A new, never opened hotel on Michigan Avenue that has sat vacant for months for lack of financing could soon get thrown a lifeline.

The property, just west of Telegraph on Michigan Avenue adjacent to Toys R Us,  is currently in the hands of a bank. The bank took possession of the property when the original developer simply ran out of money and couldn’t finish the project.

Now a second developer is in talks with the bank to purchase the property at a “bargain” price. The deal could close as soon as this month, a person familiar with the ongoing negotiations tells Deepsaidwhat.com.

The out-state potential buyer intends to open the building as a hotel. But it isn’t clear whether the hotel would open as a Holiday Inn Express, as was originally intended, or fly the flag of a different chain.

We’re hopeful a deal will be finalized soon.

For the third consecutive year, Dearborn’s Steven Bernard Jewelers is ramping up for its annual collection of warm coats for the needy in and around our community.

Last year through Bernard’s “Coupons for Coats” campaign, more than 400 coats, along with gloves and scarves, were distributed to the needy, Steven tells DeepsaidWhat.com. The number of donations was nearly double Steven’s first year of donations.

“Naturally, my goal this year is to again increase those numbers,” said Steven, whose jewelry store has been serving Dearborn with many one-of-a-kind items for more than three decades.

The third annual Coupons for Coats campaign is an incentive promotion to help encourage participation. Coat donations given will receive a 20 percent discount coupon from Steven Bernard Jewelers.

This year’s Coupons for Coats begins today, Nov. 14, and continues through Dec. 31.

Steven Bernard Jewelers will be collecting new and clean, gently used coats along with hats, gloves, and scarves. These items will be distributed by the First United Methodist Church of Dearborn. Donations will be accepted during holiday business hours at Steven Bernard Jewelers, located at 22266 Michigan Ave. in Dearborn in the 222 Shops.

For more information, call 313-562-8484.

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 . . .

The City of Dearborn’s annual Tree-Lighting Ceremony and Sing-Along at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center is 6-9 p.m. on Tuesday, November 22.

As an added attraction, the festivities are being held in conjunction with the Festival of Trees, which is a fundraiser for the Children’s Hospital of Michigan Foundation. There is no admission to this holiday fundraiser for those attending the tree-lighting on Nov. 22.

The schedule of events on Nov. 22 is as follows:

• 6 p.m. Dearborn Community Bell Choir (Michal A. Guido Theater Lobby)

• 6:30 p.m. Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony with Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. (outside, in the Theater Circular Drive)

• 6:45 p.m. Everyone enters the Michal A. Guido Theater

• 7 p.m. Holiday-Themed Performance featuring the Dearborn Youth Symphony Flute Choir and the Dearborn Public School’s Honors Choir

• 7:30 p.m. Christmas Sing-Along with Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr.

• 7:50 p.m. Refreshments in the Main Lobby and a visit with Santa Claus in Studio A

• 7:50 p.m. Festival of the Trees Holiday Season Exhibit inside the Hubbard Ballroom (Free Admission)

All are welcome. For more information, call 943-2354.

The Festival of Trees runs Nov. 21-Nov. 28. There is a small admission charge during all times except following the tree-lighting on Nov. 22.

Dearborn residents voted Tuesday to raise the city tax rate by 4.5 mills and defeated a proposal to eliminate the Civil Service Commission.

On the Public School Board side, a new board member was elected and another long-time member kept his position for another term.

Voter turnout was a pathetic 21 percent with just 12,493 of the 59,160 registered voters in our city casting ballots. A lot more work has to be done by our elected officials but yesterday’s results were a big step in the right direction.

The results are below:

Proposal 1: 3.5-mill operating millage
YES . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,420 (60.42 percent)

NO. . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,860  (39.58)

Total . . . . . . . ….12,280

Proposal 2: 1-mill dedicated library millage

YES . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,379 (59.81 percent)

NO. . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,959  (40.19)

Total . . . . . . . . . 12,338

Proposal 3: Should the city eliminate the Civil Service Commission? 

