehab current homes and build new homes in the North End and Grandmont-Rosedale.

A park is popping up in the middle of an intersection, and residents of the Grandmont Rosedale neighborhoods are hoping that the temporary road closures will lead to permanent improvements to the Grand River corridor and its streetscape.

Featuring Shop pop-up vendors, arts & crafts, live entertainment, author readings and book signings, and more, the event supports Small Business Saturday. In recent years, entrepreneurs and neighborhood business owners have campaigned to generate customer support during the bustling holiday spending season, and GRDC has joined in.

Over the last five years, however, Detroit’s downtown corridor has seen a veritable explosion in real estate investment. Much of this growth was precipitated by Dan Gilbert’s now-famous decision to move the headquarters of his mortgage lending company, Quicken Loans, to a building overlooking Campus Martius Park in 2010.

Devastated by the recent housing market crash and years of poor economic conditions, Stahelin Avenue was plagued by drugs, vacant homes, and burned down structures. “We have nice stately homes, we had a wonderful income median at that time, and then here’s this street,” says Beverly Frederick, who lives near Stahelin Avenue in Rosedale Park on Detroit’s northwest side.

The first month I lived in Minock Park, my new neighbors would stop while I tackled the endless yard work to introduce themselves, and always had the same reaction. The interaction would always end the same way—with phone numbers exchanged and a serious, heartfelt promise: “We look out for each other here.”

More and more small business incubators and co-working spaces are popping up, though largely limited to the greater downtown area. In Grandmont Rosedale, far outside the 7.2 square miles of greater downtown Detroit, a new co-working space will celebrate its opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday, Oct. 24th.

Small businesses are getting a boost up in Detroit, Hamtramck and Highland Park. The Detroit Economic Growth Corporation announced the winners of the 11th round of the Motor City Match on Thursday. The awards ceremony was held at Michigan Farm to Freezer in Eastern Market.