Two more businesses this week have left the unfinished Burton-Katzman development in Dearborn known as West Village Commons.
New Hookah Bar Coming
Two more tenants in Dearborn’s West Village Commons -– the Burton-Katzman development on Michigan Avenue that has failed to live up to all it promised since opening in 2005 -– are packing their bags and leaving.
Another “business” is coming to the development but more on that shortly.
The UPS Store and Cold Stone Creamery, two of the first stores to move into the once-promising development, closed their doors this week.
The UPS Store is moving to 23636 Michigan Ave.
The good news is that the UPS Store is moving a few blocks west on Michigan Avenue, adjacent to Miller’s Bar. The UPS Store moved because the owner apparently was unable to renegotiate a lower monthly lease rate. The current rate is about $20 per sq.-ft., a far cry from the $33 per sq.-ft. West Village Commons was charging when it first opened six years ago. But it still is uncompetitive when you compare it to Ford Land properties, which have a lease rate as low as $10 per sq.-ft. in some buildings.
Cold Stone closed because it simply wasn’t doing enough business. This is the second time this Cold Stone has closed. Longtime readers of this site will recall that the original owner of Cold Stone, a Ford retiree, closed this same Dearborn location and Allen Park store for lack of business several years ago. The two stores were repurchased by another entrepreneur and reopened. A sign on the Dearborn store directs customers to the still-open Allen Park location.
The West Village Commons development, sans Tom Clark’s little gem, the Village Picture Framing and Art Gallery, is now turning into a bar and food destination, rather than the retail our elected officials hoped for when it entered into this development. The portion of the building facing Michigan Avenue houses Sattva Yoga and the Kabuki restaurant. Those businesses, thankfully, seem to be holding on.
Other former tenants include, the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Caribou Coffee, Supercuts, Au Bon Pain Bakery and American Home Fitness. All closed their doors for good several years ago.
As for the new business coming to the West Village Commons, it isn’t retail. The owner of Le Cigar, one of the first tenants of the development, is opening a new hookah bar called La Hookah.
Let us count the ways we miss the former Jacobson’s and Price’s . . .
