Ypsilanti’s What is That? building preps for new facade
The Maurer family has a some noticeable plans for the building that houses the Mix and What is That? art gallery in downtown Ypsilanti. The Ypsilanti-based developers bought the structure at 128-130 W Michigan Ave. in 2007. Then it was a vacant foreclosure with a lot of problems, ranging from a leaky roof to condemned apartments. “There were a few challenges,” says Eric Maurer, who co-owns and develops a number of rental properties in... [Read More...]
Ypsilanti’s What is That? building preps for new facade
The Maurer family has a some noticeable plans for the building that houses the Mix and What is That? art gallery in downtown Ypsilanti. The Ypsilanti-based developers bought the structure at 128-130 W Michigan Ave. in 2007. Then it was a vacant foreclosure with a lot of problems, ranging from a leaky roof to condemned apartments. “There were a few challenges,” says Eric Maurer, who co-owns and develops a number of rental properties in... [Read More...]
3 Ypsilanti businesses win façade improvement grants
Three downtown Ypsilanti buildings have been selected to apply for the matching façade improvement grants from the state of Michigan. These three developers are asking for $92,817 in matching funds from the $400,000 the state sets aside each year to help jump start façade-improvement programs. The program matches up to 50 percent of a project’s cost. These projects revolve around improving building exteriors, such as creating bigger windows and... [Read More...]
SPARK Incubator tenant Bongotones.com launches UM “Hail to the Victor’s: 106,201 world record” campaign
BongoTones.com announces today the official launch of the “Hail to the Victors: 106,201 Campaign”, a grassroots project that aims to set a new world record for most ringtones played simultaneously. The campaign plans to bring together 106,201 University of Michigan students, alumni and fans to download “The Victors” ringtone free of charge to their mobile phones prior to the Ohio State-University of Michigan game at Michigan Stadium on November... [Read More...]
Crain’s identifies SPARK as “scratching the entrepreneurial itch”
From Crain’s cover’s Washtenaw/Livingston …Goldschmidt is one of the nearly 70 new startups that have begun working with Ann Arbor Spark this year, a roughly 25 percent increase from the same period in 2008, according to Skip Simms, director of business acceleration services at Spark. Much of the spike is driven by an increased awareness of the resources available to Ann Arbor’s entrepreneurial community and an increase in... [Read More...]
Open Source Economic Development and Statewide Cooperation
At Ann Arbor SPARK, our immediate goal is to promote economic development in the Ann Arbor region. But our larger focus is ensuring long-term growth and viability for the entire state of Michigan — something that can best be achieved through a process we call Open Source Economic Development. We don’t view any place in the state of Michigan as competition to us. We view the rest of the state as partners. If there are things that we can do... [Read More...]
MI Pre-seed Capital Fund changes announced
The state of Michigan, through the 21st Century Jobs Fund, has re-capitalized the Michigan Pre-seed Capital Fund. The award of $6.8 million was approved by the SEIC board in March. There are two significant changes affecting distribution of this new money. One is the match for an investment is lowered to one-half to one. In other words to ask for a $200,000 investment from the fund a company only needs $100,000 of matching investment from... [Read More...]
