More than Dirt...
It’s been a beautiful summer and we certainly feel like it’s been flying by. While we haven’t posted in quite a while we have been making progress and we are so excited! This week we met our architect at the Detroit Shipping Company while we were in town. It’s an awesome project that Three Squared, Inc worked on made up of 21 containers. There are a few different food truck style kitchens and a bar along with great interior and exterior common spaces, a pod cast studio for rent and walls filled with great art. There’s an eclectic vibe and what a better way to look at plans than over a beer, Pho, tacos and fried brussel sprouts. The kids played giant board games and we wandered through the multi faceted space realizing it won’t be long before Nipote’s breaks ground. They had craft beer on tap, for our Founder’s loving friends, Founder’s Detroit is a stone’s throw away and a few restaurants open with a couple more making progress. We met Chef Petro from Brujo Tacos and Tapas who’s also an owner in the collective and he let Jeff check out his kitchen and get a feel for a contained space. As we wandered through the open space, enjoyed the art and took in the atmosphere we ran into the owner of Bread Meats Bread with his daughter. Everyone we met was warm and welcoming and happy to share tips and advice as they heard about our upcoming adventure. It was so great that Breck was able to drop by and catch up face to face and we appreciate how Three Squared really wants to be our partner and understand who we are and why this space is special to us, and hopefully to Muskegon.
Chef Petro showed Jeff around the kitchen, what an awesome guy!
So you may have wondered what in the heck we’ve been doing since we shared the first renderings. Is that crazy container building really coming to downtown? Well behind the scenes it’s been fast and furious, we’ve been working through lots of details, lining up the pieces and trying to enjoy the ride, after all not many people are able to live their dream and here we are in the process of just that. As for all of the technical points, the structural drawings are almost complete, from there we’ll pull permits and pour the foundation. Once the foundation is poured it’s a good 3 weeks to cure and then our shipping containers will make their way across the mitten. We’ll be sure to let everyone know when we’re ready to drop them into place. I picture it like a giant crane game right downtown. After the containers and steel work are in place, Uncle Bob will step in and before you know it, what was once a thought and then a crayon drawing will be a reality and we’ll be opening the doors. Lots of inspections, permits, licenses and steps are between now and then but we can definitely feel it happening. This week we started looking at interior finishings and bringing the feeling of a dinner with friends into our space. It’s hard to believe it’s only been 8 months since we started this process and first stepped into the original building with hopes, dreams and a cracked foundation. A few weeks back after a great week of behind the scenes progress we enjoyed a bottle of Refosco on a picnic blanket in what will be the dining room, trying to remember to take in the journey and celebrate our blessings. So when you drive by and see our slab of dirt, know that for us, it is so much more, it’s our future.
Check out a few of the pics from #TeamChurch’s Detroit visit! The kids loved the “where the wild things are” mural!
