Dearborn’s Deli on the Avenue, located on Military just north of Michigan Avenue, will now offer outdoor seating for its patrons.

Deli On The Avenue, located on Military, just north of Michigan Avenue, was finally Okayed to offer outdoor seating.

Back in December, we told you about Vicki Barndollar’s new Deli on The Avenue and some of the hurdles she faced in opening her new shop on Military. Well, it appears she has cleared those and is moving forward.

“We have received the approval from the city’s Design Review Committee and the Zoning Board to place tables outside the Deli,” Barndollar tells us. “I see everyday that the West Dearborn area is in such need of rebuilding and I want people to know that is what I am trying to do. I tried to create a quaint garden like atmosphere outside for the customer’s enjoyment along with enhancing the area around us.”

On those 80 degree days with the lightest wind and no clouds in the sky, nothing is better than enjoying your favorite food and beverage while seated outdoors. Dearborn could certainly use more of that because it helps make the city appear alive. It’s just unfortunate that traffic on Michigan Avenue is freeway fast. Kind of puzzling why the speeds aren’t more strictly enforced, particularly between Nowlin and Brady streets. But that’s a discussion for another day . . .

As for Barndollar and her Deli, she has planted flowers, placed tables and park benches outside of her shop to the rear of her building.

“I want people to see that even though I am only a small little place tucked in the corner, I will do whatever it needs to get people in and dress up our vacant downtown district,” Barndollar says. “No matter what hurdles I have had to deal with, I still love coming here everyday, and the great people we have met, and the new friends we have made. Don’t get me wrong, it has been difficult but I look out at the (Sacred Heart) church everyday and pray I stay open for another day.”

Dearborn’s Hair Designs North two-day event to provide free haircuts for the unemployed appears to have been a huge success judging from some of the thank you notes the salon received after the event.

Kim Briffa of Hair Designs North said the event was a great success and even included stopovers by Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Congressman John Dingell, wife Debbie and Gary Woronchak, a Wayne County commissioner. Even People magazinecalled to conduct phone interviews with some of the guests receiving hair cuts, Briffa said. (Read the earlier post by clicking HERE.)

“I wanted to forward two letters we received and to let you know what a successful and rewarding event we had,” Briffa said.

Deepsaidwhat.com wants to say thank you to Hair Designs North and all of the people who donated their time to this very generous event. And, of course, say thank you for shinning some positive news on Dearborn, too.

Below are two of the letters.

 To Maurice, Gina, Al, Kim, Darren and all the wonderful staff at Hair Designs North:

I wanted to take a moment to personally thank you for the Hair Care event that I participated in today at the salon! Even though my job loss was a business decision that created the workforce reduction I was part of, there’s just such an emotional side to the situation. It’s hard for anyone to come to work one morning like you have done for 24 years, believing you are doing good things for your company and then suddenly be out of a job before lunch time.

So the service that you provided was extra special today and very well appreciated given the economic impact of losing one’s job. And the biggest bonus is the real boost that it gave to my confidence because I got a really sharp and sassy little haircut today from Darren. It will really help me as I move forward in my new job search!

Thank you ever so much!

———————————————-

Hi,

I just had to tell you one more time what an ABSOLUTE pleasure it was getting my free cut and style today. Everyone at the salon was just truly wonderful. I still have a ear to ear smile on my face. Coming in this morning and not really knowing what to expect turned out to be one of the best things recently that has happened to me. I feel like a weight has been lifted from me and I have a “second wind” to go out and face the job hunting arena with more confidence and optimism. Everyone there was just so friendly and helpful with people coming in and with each other. I felt like “queen” for the day…really I walked out feeling refreshed and renewed. Again I can’t say thank you enough to everyone who donated their time efforts and energy to make this event happen. I will remember this day for a long long time. 

Dearborn’s 34-year-old Hyatt Regency Hotel has been sold, city officials confirm.

Dearborn's Hyatt Hotel has a new owner.

While the real estate listing for the 18-story hotel pitched the facility as a possible good location for senior housing, the new owner thankfully will keep it a hotel. It isn’t clear whether the name will remain. We will dig into that once we learn the name of the new owner.

The new owner also has expressed a strong interest in Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly’s dream to build a convention center adjacent to the hotel. The proposed convention center is projected to drive another 89,000 room nights annually to the Dearborn center.

Built in 1976, the 810,000 square-foot Hyatt in Dearborn has some 772 rooms.

All offers for the hotel had to be submitted to the Hyatt’s real estate agent by April 2.

This is the second big name hotel in Dearborn to be sold. The Ritz-Carlton in Dearborn, one of the top luxury hotels in Michigan, will officially change its name on June 2. For that earlier story, click HERE

The good news about the two hotels is that they will be staying in Dearborn and are expected to receive major renovations.

