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The 2018 Southfield Corporate CommUNITY Cup Challenge – it’s almost time!

The 2018 Southfield Corporate CommUNITY Cup Challenge – it’s almost time! southfieldcc_3ik8d2

There’s an important reason why the word “unity” is so prominent in the Southfield Corporate CommUNITY Cup Challenge branding. This is an event that brings people together.

This friendly competition between Southfield City Centre businesses and community partners fosters team spirit, forges connections, and creates friendships. It raises donations for a great cause, too.

This year, 19 teams are registered (with room for 20), and the competition kicks off on July 12 with a kickball tournament at Inglenook Park. The challenge will wrap up on August 9, and teams will be building up donations of school supplies for Southfield Public Schools, to help teachers who so often need plenty of extra supplies to use throughout the school year.

The 2017 CommUNITY Cup brought 16 teams—more than 500 participants and volunteers in all—together for weekly challenges from June to July. Throughout the challenge, teams collected canned and packaged foods to donate to Gleaners Community Food Bank.

By the end of the six-week event, Sandy Schmidt and Wendy Dyrda of MSX International felt more connected to their coworkers as they pulled together to earn bragging rights over fellow Southfield City Centre businesses. “The best benefit was team building within the company, and also getting to know other companies within Southfield,” they said.

From the corn hole tournament, to the quiz bowl competition, to the golf scramble, and the kickball game, participants built strategies, supported each other, and had a lot of fun. At the very end, all 16 participating teams built displays using the 9,600 pounds of canned and packaged food they collected. In the final event, dubbed “canstruction,” creativity ruled, as companies showed off their colors, logos, and corporate pride—all with packaged food.

Schmidt and Dyrda were especially proud of their company’s generosity in supporting Gleaners, and their collaboration during all of the weekly events.

What made the challenge fun was a community spirit that rewarded effort alongside victory. “There was a friendliness among everyone that participated in this event, even though we went head-to-head with each other,” said Schmidt. “It wasn’t cut-throat. It was actually fun.”

This year, Schmidt is looking forward to reconnecting with 2017 participants, and welcoming new companies and their employees to the competition.

“The CommUNITY Cup just makes you aware of what other companies are around you that sometimes you don’t even know about,” Schmidt said. “Just knowing what some of these companies do might help us in our business.”

Registered teams should be sure to watch for announcements about the 2018 CommUNITY Cup. It’s never too early to begin team training for trivia, sand volleyball, and “Race Around Southfield” events. Not part of a registered team? Get swept up in the fun by volunteering during any or all of the events this summer. There are so many ways to connect with your community right here in the Southfield City Centre.

Bike Share at Southfield City Centre

Bike Share at Southfield City Centre southfieldcc_3ik8d2

We are excited to announce the Southfield City Centre Bike Share program.

Feel like a kid again, ringing the bell with the wind blowing in your face down Evergreen Road. Our official launch will take place next week with a  ribbon cutting at 10:00 AM on 7/26/17.

In the meantime, learn more about the program at http://bike.zagster.com/southfield/

Eat to the Beat – June 8, 2017

Eat to the Beat – June 8, 2017 southfieldcc_3ik8d2

Thank you to everyone who attended our first Eat to the Beat of summer 2017! We had a great time enjoying food from some of the area’s best food trucks, music by Cancel Monday and we kicked off the inaugural Southfield Community Cup Challenge.

Join us for our next one on Thursday, July 13 from 11:30am-2:00pm, featuring music by The George Brothers Band.

 

Crowdfunding campaign launched for Red Pole Park

Crowdfunding campaign launched for Red Pole Park southfieldcc_3ik8d2

Lansing, Mich. – The Michigan Economic Development Corporation and the City of Southfield today announced a new crowdfunding campaign through Michigan-based crowdfunding platform Patronicity. The campaign will create an interactive art installation along the new Northwestern Highway Pathway in Southfield’s City Centre.

If the campaign reaches its crowdfunding goal of $50,000 by August 4th, the project will win a matching grant with funds made possible by MEDC’s Public Spaces Community Places program. For project details and to donate, please visit: http://www.patronicity.com/redpolepark

“Supporting projects that find innovative ways to engage the public in their environment is what Public Spaces, Community Places is about,” said MEDC Community Development Director Katharine Czarnecki. “We are pleased to be able to resource this productive effort.”

Funding raised during this campaign will support the creation of Red Pole Park as a destination that will exemplify Southfield’s redevelopment as connected and pedestrian friendly community. This redevelopment began with converting an old goat path into a brand new bike-walk accessible greenway to join a growing network of trails and new sidewalks throughout Southfield. The greenway will include a series of outdoor “rooms” or art installations that residents and visitors will experience when using the path, of which Red Pole Park will be the first.

“Red Pole Park will give Southfield’s newest bike/walk trail a sense of place, and be the first big step towards making it not just a route but a destination in and of itself,” said the Director of Planning for the City of Southfield Terry Croad. “Southfield was built for cars, and so building appealing places for pedestrians, cyclists, and mobility aid users to get around is an important transformation here. The matching grant for this will make it possible for us to build this at a large enough scale to make it visually interesting.”

