en-us Wed, 10 Jan 2007 05:11:17 GMT Wed, 10 Jan 2007 05:11:17 GMT http://urbanflint.com/ A website about downtown Flint, Michigan. Coverage includes photography, development, shops, news, events and other aspects of Flint's downtown district. http://backend.userland.com/rss webmaster@urbanflint.com (Donovan Munerlyn) webmaster@urbanflint.com (Donovan Munerlyn) 7 8 9 10 11 12 http://urbanflint.com/article/78 Language was approved by the Genesee County Board of Commissioners in an option to sell the former Family Dollar building downtown. http://urbanflint.com/article/77 The Berridge Hotel will likely have new owners soon with the Genesee County Land Bank Authority voting to purchase the historic building for approximately $725,000. http://urbanflint.com/article/76 The Crim Fitness Foundation is buying nearly 4,000 square feet of space in the Land Bank Center thanks to a grant from the Mott Foundation. The organization behind the annual Crim Festival of Races plans to move to its new location in early 2007. http://urbanflint.com/article/75 After closing down six years ago, Uptown Reinvestment Corp. looks to hopes to aquire and lease the former Family Dollar to an established restauratuer. Genesee County currently owns the building and its Board of Commisioners are the process of determining whether or not to sell the building. For more information read the Flint Journal article. http://urbanflint.com/article/74 The CB Cafe located in the Citizens Bank headquarters is no longer exclusive to bank employees. The eatery now welcomes the public to enjoy its wide variety of foods. The 2,500 square-foot cafe also handles catering for special events with up to 1,000 guests. For more information view the Flint Journal article. http://urbanflint.com/article/73 Thanks to a $600,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Spring Grove is getting a cleanup. The site can be found near the Stockton House (now known as the Stockton Center) on Ann Arbor Street in Stockton Park - a neighborhood located just west of downtown. http://urbanflint.com/article/72 After receiving $200,000 from the Mott Foundation for initial costs, Genesee County is seeking $5 million in state brownfield funds to clean up the site of the historic Durant Hotel. http://urbanflint.com/article/71 Two historical homes in the Carriage Town district were burned down Wednesday. They were two of nine vacant homes that were donated to the Genesee County Land Bank to be refurbished. Members of the Carriage Town Historical Association were frustrated with the loss of the nearly 100-year-old houses which was likely due to arson. The Land Bank plans to rebuild and sell the homes at no profit. For more information read the ABC 12 News transcript. http://urbanflint.com/article/70 After years of being "on hold", the Manhattan Place project might actually get finished with the help of the Genesee County Land Bank among others. http://urbanflint.com/article/68 As part of the deal with the Jewerly World and Mad Hatter buildings changing hands, the new owner of the downtown hat store is getting a facade renovation courtesy of Uptown Developments. Metal panels were removed from the front of the building exposing its original brickwork. New windows, similar to those seen in the recently-renovated Brown Sugar Cafe building have been installed, as well. The historic sign will get new neon lighting and will feature the bust of the store's new owner, Bob Kittel. The former Jewely World building will be combined with two other buildings to form an entertainment complex currently known as the "500 block project". http://urbanflint.com/article/69 With financing problmes and the diffuculty of landing a deal with a private developer, the University of Michigan - Flint has pushed its target date for new student housing to September 2008. For more information, read the Flint Journal article. http://urbanflint.com/article/67 The Genesee County Land Bank plans to rebuild two full blocks in the Carriage Town Historic District at an estimated cost of $2 million.