Metro Times magazine’s annual “best of“ awards is now on newsstands in metro Detroit so we thought it would be good to list what Dearborn establishments this year were chosen either by readers or the staff of the Metro Times.

There are many great Dearborn places that didn’t make this year’s list but the 12 establishments that did certainly deserve the recognition. We just think there are a lot more “bests” in this city that should be on the magazine’s list. Perhaps it’s just a little bit of the hometown bias . . .

We’ve pulled out the Dearborn locations in each category and pasted the link for the complete metro Detroit list. Take a look for yourself.

(more…)

Hair Designs North, 841 S. Military in Dearborn.

It’s hard to image in this tough economy that any business can afford to give anything away for free.

But that is just what Hair Designs North in Dearborn will be doing on April 25 and April 26 at their store at 841 S. Military. Hair Designs North owner Al O’Sada, his wife, Joyce, daughter Kim Briffa and a host of others will be cutting the hair of unemployed Michigan residents for free.

“I am nervous and excited. That is the feeling I have now,” says Kim Briffa, a Fordson graduate who has worked at Hair Designs North with her parents for 26 years. “I hope we have a wonderful turnout. It feels good to be able to do this for people.”

The free haircut event, called “Hair Care”, will bring together celebrity stylist Maurice Tidy and some 16 other hair stylists from other Dearborn salons and one from Utica. All will be volunteering their time on Sunday and Monday to give free haircuts to the unemployed. Haircuts will be done on a first come basis.

The idea to offer free haircuts for the unemployed was hatched several months ago after Briffa ran into Tidy at, well, a hair event, of course. Tidy had held a similar program for the unemployed in Charleston, SC, the place he calls home, also calling it “Hair Care.” Briffa says she suggested a similar program be held in Michigan where unemployment also is running high. Tidy agreed and will be coming to Dearborn to take part in the two-day free haircut marathon.

Hair Designs North will be offering free haircuts to the unemployed April 25 & 26th.

With so much negative news lately around town, it is nice to see a local business such as Hair Designs North working so hard to try and do their part to help out-of-work Michigan residents make a great first impression.

Hair Designs North, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in Dearborn in January, is getting help from a number of other nearby Dearborn residents who have volunteered to help with this free event, too. Some of those helping (in no particular order) include:

Lynn Killion from Post Net in Dearborn, who Briffa says has printed flyers and anything else needed.

Hair stylists volunteering to cut hair include all of the staff at Hair Designs North, as well as those at Dearborn’s Mr. Franz Salon; Platinum Salon; Sylvia’s on Monroe and Hue Salon in Utica. Area high school kids have raised their hands to volunteer to wash and fold towels; another student is helping to take photographs of the event. Still other volunteers include, Dr. Linda M. Kinczkowski from Eastern Michigan University and Johanna Seidel.

Senate Coney Island’s Dearborn and Taylor stores are donating the food for the volunteers for both days of the event.

To help get the word out about the event, Hair Designs North reached out to Leslie Herrick in Mayor John B. O’Reilly’s office; Dearborn BNI; Dearborn Chamber of Commerce; Capitol Consulting, who provided the information to John Dingell’s office; Barb Jones from Century 21 and Mike Magnone, just to name some.

“I have had great response so far from other businesses wanting to help,” Briffa says. “I am still receiving more volunteers each day.”

So will some who aren’t unemployed come and try to get a free haircut? Briffa says she and her staff talked about that being a possibility but that was simply a byproduct of trying to do something like this on such a large scale.

“We are excited about doing this that and being able to give back,” Briffa says. “We need more of this giving back in our town. How did we get away from that? We see about 3,000 people a month in our salon and that is what we talk about, trying to figure out what else we can do to help each other.”

We’d say free haircuts are a generous way to help. Let’s hope it becomes more contagious.

Dearborn will soon be losing the Ritz-Carlton name, according to the Detroit Free Press.

In today’s edition, the paper reports that the Ritz-Carlton Dearborn has been sold to an investment group and will be managed by Greenwood Hospitality Group, a hotel investment and management company. As of June 2, it will no longer be a Ritz-Carlton, said Vivian Deuschl, a Ritz-Carlton spokeswoman.

Employees at the Ritz say the hotel will undergo a complete renovation and remain an upscale hotel but under a new name.

For the full story, click HERE.

LaPita Fresh on the campus of Wayne State University.

LaPita restaurant, the Dearborn gem that serves some of the tastiest food in town, is branching out to Canton.

The LaPita in Canton, Kasey Chammout’s third restaurant of the same name, will be located at Cherry Hill and Canton Center Road in a small strip mall. The store is expected to open later this summer.

