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UPTOWN REINVESTMENT CORPORATION
OUR MISSION:
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Bring together all downtown interests, including government, education, business, and charitable institutions in a broad-based coalition.
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Support existing businesses and encourage entrepreneurial business development in the downtown Flint business district.
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Enhance the public infrastructure and improve aesthetics.
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Increase downtown residency.
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Develop the downtown into an attractive area for business, employment, and entertainment.
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Improve and revitalize the downtown district.
The basic premise of the Flint Uptown Reinvestment Strategy is that many small, locally based initiatives and decisions will, over time; result in sustainable and significant improvements for downtown without the need for massive, single-project developments.
The URC commissioned the help of Sasaki Associates, Inc. to develop a reinvestment strategy for downtown Flint. The strategy identifies the specific actions and projects that can be accomplished individually, while collectively contributing to an implementation framework for the regeneration of downtown Flint. The Flint Uptown Reinvestment Strategy (Initiatives for Uptown) identifies the specific actions and projects that can be accomplished individually, while collectively contributing to an implementation framework for the regeneration of downtown Flint. The strategy will encourage dialogue, discussion and a committed vision for the future of the downtown Flint area. It is key to note the community will play a vital role in determining which actions and projects will be given priority or be implemented as identified by the strategy.
Board Members
Tim Herman, President
Claude High, Vice President
Inez Brown, Chair
Stuart Forsyth, Treasurer
Dr. David Doherty
Lewis Driskell, Union Printing Co.
Greg Fiedler, Greater Flint Arts Council
Loyst Fletcher, Attorney at Law
Sam Harris, The Flint Journal
Kathi Horton, Community Foundation of Greater Flint
Rev. Marvin Jennings, Grace Emmanuel MBC
Todd M. Johnson, Market Manager, Chase
Dan Kildee, Genesee County Treasurer
Bob Kittel, The Mad Hatter
James Rutherford, Director, DDA
Barbara Veasley, American Speedy Print
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UPTOWN REINVESTMENT CORPORATION TO REMODEL FORMER DOWNTOWN HOTEL WITH $20-MILLION MOTT FOUNDATION GRANT, February 2009
The Uptown Reinvestment Corporation (URC) has purchased the vacant Character Inn in downtown Flint with the help of a $20-million repayable grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. The URC plans to use the grant to acquire the 16-story, former 372-room hotel and turn it
into a state-of-the-art living/learning center.
The Mott grant was made to URC’s supporting organization, the Foundation for Uptown Reinvestment Corporation, and the proceeds were then made available to the URC. Development will take place in three phases. The first, to be paid for with proceeds of the Mott grant, is targeted for fall 2009 completion. The work will include converting the third through eighth floors into 250 beds of suite-style student housing (similar to that at First Street Residence Hall on the University of Michigan-Flint campus). The entire building, as well as the heating and air-conditioning systems, will be updated in the first phase. Future phases could result in a total of 550 beds, in addition to classrooms, entertainment amenities and meeting space.
The Mott Foundation earlier had transferred its option on the building to the URC, which is buying the Character Inn from the Institute for Basic Life Principles. The structure had opened in 1981 as a Hyatt Regency Hotel. The Mott grant is to be repaid at the end of 10 years, with interim payments required based on cash flow, or upon sale of the building. “Studies have shown that educational opportunities and redevelopment of the urban core are two key ingredients to the revitalization of older industrial cities,” said William S. White, Mott Foundation president. “While this represents a bold step, we believe it important to continue the momentum in the redevelopment of downtown Flint and the growth of higher Genesee County.”
“The redevelopment of the Character Inn for student housing is a significant milestone and will continue to bring new life to downtown Flint,” said Tim Herman, president of the URC Board of Directors and CEO of the Genesee Regional Chamber of Commerce. “Every time we create an opportunity for students to live and learn in downtown Flint, we change the face and the future of our community. We are moving closer to our goal of having
1,000 students living in the central city by 2010. These students will bring new life and new vitality to a city that is rapidly becoming a modern urban center. That is good news for all of Genesee County.”
