By Brain stone
YAN – Dearborn
We sat down with Cristina Sheppard-Decius, head of the East Dearborn Downtown Development Authority inside Art Space – the unique art lofts in the former Dearborn City Hall.
We spent almost a full hour talking about East Dearborn and the future for Dearborn development on the East End in a wide-ranging interview that covered the challenges and opportunities that remain for East Dearborn. Sheppard-Decius was relaxed and assertive throughout the interview, with a knack for the details and a refreshing frankness about the headwinds facing East Dearborn’s Downtown.
YAN: What are some of the things you think are going to be positive that will benefit the community in East Dearborn?
There’s a lot of things going on physically in terms of some of the improvements we’re planning and in our marketing, which we’re doing more and more of each year.
There’s a lot more businesses that are starting to come in and it’s great to have some spaces that people can come into… Right now, we’ve been working with a number of new businesses, like KidKadia, which is great, because we have a lot of kids in this area and they’re great for both the adult and the kid.
We have a couple of new businesses that have opened over the last year, like Peacock Cafe, which is new Indian Food, which is great, and we have Now Cafe, which took over M&M, and they have new ownership.
We’re investing in the street-scape, and in some instances those large planters have prevented businesses from having an outdoor cafe, so we’re actually looking at reducing those, and making it available. We’re looking at a tree well plan for Michigan Avenue, where we would change those things out to help businesses add more business to their outside areas.
We’re starting to change over some of the plant materials that either needed to be replaced or areas where beds needed to be addressed, and over the last year the DDA’s have invested more and more in that into particular, but we’re also looking to add trees to Schaefer in areas where there are no trees. We’re also updating some of the older light poles, since some of them don’t work, and those replacements will be done this fall, with LED lights. Conserving energy – as a city and DDA – we’re trying really hard to be sustainable
YAN: It seems like we’re taking it as it goes with business owners opening up in East Dearborn, but there aren’t any plans to bring in a business with 100 to 250 new employees to create the growth that existed before Arts Space. Is there anything you’re planning on to bring in that growth?
Well, at the corner of the Dearborn Town Center, where Beaumont was [the former Montgomery Ward building], they’ve moved out as well. That’s an area where – it’s 140,000 square feet – and very little of it is occupied. So that’s something where we’re working with [the owner] to try to get a new business in there. Now, we do know that the main floor, the commercial floor, could be multiple tenants, and I know the Mayor has met with them about that specifically. That is something that, after a lot of the changes [Beaumont has] gone through, they’re able to circle back around and look at what they’re doing [in East Dearborn.] We’re also working with the property owner. And so, with the three, I think that’s a good sign that will happen. Is there something planned and on the books yet? No, not yet. But I think it’s moving in the right direction.
YAN: Have you heard of any talks with any large corporations?
They have, but those haven’t worked out.
YAN: What do you think is impeding people wanting to jump into a space like that in East Dearborn?
Well, for one, the office market in Southeast Michigan is still not a big market, and in many ways, the office market is contracting – they’re moving into new areas. So, on the one hand there’s competition, but that competition can be a good thing, because a lot of businesses are moving into Detroit, and many are now realizing they can’t move into Detroit [because of rising rent prices] and so that’s an opportunity for us.
YAN: What makes East Dearborn a place that someone would want to choose over Warren, Ferndale or Royal Oak?
I can tell you, in regards to office space, a place like Ferndale doesn’t even have stock. We have buildings in pretty good shape, and they might need a face lift, but they are in good shape. We have flexibility, too – we can go big, but we can also go small. Many property owners, like Fish Net Studios – above the fish market, he went in and renovated the upper floor and turned them into artist suites. They’re all booked – they’re all full. And that’s what it’s about: re-imagining what our spaces can be, and one thing for the East Dearborn, we really want this to be an arts and culture space.
YAN: Isn’t a challenge in making [East Dearborn] an arts space, is that we also built up this massive performing arts center in the middle of nowhere? The gravity moved from a walkable area with the former city hall, to this area where it’s like a concrete desert with parking spaces. If you could play God, would you change that?
It was years ago, and so you look at: what are the opportunities you have in front of you now? Between East and West Downtown, there is that middle space, and I think we’re thinking about how to connect that space. So there is the physical aspect – connecting it with infrastructure, investment, and multiple modes of transportation – and then also taking a look at the social side of things. Whether you’re in the East or West, we want to take away that social divide and make sure people feel there’s a lot of things to do in Dearborn, and you can go East or West.
YAN: Have you had any discussions about bringing in Arab Performances and performance artists in the East Dearborn downtown?
The Jazz on the Ave is a big popular [performance] that draws in thousands of people, and we feel it’s important for the notoriety of the downtown, and it’s a good building block for others to follow after. In the sense that, it took a few years to build up thousands of people coming to it, and so [now we’re] looking at, what other [performances] could we be doing in the park to activate that space? One of the things [that’s coming up], even though it’s geared for families, is we do our trick or treat event, and we do pumpkin carving, to engage the residents and enjoy the downtown.
