Ultreia Development Breathes New Life at Bedford and E. Warren
The original limestone crest. Image courtesy of Field Day
If you have driven down E. Warren recently, you may have noticed some exciting work happening on the corner of Bedford and E. Warren. The building at 16631 E Warren is being redeveloped, and more details about the project were revealed at the March 26 community meeting the owners held.
Ellen Donnelly and Marc Maxey are owners of the architecture firm Field Day and began renovations on this building early this year. The partners obtained the building 10 years ago through the Detroit tax foreclosure auction, sight unseen. They were motivated to start a hands-on project after their schooling to hone their skills and learn more about the practicalities of responsible development. The project was targeted to begin in 2020 but with setbacks like COVID, funding, and the condition of the building, things didn’t officially kick off until 2023.
In 2023, with the help of an Invest Detroit grant, they were able to begin. Understanding Morningside and wanting to create an institution that is a community asset was very important to the team. Knowing this, they reached out to neighbors and talked with long-term resident and developer, Joe Rashid, to really understand the needs on E Warren. Last September they attended East Warren Fest and asked people what new businesses they wanted to see along the corridor. Some of the responses they got were a bike shop, a place for sweet treats, co-working space, and even a hair salon. They are inspired by these ideas and their goal is to find small local entrepreneurs to fill these spaces.
The building already has a wonderful neighborhood story to tell. Back in 2021 the beautiful limestone crest that adorns the entry to the building fell off. Luckily, no one was hurt and neighbors immediately noticed and jumped into action. Neighbors on Bedford were able to save the crest and store it for Ellen and Marc, who were out of state at the time. Due to this neighborhood camaraderie the crest will be reinstalled during construction.
The main efforts on the building to date are clearing all the debris in the building and stabilizing it structurally. One major issue that needed to be dealt with was a large hole in the roof. The goal is to continue working through this year and hopefully get the project completed by February 2026.
Ellen and Marc said this project has been a learning process every step of the way. This is their first large scale project after working on smaller projects and conceptual designs. They had never had to deal with things like writing large-scale grant proposals. They have been living with spreadsheets and hitting their heads against lien waivers, but through it all, Ellen said that when she was in the building when work started, “looking up at the sky from inside the building you could really feel the potential."
If you are interested in learning more about the project, Ellen and Marc have project details as well as opportunities to contribute ideas at the project website here: www.ultreiadetroit.com.
Construction on the future home of Ultreia is fully underway. Image courtesy of Jeffrey D. Lewis II