UM-Flint opened its first on-campus housing in fall 2008, with 308 students filling the $21-million First Street Residence Hall to capacity. The Mott Foundation provided a $1.75- million grant toward that building. Last November the Mott Foundation commissioned the Scion Group LLC, a student housing research and development company based in Chicago, to assess the local demand for student housing. Its research revealed that there is a current demand for an additional 474 spaces and projected a future need for nearly 970 beds by the start of the 2013 academic year. Based on this study, developers believe the converted hotel will help meet these demands beginning this fall. Additional details about the new housing -- including contact information, costs and occupancy dates -- will be released by the URC on the Web site www.flintstudenthousing.com as they become available.
The Mott Foundation, established in 1926 in Flint by an automotive pioneer, is a private philanthropy committed to supporting projects that promote a just, equitable and sustainable society. Besides Flint, offices are located in metropolitan Detroit, Johannesburg (South Africa) and London. For more information, visit Mott.org. The Uptown Reinvestment Corporation was formed as a non-profit corporation to strategically target areas in downtown Flint to redevelop. Its focus and vision are to acquire vacant and inactive buildings and redevelop them into mixed-use buildings, using public private partnerships and other innovative development tools. For more information on the project please visit www.flintstudenthousing.com.
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New Blackstone's restaurant heading to downtown Flint; latest of string of projects to revitalize area, cater to students, October 2008
by Melissa Burden | The Flint Journal
Wednesday October 15, 2008, 7:23 AM
FLINT, Michigan -- College students and downtown workers are about to get something they've wanted for a long time: a full-service restaurant and bar that's open nights and weekends. Uptown Reinvestment Corp. and Blackstone's LLC were to announce during a news conference this morning plans to renovate the former Blackstone's men's clothing store, 531 S. Saginaw St. Blackstone's Pub & Grill, with about 90 seats, could open in March 2009, and bring 40 to 60 new jobs, said Keith D. Green, a partner in Blackstone's LLC and Fenton Township resident. Green, 43, and David Lurvey, 35, of Argentine Township, are partnering with the nonprofit Uptown Reinvestment Corp. to redevelop the building that has been vacant for about 10 years. Green and Lurvey said they want to be part of downtown's revival and said student housing and the increasing number of downtown workers are big incentives to bring a much-needed restaurant and entertainment venue downtown. "The plan right now is to be open seven days a week," Green said. Lurvey, who has been working on renovation projects downtown since 2003 and who works for the company that built the new Wade Trim Building, said two to three years ago it would be difficult to speculate this project being a success. "Now, we feel it's evident there's a need," he said.
The restaurant will feature a "modern, rustic" decor, with cobblestone wood floors, exposed ceiling and glass doors that open outside for sidewalk seating in the warmer months. The facade will be refurbished with a grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Flint.
Blackstone's Pub & Grill will offer live entertainment, which could open up to the sidewalk during activities such as the Crim Festival of Races and Back to the Bricks, Green said. "This is not going to be a peanuts-on-the-floor college bar," he said.
Blackstone's LLC will lease the building for seven years, but also is partnering on some of the cost.
A renovation price tag is not available, said Ridgway White, project manager for Uptown Developments, a real estate development and management company working with the partners. The building was donated by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation to Uptown Reinvestment Corp. Today's announcement follows last week's official opening of the Wade Trim Building, a $5.2 million project that includes the engineering firm as the anchor tenant, four loft apartments and a new Mexican restaurant Soyla's, set to open by Dec. 1.
Uptown Developments hopes to help open five new restaurants in the downtown over the next two years. Green said Blackstone's would welcome more dining options for the city center.
And Nadine Cook, co-owner of Churchill's, a restaurant and bar open for more than a decade along South Saginaw Street, would welcome new restaurants that offer something different from hers.
The restaurant, which is open for breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday, is adding karaoke on Wednesday nights and extended its kitchen hours on some evenings to accommodate the about 300 students who live in the University of Michigan-Flint's new First Street Residence Hall.
"We are so excited about new businesses coming downtown and turning this into a college town," Cook said. "But it's kind of like until we get more people ... you're worried if you're going to survive."
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