The Canton restaurant will be smaller in size than the Dearborn location. It instead will be modeled after LaPita’s successful Detroit location called LaPita Fresh, just off the campus of Wayne State University.

The Wayne State location is less formal and serves some of the same tasty Mediterranean food as well as some unique offerings for university students. Canton will offer a similar menu and atmosphere.

We wish Kasey and the entire LaPita team the best of luck in their latest venture.

As a way to raise awareness about local small businesses in Dearborn, Dave Bowman, owner of networkdearborn.com, is kicking off a new promotion that he calls “Thousand Buck Thursdays.

While no one is going to win $1,000, Bowman says you can win a Dearborn T-shirt simply by shopping in Dearborn and then posting what you purchased, where you purchased it and how much you spent.

“Every third Thursday, let’s band together and shop in Dearborn on purpose,” Bowman says. “Every dollar counts as we try to get to $1,000. Simply go shopping and then post your details at http://networkdearborn.blogspot.com. Someone will win a fun Dearborn T-shirt as we work together to make a small difference for our city.”

Happy shopping.

Dearborn Councilman Robert Abraham

Dearborn Councilman Robert Abraham says the decision by Dearborn developer Hakim Fakhoury to put the properties held by his Dearborn Village Partners (DVP) corporation up for sale may turn-out to be a “blessing” for Dearborn business owners and entrepreneurs.

The councilman in December went to bat for DVP, penning a column here and in the local papers saying he supported a one-year extension of the preferred developer agreement Dearborn had with Fakhoury’s DVP. Chief among Abraham’s decision to support an extension was that there wasn’t a list of developers banging on Dearborn’s door to rebuild downtown West Dearborn. You can click HERE for that earlier column.

Abraham says it is unfortunate the plan presented by DVP never was able to get off the ground.

“Dearborn Village Partners, LLC has failed to deliver a complete proposal for the development site in West Dearborn to the Council and the Mayor,” said Abraham in a written statement. “The Mayor and the City Council have previously extended the Preferred Developers Agreement several times to accommodate the Developer and the drastic changes to the banking industry and the economic conditions.

“The most recent extension was granted by the Council in December 2009; this would allow DVP an additional year to submit a viable development and financing plan. It is very unfortunate for Dearborn, that the economic circumstances have derailed this project before it ever really began.

“The fact that many of the privately held buildings and properties on Michigan Avenue are now for sale, may turn-out to be a blessing for new Dearborn business owners and entrepreneurs looking for affordable locations in the West Dearborn Business District.

“I remain optimistic as we bring closure to the DVP agreement, that new opportunities can be discovered; let’s hope the glass is half full, and not half empty as so many believe.”

Some of the details to what contributed to the unraveling of the development are in the Sunday edition of the Dearborn Press & Guide. You can read that story and watch a video interview with Mr. Fakhoury by clicking HERE

Resident Hakim Fakhoury says 'dream' of developing downtown Dearborn is over.

If you’ve driven along Michigan Avenue this week you probably have seen signs hanging in the windows of some of the properties owned by developer Hakim Fakhoury with the following words: “The Dream is Over. For Sale.” Many of you have even written here asking what the signs meant.

Well, we sent a note straight to the source, Mr. Fakhoury, asking if he would pen a note explaining the meaning of the signs. He provided us this article, which begins below.

My name is Hakim Fakhoury, and I had a dream…

I had a dream… that Dearborn could become one of the most vibrant downtowns in Michigan.

I had a dream… that the city I have lived in nearly my whole life would be the place where I could invest the fruits of all my hard work.

I had a dream… that Dearborn’s leader would open their arms to a developer that is home-grown and seeks to make a better future for our city for generations to come.

I had a dream… that our mayor and city council could put aside personal and political differences, that petty political infighting would not cause the development of our city to come to a standstill. The inability of our leaders to have a vision has caused us to lag behind other cities, and make us unable to fully transition into the 21st century.

I had a dream… that our leaders would be smart to know what they don’t know, that they would hire professionals to develop master plans, that they would end corruption, the “old boys” network, an breathe new life into our community.

I had a dream… that we could redevelop our downtown into something that would appeal to everyone, attracting fresh young minds to make our city vibrant, livable, fun, and modern.

I had a dream… that I could buy buildings and then, in agreement with city officials, transform our city.

I had a dream… that the mayor and city council members would not lie, that they would be honest, that they would not manipulate each other, or play petty games, or include me in their internal feuds, and just be mature, with the city’s interests, and only the city’s interests, at the core of their decision-making.

I had a dream… but now the DREAM IS OVER for me… My hope is that another developer with come along, buy all my properties, pick up on my hard work, and move to develop the district…