Public Spaces Community Places is a collaborative effort of the MEDC, MSHDA, the Michigan Municipal League, and Patronicity where local residents can use crowdfunding to be part of the development of strategic projects in their communities and be backed with a matching grant from MEDC. Communities, non-profits and other business entities can apply at https://patronicity.com/puremichigan.

“Southfield is really on the right path with this project,” said Dan Gilmartin, CEO and Executive Director of the Michigan Municipal League. “Creating art-filled places along the city’s bike-walk greenway will encourage residents and visitors to get out of their cars and explore the community in a more up close and personal way.”

Pure Michigan is a brand representing business, talent and tourism initiatives across Michigan. These efforts are driven by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, which serves as the state’s marketing arm and lead advocate for business growth, jobs and opportunity with a focus on helping grow Michigan’s economy.

For more on the MEDC and its initiatives, visit michiganbusiness.org. For Michigan travel news, updates and information, visit michigan.org. Michigan residents interested in seeking employment with any of Michigan’s growing companies should check mitalent.org, where more than 93,000 jobs are currently available in a variety of industries.

Welcome to downtown… Southfield? It’s coming

Welcome to downtown… Southfield? It’s coming southfieldcc_3ik8d2

An RFP is due for developers this Friday, April 21, to transform the city of Southfield.

Southfield is seeking to transform an 8.15-acre parcel into a pedestrian-friendly, traditional downtown, something the city has never seen. Planned in the middle of the 20th century, Southfield embodies a suburban era of design where cities were built for the automobile and not people.

Terry Croad is Director of Planing for the City of Southfield. Since joining the city in 2010, he’s made it his mission to help transform the city center into a more urban, walkable destination.

He started with a series of small steps; things like filling in gaps in the sidewalk around the municipal center, making Evergreen Road more pedestrian friendly, and installing bike racks and improved bus stops. The increased pedestrian activity from those efforts has helped convince city leaders that a change was possible and vital for Southfield.

“It wasn’t an easy sell five to seven years ago,” says Croad. “But the improvements made over the last couple of years have changed many of the naysayers and doubters into believers.”

The RFP put out calls for the construction of EverCentre, a high-density, mixed-use district that incorporates a pedestrian-friendly Complete Streets infrastructure at the corner of Evergreen Road and Civic Center Drive.

Plans call for multiple-story buildings of mixed residential and office use with retail on the ground floor, creating a more traditional downtown setting complete with a streetwall built right up to a sidewalk filled with outdoor seating. There’s also plans for a new park with entertainment programming among its features.

That’s not all Croad and his team are working on. Southfield is launching a bike share program by mid-to-late June, with 22 bikes spread out over five to seven locations, including the municipal center and Lawrence Tech campuses. A bike and greenway trail is also being built, with landscaping to be installed this spring. The trail will run along Northwestern Highway. Croad likens it to the High Line Park in New York City.

“We’re in competition for young talent,” says Croad. “Entrepreneurs used to locate around natural resources and transportation centers. Now they go to where the human resources are, where people want to be.”

Original Article Located here.

Evergreen Construction

Evergreen Construction southfieldcc_3ik8d2

Evergreen Road from 11-13 Mile will be under construction from now until November 2017.  Portions between 12-13 Mile are closed to thru traffic, Lahser being the posted detour route.  Signs were posted regarding this closure two weeks ago. The rest of Evergreen and the service drives are open but with reduced lanes and some turning prohibitions per posted signs.  This week will be the worst of it as drivers find alternate routes to avoid the construction as best they can.

Lastly, Evergreen Road between 9 Mile and Northwestern will be under construction this year as well, starting mid to late May, again lasting through November.

 

Zoup! Opens 100th Restaurant

Zoup! Opens 100th Restaurant southfieldcc_3ik8d2

City Teams Up with Soulstice Run for New Southfield Spirit Fest

City Teams Up with Soulstice Run for New Southfield Spirit Fest southfieldcc_3ik8d2

Runners warm up before the Summer Soulstice Sun Run at Soutfield City Center on Saturday, June 19, 2016.

SOUTHFIELD — Although spring has just begun, local event organizers are encouraging residents to lace up their running shoes and strap on their party hats ahead of the new summertime Southfield Spirit Fest.

According to Southfield Community Relations Director Michael Manion, the city of Southfield is putting together a brand-new event in conjunction with the annual Summer Soulstice run.

City officials are planning a parade ahead of the run, called Southfield Spirit Fest, June 17.

The parade will take off from Lawrence Technological University’s Don Riddler Field, 21000 W. 10 Mile Road; head down Civic Center Drive; and end up on the front lawn of the Southfield Municipal Complex, 26000 Evergreen Road.

Read the full article here: http://www.candgnews.com/news/city-teams-soulstice-run-new-southfield-spirit-fest-100221