NO. . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,158  (51.11 percent)

YES . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,891  (48.89)

Total . . . . . . . . . 12,049

Dearborn Public Schools Board Member 

Joseph A. Guido . . . . . . . . 5,988  (31.09 percent)

Roxanne McDonald . . . . .  5,922 (30.75)

Mary K. Petlichkoff . . . . . .  4,784 (24.84)

Stephen Stanley Dobkowski, Jr. . . . 2,528  (13.12)

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 39 (.20)

Total . . . . . . . . . 19,261

An early postcard photo of the Dearborn Inn.

On July 1, 1931, Henry and Edsel Ford hosted many noted dignitaries at the opening of the Dearborn Inn, located directly across the street from the Ford Airport on Oakwood Blvd.

Now 80 years later, a book about the history of Dearborn Inn has been written by Dearborn native Jennifer (Czerwick) Ganem, and published by Arcadia as part of their Images of America Series.

To celebrate, Dearborn Inn is hosting a champagne reception and book-signing event in the hotel lobby on Thursday, Nov. 10 between 5-8 p.m. The inn is anxious to show off the completion of a multi-year renovation throughout the hotel, including the introduction of a new restaurant, Edison’s, as well as the conversion of the popular Ten Eyck Tavern restaurant to the hotel lounge.

Dearborn author Jennifer (Czerwick) Ganem will sign copies of her book on Thursday 5-8pm at the Dearborn Inn.

Ganem began collecting Dearborn Inn memorabilia many years ago, and attributes a bed she owns from Dearborn Inn, a photo she found in the attic of her West Dearborn home and some Dearborn Inn dinner plates that a friend purchased, as the three intersecting reasons that she began researching the inn’s rich history.

“I was born and raised in Dearborn, and already had a life-long interest in both Ford and local history, writing this book seems to have been my destiny … my way of helping to preserve a small piece of history and telling this important part of the Ford story,” Ganem says, as she is anxious to continue gathering memories and important pieces of history from those with information to share. “The book is written, but the story is just beginning. I look forward to meeting everyone who attends the book signing event.”

Most recently, the Dearborn Inn lobby and adjacent sun porch were completely refurbished. The classic black and white checkerboard marble floor was restored to its original luster, and new hand-tufted area rugs and furnishings were installed. Paint colors were selected to highlight the Albert Kahn – designed architectural features such as pilasters, crown moldings, and the decorative ceiling filigrees that surround the original chandeliers. While all of the lobby seating consists of new, traditional furnishings, many of the desks and side tables have been carefully refinished to retain a sense of the past.

For more information about the inn visit www.dearborninnmarriott.com or call (313) 271-2700. Books will be available for purchase and to be signed by the author at the reception on Nov. 10. Ganem will also be signing books at Barnes and Noble in Allen Park on Saturday, Nov. 26, from 2-4 p.m. For more details about the newly released book, visit HERE or HERE.

Goodwill Industries of Detroit is close to inking a deal with Norm Newman to move into the former Inca building in West Dearborn.

Nearly three years after posting signs promising a “Redevelopment”, the long vacant building that once housed the Inca computer store in West Dearborn could soon have Goodwill Industries as its new tenant.

At Monday night’s City Council meeting Goodwill officials announced they are close to inking a final deal with Norm Newman to lease the vacant building, which is adjacent to another Norm Newman vacant property that once was home to Pier 1. The Pier 1 store relocated to Allen Park.

The Dearborn location, just like the one Goodwill operates in Canton, would be a retail store as well as a drop-off point for just about everything.

At Monday’s council meeting Newman’s daughter, Randee Freedman, represented Newman Building.

We spoke to Norm Newman back in March of 2009 and he hinted that a large retail store would be coming to this location. Many believed it might be a large chain grocery store, such as Aldi.

