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Sarah Rigg's Feature Article: Bakery, ice cream, realty, and embroidery businesses revitalize downtown Ypsi building
Transcription:
Rylee Barnsdale: You're listening to 89 one WEMU. I'm Rylee Barnsdale, and this is On the Ground Ypsi. In October of last year, Ypsilanti's Go! Ice Cream closed its doors after ten years of business, along with a number of other businesses throughout that summer, succumbing to the stresses brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. While Go's former home at 10 North Washington Street still had life in one of its suites in the form of a local custom embroidery business, an Ypsi-based realty company took over managing the space this past February and is hoping to fill it with new businesses. Investors Realty Group moved into one of the building suites and, shortly after, was in conversations with another local business, Beara Bakes, a high-end bakery, which had previously been operating as a pop-up using local nonprofit Growing Hope's commercial kitchen and yet again with another local business hoping to bring ice cream back into the space as well, quickly bringing the business count up to four and the majority of them being women-owned. Investors Realty Group owner Colleen Kennedy is here with me today to talk about what this process of revitalizing this building has looked like and what the future possibly holds for this downtown space. Hi, Colleen! Thank you so much for being here!
Colleen Kennedy: Hi, Rylee! Thanks for having me!
Rylee Barnsdale: So, Colleen, your business is based here in Ypsi. You manage a number of residential and commercial properties here already. What brought you to this downtown location specifically?
Colleen Kennedy: Well, the person who owns 10 North Washington is a client of mine. And he had the idea to hire me to manage the building or my company. And I had known that Beara Bakes had some interest in the space just because of my contacts in the community. And as soon as we came into this space and decided to put our office in there at the kind of nudging of the owner, he wanted us to take that space, I immediately reached out to Beara Bakes owner Kat Spencer, and we were able to quickly put a lease together to get her in that space. Now, a lot of it, I do have to give the owners of the building some credit because he had to spend quite a bit of money right out of the gate to get this building ready, including a new rooftop HVAC unit, which is around $15,000. And it's a large project to manage. We have to have the crane and get the permissions and the permits, and it's a lot. So, we were super motivated to get Beara Bakes in there, and it just worked out beautifully. And we also had support from the owner to renovate our suite, which was the old Go! Ice Cream kind of event and dining overflow space that they used up on the Washington Street side of the building. And when we first walked in, it was very "Go!" It was pink and blue with streames. You know, it was awesome, of course. But you would not know now. It looks like a real office. And, we had the common area upgraded, painted, cleaned. We had the front facade of the building was crumbling. We had that repaired. So, I also live here in Ypsi, so I'm very invested in the downtown. And I've worked downtown for about six years overall in a couple different locations, but all really right on Washington Street. So, I'm just real invested in it, and so is my partner in the business. And these other businesses now that are coming in, too.
Rylee Barnsdale: You mentioned when you moved in, obviously, there was this additional space in the building as well. Was this the kind of potential you saw come together?
Colleen Kennedy: Definitely! Yeah, definitely! Because I've been doing commercial leasing for a while now in Ypsilanti, I kind of have a pretty good bead on who's looking for space, what their needs are. And restaurant space is very expensive to build out, and most folks don't have that kind of capital coming in. Sure, landlords typically will help. They'll do some things. But, it's having this kitchen space already put together was just very valuable, and I knew we'd get that filled.
Rylee Barnsdale: This is WEMU's On the Ground Ypsi. I'm Rylee Barnsdale, talking with Investors Realty Group owner Colleen Kennedy. And with your background here in Ypsi and also in the line of work that you're in, what has the process sort of looked like overall, as far as bringing businesses back into these downtown spaces, particularly after COVID hit so many of them so hard?
Colleen Kennedy: Right. Well, different owners operate a little differently. So, you kind of have to figure out that process. But also, there are some challenges with the city. People I know at the city--at City Hall--we all want these businesses, you know?
Rylee Barnsdale: Oh, of course.
Colleen Kennedy: But there's codes and costs. And so, you just navigated the best you can and try and work it out to be beneficial to everybody and fill spaces. I have some other commercial spaces in town. One of them actually does have a lease. Now, a new business will be coming in. I won't say anything more about that. I'll let them announce. And I'm working on two other leases to bring some good stuff to town.
Rylee Barnsdale: So, Colleen, we mentioned Bearas Bakery. Let's talk a little bit more about that business as well as the other two that are currently in that space. So, when you moved in, the sole business operating there was K&S Custom Embroidery. That's owned by Kirstin Forster and her sister. What is your relationship like with them when you moved into the space? How did you guys come together?
