Life goes on at the Freighthouse.  The bills are due each month and lots of other recurring expenses and upkeep are required.  As the business plan states, we will always be fundraising.  And here's where we are...

The construction team has completed everything except the rain garden and the rain garden hook-up, which will take place in April-May.  The garden will not be planted until the Fall.

The design for the garden (shape, size, features, plantings) will be done by the County (up to $1000 of design time) plus a yet undecided match from the Board.  Plant material will also be available from the County for $1-2 per plant, which we will order once the design is approved.  The only other thing FOYF will need to purchase is top soil.  The City will dig the hole to our specifications and our labor will do the rest.

The construction committee is preparing the photos and closeout documents for the grant, so that the City can file for reimbursement at the end of May.

As was reported in the news, FOYF has been selected to receive a $103,300 gift from the AAACF, which are funds from the Pfizer gift made to the area as a farewell package following their departure from Ann Arbor.

Our gift will be used to create biddable architectural and engineering drawings to satisfy the CAR report as well as to make the improvements the FOYF Building Committee suggested in order to help make the Freighthouse commercially viable.

Although not required by the AAACF, two RFPs for bids to do the drawings were sent out.  The selected bidder is The JDI Group.  Not only was JDI the lowest bidder, but, more importantly, they have the preservation architectural and engineering talents in-house which we require.  Their team made a strong impression on the Building Committee during their site visit.  Their bid followed our RFP nearly to the letter.  Brenda Rigdon of the JDI Group, and an Ypsilanti resident, will be the lead architect.

Perhaps more meaningful than the initial AAACF gift in the long run is the AAACF's concern and willingness to continue a working relationship with the FOYF in board development, fundraising, and execution of our business plan.

Also in the news is that the Freighthouse has been selected by the City as the target for potential Federal stimulus funding, which would come through the State of Michigan MDOT program for historic rehabilitation of transportation-related structures.  A real benefit of this package is that no match is needed.  The legislation is working its way through the Michigan House and Senate and will be signed by the Governor soon.  At the same time, all of the proposed recipients for that funding must have shovel-ready program applications on file by a certain date.

This is precisely why we are using AAACF funding to get the drawings done to satisfy the CAR report and to have included as many of the adaptive reuse exterior and interior improvements we need to make the Freighthouse Great Hall viable as a community center and the former café area a welcoming tourism and hospitality facility.

There are no guarantees that these funds will be awarded to us, but we are working daily with the City staff on the application.  We have an MDOT consultant to help us clearly define our needs.  And we have tremendous political support from Councilperson Murdock up through the City staff and our lobbyist Kirk Profit, and up through the area's legislative team on both sides of the aisle.

At the same time, we are seeking other construction financing resources.

MDOT financing, which may or may not come, will certainly not cover everything we need.  We are working with our other federal legislators to obtain funding.  And we are working at the County level to attract major corporate involvement.  As we said above, we will continue to develop ties with the AAACF to seek more gifts and grants.

We are confident, as well, that the FOYF Fundraising Committee and our FOYF Grant Committee will locate other significant resources.  We are also relying on our general membership and faithful friends to conduct local events to help us continue our facility development programs.

Additionally, we have recently been successful at creating new connections with EMU for in-service and other opportunities.  EMU Preservation and EMU Building & Construction Management are two possibilities for the immediate future.  Once these new relationships strengthen, we will provide more detail.

Although the details are sketchy, we have been working for months to open opportunities on specific tasks for local corporate participation in Freighthouse projects or needs.

The new Ypsilanti Energy Coalition has met with us and will be helping the FOYF make key construction and energy sustainability decisions which will feed into our construction design process.  Further, the YEC will then help us research, write and obtain grants for these systems.

IlluminArt, a longtime Ypsilanti-based lighting design consultant with world-wide credentials, has offered its services to the Freighthouse on a pro bono basis to develop a proposed energy-efficient exterior and interior lighting scheme for the Freighthouse building and Market Plaza.  These elements will also become part of our current architectural design and engineering project.

Thirdly, because there are only so many dollars available to JDI with the AAACF gift, any architectural and construction engineering options that cannot be covered may be covered by our new working relationship with EMU Building & Construction Management Department.

We want to add here that the Freighthouse continues to be blessed with many local residents who have significant professional credentials in energy systems, building and construction management, and on ...through to advertising, marketing, web design and event planning.  As we get into one of these areas or another, we will be drawing upon their skills to take advantage of their love of the Freighthouse and their offers of service which have been made over time.

We have nothing to add here that has not been discussed at the recent public meetings or in the press.  The FOYF welcomes the trains.  We will skew our business plan for café development to create a SEMCOG commuter rail tourism and hospitality service at the Freighthouse, which will be open to accommodate the train schedule.  We will work with SEMCOG to satisfy their needs and work with all of our Depot Town businesses, friends and neighbors to help make train service a real plus for everyone.

We are still holding our Opening Day schedule of April 1, 2010. However, that may change due to the timing of our financing from MDOT and the other sources mentioned above.  The FOYF is certainly not standing still.  We are on the move!