Detroit Finds

Co-owners of Union Joints, the couple are behind restaurants like the Berkley hot spot Vinsetta Garage (located in a former auto garage), Clarkston Union (in a former church), Fenton Fire Hall (housed in an old station) and Honcho (built on a former gas station site). For their next projects, they plan to renovate an art deco radio station built in 1936 in Oak Park and convert Ann Arbor’s Fingerle Lumber site into a restaurant and brewery.

For them, it’s important to respect the original purpose of the buildings they purchase. Stevenson, who does the design work, says she loves the nostalgia that patrons experience with a rehabilitated site like Vinsetta Garage—a location that closed only a few years before being renovated.

“People have these really vivid and sentimental memories of taking their cars there,” she says.

That sense of propriety from patrons adds an atmosphere to rehabilitated buildings, especially restaurants, that isn’t achievable in other locations, the couple explains. “These are places that mean something to the neighborhood,” Catallo says.

The logistics of carrying on a building’s narrative, albeit in a different way, and keeping the stories of the site going, isn’t always easy. Stevenson warns that developers have to be incredibly flexible to allow for inevitable surprises.

But Catallo says the work is part of what drives them. “Part of our passion for rehabilitation is that we are making these places safe for the long term,” he says.

Tom and Peggy Brennan, the couple who created Detroit’s Green Garage, agree. They admit historic renovation can take longer in the building process, but believe it’s worth it.

“This history is what brings and keeps people in Detroit,” Tom Brennan says. “It's what they love about our great city.”

Thanks to the wider development trend that celebrates rehabilitation, Detroit’s neighborhoods are dotted with unique repurposed buildings, so Metromode took a closer look at 10 interesting turnarounds.

Honcho
3 E Church St., Village of Clarkston

“We never take the easy route,” says Catallo.

Repurposing locations like gas stations involve serious remediation work, but the Union Joints couple felt confident that—with their previous experience—it was something they could take on. Now the roll-up garage doors serve to let in plenty of natural light in the eclectic retro-style dining space, while the car lot has taken on a new life as a trendy patio area.

Tom and Peggy Brennan renovated a former Model T showroom using eco-friendly designs.

Green Garage
4444 2nd Ave., Detroit

The building was re-designed with eco-friendly goals, with solar thermal heating and the extensive repurposing of materials in the construction. As a result, the Brennans estimate they currently use about a tenth of the energy of a traditional office building, a tenth of the water and a tenth of the waste. It’s not the only upside to rehabilitating a building, says Peggy Brennan.

“Saving a building has all sorts of advantages,” she says. “Usually there is value in keeping the original architecture, as was the case with this building and its lovely front windows. In addition, we loved the bow trusses that spanned the interior ceiling of our building, they would have been difficult to replicate.”

Alexandra Clark didn't know just how trendy her obscured store in a former Coney Island would become.

BonBonBon
11360 Joseph Campau Ave., Hamtramck

Despite the drawbacks, the secretive spot turned out to be part of the appeal for her dedicated customer base. The confection extraordinaire took an old Coney Island and transformed it into a (somewhat accidental) exclusive boutique kitchen, initially only open one day a week. Clark and her team were so inundated by neighborhood fans that they had to hang a sign reading "Knock Again if You Have Champagne," and even then they soon amassed quite a bubbly collection.

Now, the quirky confections are also available at a second location in downtown Detroit, but Clark still loves her rehab base in Hamtramck, especially since they’ve opened the upstairs area—a former 1970s gambling hall, no less.

Vinsetta Garage
27799 Woodward Ave., Berkley

Previous owners, the Kurta family, still frequent the site and there’s even a mechanics’ 100-year reunion event planned for the dining hot spot soon.

Adachi (aka the Ford-Peabody Mansion)
325 S. Old Woodward Ave, Birmingham

Local real estate developers Kenny Koza and Clint Mansour say they fell in love with the mansion from the moment they saw it, and wanted to bring out the building’s rich style. Now, carved wooden doors at the entrance, a geisha mural, and images of pink cherry blossom trees on the ceiling blend Japanese decor with the Victorian-style construction.

“While the exterior and paint colors and stains were off-limits, we wanted to make sure that the inside spoke to our concept while remaining true to the original architecture of the building itself,” says co-owner Mansour.

Urbanrest Brewing Company
2615 Wolcott St., Ferndale

The Flagstar Strand Theatre
12 N. Saginaw St., Pontiac

The theater’s owners, brothers Kyle and Brent Westberg, had to wade through hard-won financing (think Flagstar Bank and both state and federal financial aid) and strict safety standards to bring the 1921 venue back to its former grandeur.

James Scott Mansion
81 Peterboro St., Detroit

But, after initial trouble getting funding for the rehab, renovations started in 2016 and this year Landy proudly showed off the finished product. Now home to 26 apartments, the historic building (originally constructed in 1897) has a new lease on life. And Landy gets to say “I told you so.”

Book Tower
1265 Washington Blvd., Detroit

However, the benefits of projects like this one aren’t just in the end result. Bedrock will be following the City of Detroit’s requirement for 51 percent of the work hours to be performed by Detroit residents, and the project is estimated to generate 820 construction-related jobs and 650 new permanent jobs in the city.

One to watch: Michigan Central Station
2001 15th St., Detroit

Bill Ford, the company’s executive chairman, says the investment isn’t just about making a bet on Detroit, but about backing the future of transportation in the city too.

“Michigan Central Station is a powerful symbol of Detroit’s struggles and now its resurgence,” says Bill Ford, the company’s executive chairman. “It’s exciting to imagine what’s possible as we build tomorrow, together.”