SPRE TOURS
Enrich your experience by adding on a SPRE tour to see community commercial real estate in action around Detroit. Separate registration is required. Each tour will include visits to three different community spaces. Spots are limited and will be first come, first serve. Check out which spaces will be included in which tour below, as you decide which option and time might be the best for you.
Community Spaces Tour
October 24th 1-4 pm
You will make stops at all three spaces during this tour: DSDT, TechTown Detroit, and Life Remodeled/Durfee Innovation Society.
Economic Development Tour
October 24th 1-4 pm
Detroit is a complicated city. It has tons of amazing assets but also faces many challenges. One thing is for sure, Detroit is much more than headlines and stereotypes. On this tour you’ll be taken around the city by an expert guide from City Institute who will provide context and local insight into Detroit’s neighborhoods, small businesses and economic development projects. The goal of this experience is to help attendees understand how Detroit’s history shaped where we are today, be inspired by what’s happening now and find ways to apply lessons learned to your own work.
A COUPLE TOPICS WE’LL DISCUSS
● Detroit’s assets from architecture to cultural gems to public spaces
● History of Detroit including racist policies that shaped where we are today
● Discussion of Detroit’s challenges including population loss and blight
● Overview of some of Detroit’s innovative and impactful projects and small businesses
A COUPLE POTENTIAL HIGHLIGHTS:
● Detroit RiverWalk
● Campus Martius Park and Downtown Developments
● Detroit Food Commons
● Eastern Market
● Museums and Cultural Center
● Highland Park and Original Ford Factory
● Historic Avenue of Fashion – Detroit’s Black Business District
● Palmer Woods Mansion District
● Live6 Alliance HomeBase Apartments
Community Spaces Tour
October 25th 2-5 pm
*Please note that this tour run during sessions – you will be forgoing two sessions.*
You will make stops at all three spaces during this tour: the LOVE Building, Strategic Community Partners, and Life Remodeled/Durfee Innovation Society.
Economic Development Tour
October 25th 2-5 pm
*Please note that this tour run during sessions – you will be forgoing two sessions.*
Detroit is a complicated city. It has tons of amazing assets but also faces many challenges. One thing is for sure, Detroit is much more than headlines and stereotypes. On this tour you’ll be taken around the city by an expert guide from City Institute who will provide context and local insight into Detroit’s neighborhoods, small businesses and economic development projects. The goal of this experience is to help attendees understand how Detroit’s history shaped where we are today, be inspired by what’s happening now and find ways to apply lessons learned to your own work.
A COUPLE TOPICS WE’LL DISCUSS:
● Detroit’s assets from architecture to cultural gems to public spaces
● History of Detroit including racist policies that shaped where we are today
● Discussion of Detroit’s challenges including population loss and blight
● Overview of some of Detroit’s innovative and impactful projects and small businesses
A COUPLE POTENTIAL HIGHLIGHTS:
● Detroit RiverWalk
● Campus Martius Park and Downtown Developments
● Detroit Food Commons
● Eastern Market
● Museums and Cultural Center
● Highland Park and Original Ford Factory
● Historic Avenue of Fashion – Detroit’s Black Business District
● Palmer Woods Mansion District
● Live6 Alliance HomeBase Apartments
Don’t want to miss out on your SPRE Tour spot?
Already registered for the SPRE Summit and want to add on a SPRE tour?
SPACE PROFILES
DSDT
At DSDT, our mission is straightforward: to Train, Employ, and Empower. Our primary objective revolves around connecting local community members, particularly 90% of our students who call Detroit home, with high-paying career opportunities within the dynamic tech industry. The impact of our efforts is profound, as we are strategically positioned to harness the technological boom unfolding in our city.
At the heart of our campus lies a cutting-edge facility, equipped with state-of-the-art technology, tools, and equipment that mirror what our students will encounter in their future careers. Located conveniently across from the Ambassador Bridge in Southwest Detroit, our space serves as a bridge of opportunity for aspiring individuals looking to enter the tech field. By fostering a learning environment that goes beyond traditional boundaries, DSDT strives to empower individuals by equipping them with the skills and knowledge needed to excel in a rapidly evolving technological landscape. Our space serves as a hub of innovation and education, where students not only gain access to cutting-edge resources but also become part of a movement that is reshaping the future of Detroit’s tech industry.