Colleen Kennedy: I reached out and just said, "Hey, let's meet in person and talk." And so, we did that. And their business is such that they kind of have a busy season and a not-so-busy season, and I believe they're in they're not-so-busy now. So, they're not physically in their shop often. So, I don't see them a lot. But, it's when anytime you're, like, a manager of a building and you're coming in with new tenants, I always try to be, "Hi! Let's make this cool for everybody!" Because some people--understandably, tenants--are like, "Oh, boy. What's going on? Who is this person? What is this going to mean for me?" So, I just do what I can: face-to-face, meet people, try to put them at ease and make the transition process is as simple as possible.
Rylee Barnsdale: And building those relationships is super-important.
Colleen Kennedy: And that can be a little more intense when you're in a residential situation.
Rylee Barnsdale: Sure.
Colleen Kennedy: Which there's a lot of tenant and owner things in Ypsi. So, it can be a little challenging. But even in a residential setting, we try to do the same thing--really get face-to-face and introduce ourselves and here's how this is going to go, and it really shouldn't change anything for you and just try to put people at ease.
Rylee Barnsdale: Go! Ice Cream's owner has not said anything about bringing back their ice cream as Ypsi knows it. But I hear that some ice cream may be coming back to the space. Can you tell us anything about that?
Colleen Kennedy: It's true! Cold Comforts! The owner of this establishment, Eric, was already partnered with Kat Spencer of Beara Bakes, and he was going to do the ice cream thing kind of in conjunction in the same kitchen. I know they worked with the owner of Go! They purchased some equipment from him in the transition, but we had one other small suite in the building--very small, like 200 square feet, smaller than this room that we're in. And I had just kind of mentioned this is available, and I'm not actively marketing it yet. We're not sure what we're going to do with it. So, Kat knew about it. We met Eric, and a couple days later, he was like, "You know? I think I could use that." And previous to us coming in, Rob with Go! Ice Cream, had been working with someone else who was going to take that space and use a window into the pedestrian alley as like a carry-out window--a service window. And now, we're going to actually have that again with Cold Comfort. So, I don't know the timeline for them exactly, but there will be walk up to the window in the pedestrian alley and then as well as the old, actual Go! Ice Cream entrance--that's Beara Bakes' entrance. So, lots of stuff is happening there. I imagine they're going to have some outdoor seating in the alley as well, like Go! did.
Rylee Barnsdale: This is WEMU's On the Ground Ypsi. I'm talking with Colleen Kennedy, owner of Investors Realty Group. Colleen, one of the most exciting things to me about this space is the fact that most of these businesses, including your own, are women-owned. Was that something you wanted to focus on, or was it kind of just a happy accident?
Colleen Kennedy: Well, it was kind of just a happy accident. And for full disclosure, I do have a partner who is a male in the business, and my son is also a big part of my company. I could not be doing what I'm doing without the two of them.
Rylee Barnsdale: Of course.
Colleen Kennedy: And then, Kat came in. And, in fact, it was my partner, Jeff, who said, "This is all, like, women-owned! We should do something!" I'm like, "Oh, yeah! This is great!" It really was a happy accident, I guess I would say.
Rylee Barnsdale: And we talked a bit about how the pandemic kind of hit a lot of these local businesses. As well as your efforts, there are a lot of efforts working right now to breathe life back into these downtown spaces. From your perspective in the work that you do, where are businesses at, as far as the recovery process goes, coming back from those losses from the pandemic?
Colleen Kennedy: Things seem to be doing well from my perspective. There are several new businesses that have opened that are in the process of opening. We've got a new restaurant on North Washington Street and another one coming very soon. I don't believe it's been announced yet, but everyone's going to be very happy about it. I can tell you that. Up on Michigan Ave, Bloodroot came in. They seem to be doing really well. I did that lease. I was involved in that. Down from them, there's a few more shops toward Adams Street. 108 West Michigan has a brand new tenant. On 6 North Washington, we've got a new business coming in. Some former office spaces that I used to manage I know are also filling up. There's always people wanting to open up a salon and people spending some money to outfit their spaces. I put a new tenant over on West Cross. They have a really fun business--young people, they bring a party to you, and it's like water blasters and laser blasters.
Rylee Barnsdale: How fun.
Colleen Kennedy: Yeah. Super fun. And they're going to have an outdoor space where they are going in that they're going to offer that outside. I do see a lot of activity.
Rylee Barnsdale: Very exciting stuff!
Colleen Kennedy: Yeah. Yeah.
Rylee Barnsdale: Colleen, thank you so much for being here today!
Colleen Kennedy: Thank you so much! It's been a pleasure!
Rylee Barnsdale: For more information on today's topic and links to the full article, visit our website at WEMU.org. On the Ground Ypsi is brought to you in partnership with Concentrate Media. I'm Rylee Barnsdale, and this is your community NPR station, 89 one WEMU FM, Ypsilanti.
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