The top business headlines in Detroit in 2013 often involved new businesses filling vacancies in old buildings across the Motor City.
The biggest example of that is the expansion of the M@dison Building entrepreneurial hub in downtown Detroit to include most of the buildings on that block, creating the
M@dison Block. Growing tech startups and creative firms started to fill newly renovated spaces in the block overlooking Grand Circus Park, including taking space in the Broderick Tower and mid-size commercial buildings along Woodward Avenue and Broadway Street.
Those new economy companies include mobile app firm
Detroit Labs moving from the M@dison Building into two floors of 1520 Woodward and
Grand Circus taking a floor of the Broderick Tower.
Hudson Editorial and Nueman/Smith Architecture moved into the Wright Kay building at 1500 Woodward.
TVS Communications Solutions took the upper floors of the Detroit Beer Co’s building on Broadway Street.
Batch Brewing Company also took the Motor City's business community by storm. The craft brewery is working to open the first nano-brewery in Detroit, taking over a long-vacant storefront on Michigan Avenue in Corktown. First it raised $25,000 from a crowd-funding campaign. Second, it has been working all year to renovate 1444 Michigan Ave, which it hopes to open next year. Third, it won the
Hatch Detroit contest.
Last year's Hatch Detroit winner,
La Feria, opened in the newly remodeled retail space at 4130 Cass in Midtown this fall. The Spanish Tapas restaurant is the latest new business to open in a long-vacant commercial building.
New retail businesses have also opened in The Villages and along the Avenue of Fashion in the University District.
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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