What is one of the staff’s favorite things about the space?: One of my favorite things about this space is the cells! This building used to be Detroit’s 13th precinct before we purchased it. The cells have been converted into modern office spaces, but they still represent the building’s transformation from a place of incarceration to a place of education. They also symbolize, for me, the transformation our students undergo during their educational journeys at DSDT.
TechTown Detroit
TechTown is Detroit’s entrepreneurship hub. We envision a meaningful and equitable revitalization of Detroit through the launch and sustainable growth of tech startups and small businesses that create new jobs, generate revenue and strengthen neighborhoods. We are a nonprofit business service organization that provides programs, education and resources for early- to growth-stage small businesses and tech entrepreneurs. We own and operate a 135,000-square-foot building in Detroit’s New Center that supports coworking, offices, meetings and events. TechTown has supported 5,371 businesses at our Midtown hub and in neighborhoods across Detroit, Hamtramck and Highland Park. These businesses created 2,277 jobs and raised $385 million in startup capital.
What is one of the staff’s favorite things about the space?: We’re fortunate to have a robust community built into our business model. Fostering a welcoming and productive environment for our 800+ members and tenants is as much a focus for us as delivering best-in-class services to tech founders and small business owners. TechTown has long been known as a place that guarantees “serendipitous collisions” — kind of like what you’d get if a business conference, a reunion and a block party were all rolled into one place. And that concept of recognizing the value in running into someone unexpectedly (or on purpose) applies to our staff in the same way that it does our building community.
Life Remodeled/Durfee Innovation Society
Detroiters have all the talent they need, but many don’t have access to all the opportunities they deserve. We know how to help community members and students get from where they are to where they want to be. Life Remodeled has a proven model of repurposing former school buildings into one stop hubs of opportunity for entire families to thrive. We fill these iconic buildings with the best and brightest nonprofit organizations who are providing youth programs, workforce development, and human services to tens of thousands of students and community members. We help our nonprofit tenants collaborate and create far greater life transformation together than was previously possible alone.Together, we ensure three things: 1. More Detroit students perform at or above grade level in math and reading 2. More families have access to essential health and wellness services. 3. More community members obtain higher paying jobs and achieve economic self-sufficiency
What is one of the staff’s favorite things about the space?:The Durfee Innovation Society is a place where adults, youth and families are provided access to opportunities that they deserve. It is a safe place filled with an amazing team who are always ready to serve. Individuals feel empowered at the DIS because there are multiple programs and services that assist in both their personal and professional advancement. It’s a one stop hub of opportunities where over 30 of the best and brightest non profits are housed under one roof making a positive impact right in the center of a Detroit community.
Strategic Community Partners
strategiccommunitypartners.org
Strategic Community Partners (SCP) is a national firm that works with organizations by advising, designing, and managing projects and initiatives that advance equity with and for communities. We partner with organizations to build capacity by pairing strategy with community and cultural context to drive forward powerful and equitable missions. We are PASSIONATE about our work and the communities we serve. We pride ourselves on EXCELLENCE and we are constantly learning. Our decisions are guided by our ethics and firmly rooted in INTEGRITY. We are unapologetically committed to advancing EQUITY with and for communities.
What is one of the staff’s favorite things about the space?: “My favorite thing about our space is that you can find comfort no matter where you are in the office. It’s almost like a home away from home.” Jason Ford – Community Operations Manager
The LOVE Building
The LOVE Building is a home for social justice and creative community. It is an experiment in community-rooted development that grows out of the need of six Detroit nonprofit organizations for centrally located, accessible office space. While our individual missions vary, we share a vision of cultivating liberation, justice, and joy for all Detroiters. The LOVE Building tenant partners are a majority Black and POC-led organizations. Our communities are most often on the receiving end of harmful developments, with few opportunities to shape the built environments in which we live.
We recognize the LOVE Building as a unique opportunity to model a different form of community development than the profit-driven, exclusionary model that is rooted in racism. We need development that provides tangible community benefits, that supports longtime Black residents to remain and thrive in place, that removes barriers of access for disabled residents, that offers free and low-cost resources, and so much more. The LOVE Building is attempting to embody this different form of development, one that is rooted in community needs. We call it an experiment because we know that we will make attempts that succeed and also fail along the way. We know that we will be learning from all of it and contributing those lessons to the larger movement in Detroit and globally, for more just, livable, thriving places.
What is one of the staff’s favorite things about the space?: The LOVE Building is aspiring to be Detroit’s most accessible building. Photo credit – Viola Klocko.