In between that time the white paper went up covering the glass windows in February 2009 and today, Newman rejected at least one other request to lease the space now headed to Goodwill Industries. That earlier request was for a family gaming business that was to be modeled after a popular Canadian chain.

Dearborn Chamber president Jennifer Knott Giering wrote in the Dearborn Press & Guide in August that Goodwill was looking at Dearborn as a location for another retail store. Giering toured the Canton store for her article and wrote that  “we (Dearborn) should consider them as a creator of local employment opportunities, and support these businesses.” You can read her full column HERE.

If you still need more information about the three proposals on the ballot Tuesday, Dearborn officials have sent out two handy links that explain what they mean.

Proposals on the Nov. 8 ballot ask voters to make decisions about temporarily increasing the funding for City services and authorizing a dedicated source of revenue for the library system.

Proposal One asks voters to temporarily increase the millage rate for city services by no more than 3.5 mills for no more than 5 years.

The temporary tax rate would cost the owner of an averageDearbornhome about $187 more a year, if fully levied. The City has lost revenue for basic services because of sharp declines in property values and other economic factors.

Proposal Two asks voters to approve a one-mill increase to fund library services for up to 10 years.

A third ballot proposal asks voters to decide if the Civil Service System, which applies to certain City of Dearborn employees, should be eliminated from the City Charter.

To find out more, click http://www.cityofdearborn.org/government/city-services/public-information/latest-news/688-voters-asked-to-decide-funding-for-city-services

To view a League of Women Voters forum featuring Mayor O’Reilly talking about the temporary tax rate increase, the library funding measure and Proposal 3, click http://www.cityofdearborn.org/government/city-services/public-information/latest-news/684-learn-about-ballot-proposals-by-watching-cdtv

Polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday. For election information, call the City Clerk’s Office at 943-2032.

Dearborn Police say there is a bobcat roaming the campus of Henry Ford Community College.

Dearborn Animal Control was notified by Henry Ford Community College Security that they spotted what appeared to be a bobcat on their property.

This is the third sighting within the past two weeks.

Police say that residents should be aware that bobcats are territorial animals and unless cornered or threatened, they will avoid human contact.  Residents will small pets are being warned to use precautions when leaving their animals unattended. If the animal is sighted please contact the Dearborn Police.

The City of Dearborn is finally going on the offensive, working to explain three critical ballot proposals in emails to residents and local media outlets.

While there has been a lot of emotion around what proposals to support, the operating and library millage are ones that need to be passed if Dearborn is to maintain its current level of services.

Below is information about each proposal from the City ofDearborn.

Proposal 1: Operating Millage

Q: What does this ballot proposal ask voters to do?

A: Determine whether to temporarily raise the authorized level of the City’s general operating tax rate by a maximum of 3.5 mills for a maximum of five years. The operating tax rate is the most critical source of funding for most City services.

Q: How much would 3.5 mills cost the owner of an average Dearborn home?

A: $187 a year. The averageDearbornhome has a taxable value of $53,435.

Q: If approved and levied, how long would the temporary tax rate increase be in place?

A: Five years or less. Each year, the city Council would have the authority to levy the number of additional mills necessary.

Q: Why are voters being asked to decide?

A: Because of a structural budget deficit, the City is facing about a $20 million difference in what it costs to offer current services and facilities and the revenue the City takes in.  Revenue for essential City services has declined significantly in recent years because of the decline in property values.

For instance, the value of an average home inDearbornin Fiscal Year 2008 was $69,583. Now it is $53,435. Overall, the City has lost about 16 years of growth.

In Fiscal Year 2008, the owner of an averageDearbornhome paid $948 in operating taxes. Now, the owner of an averageDearbornhome is paying $801, or $147 less, in operating taxes. If the 3.5 mills are approved and levied, the owner of the same home would pay $988. Other sources of revenue for essential City services have also declined significantly while at the same time costs have risen.

  (more…)