Metro Detroit's new economy can often be found in aged shells of the old economy. Case in point: Paper Street Motors.
Paper Street Motors began when Andy Didorosi stumbled upon an old, empty warehouse a year ago in Ferndale, just southeast of its downtown. The 20-something didn't see the tattered relic of an old automotive industry, but a place for small businesses to take root and grow, where they'd have the flexibility to get their feet under them financially without breaking the bank.
The
Russell Industrial Center-style small business incubator at 1151 Jarvis filled up with a number of emerging businesses almost immediately. The 14 tenants in the 22,000-square-foot space include
Green Light Go Music Publicity, a national band promoter. A year later, Didorosi is sprucing the place up both through its aesthetics and service offerings.
"Basically this place was a depressing battleship grey," Didorosi says. "Now we're completely redoing it."
Part of the Paper Street Motors (Paper Street is a reference to
Fight Club) redesign is the installation of cubicles and a dynamic office environment. He is also looking at setting up additional locations in downtown Ferndale, Royal Oak, and Detroit, where members could utilize all of the spaces like a gym membership.
"So if you're a member of one then you're a member of all of them," he says.
Source: Andy Didorosi, president of Paper Street Motors
Writer: Jon Zemke