Signature Associates

First tenants sign on for Complex444, Detroit Shipping Co.’s neighboring development

A diverse lineup of businesses will make a home at Complex444, an upcoming development next door to Detroit Shipping Co. in Cass Corridor, which will be owned by Peterboro Investment LLC with partners including Detroit Rising Development. The latter development and construction management group on Tuesday announced the retail and office collective’s first four tenants.

The roster includes apparel brands Good Boy Clothing, which was founded in Flint, and Warren-based Ferosh Chick, along with Casa De Fleur, a floral arrangement shop from Southwest Detroit, and Redford-based artisanal chocolate company, Guilt Chocolates.

“We are extremely excited to add (these companies),” Jon Hartzell, founding partner of Detroit Rising Development, said in a press release. “Detroit Shipping Co. was born from small businesses building a space together, so adding this diverse group of entrepreneurs next door allows us to build on those principles and create a special destination together in Cass Corridor.”

The first four businesses announced are a sample of the smaller Michigan-based brands and entrepreneurs that will occupy space at Complex444, located on 444 Peterboro St., when it opens in spring 2021.

“Signing a lease at Complex444 means so much,” Karina Gonzalez, owner of Casa De Fleur said in the release. “Being able to give back and bring smiles to our hometown with what we do best is a dream come true, and we’re super excited to help the community and our fellow neighbors, not only at Complex444 and Detroit Shipping Co, but Detroit as a whole to thrive!”

“Good Boy Clothing is all about representing the good in the community, and we see that continuing by opening our first location in Detroit,” Oaklin Mixon, founder of Good Boy Clothing said in the release. “We have long been inspired by the entrepreneur scene in Detroit and are glad to be a part of it in a way that we know we will be embraced.”

Complex444, which was announced last August, will be partly constructed from shipping containers, like its neighbor, and offer 21,900 square feet of small retail and office space for local businesses throughout Michigan, with rents starting at $1,500 a month. It will also include a liquor shop, where patrons can enjoy cocktails, instead of an originally planned brewery.

Hartzell said the financing and planning process for the project was not interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and construction is expected to begin in mid-July.

“We started the project almost a year and half ago,” he said. “That allowed us to not be hindered on the finance side.”

The marketing campaign was halted during the lockdown, but the company is now promoting the project, and everyone involved, on its social media. And the development’s leasing team is in the process of signing on more commercial tenants in the near future, Hartzell added.

Complex444 will be a companion to Detroit Shipping Co., a restaurant hub and event space that opened in June 2018, with an outdoor area set to connect the two buildings, both of which were designed by Hartzell.

Detroit Shipping Co., which suffered revenue losses of around $350,000 during the shutdown despite offering carryout and curbside pickup, is set to reopen for dining on Friday. While the building’s food hall will not have indoor seating or bar service, guests can receive food and cocktail service at curbside tables.

The hardest component of reopening for the only two participating restaurants, Brujo Tacos & Tapas and Coop, an Asian-Caribbean chicken-focused food spot, has been staffing, especially with getting everyone back to work in short notice, said Hartzell, whose company, Detroit Rising, owns Detroit Shipping Co.

Posted By: Crain’s Detroit Business on June 11, 2020.  For more information, please click here to read the source article.

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