Downtown Clawson has seen big-time growth since 2006

By Jeremy Carroll
C & G Staff Writer

CLAWSON — When Lake Orion resident Kim Waldis was scouting locations to open an authentic Vietnamese restaurant, downtown Clawson quickly caught her eye.

“I saw growth going on here, and Clawson has invested back into the city,” she said. “I think it’s the best-kept secret (in metro Detroit). For now, at least.”

Waldis plans on swinging the doors open to Da Nang at the southeast corner of 14 Mile Road and Main Street by the end of the month. She has spent months converting the former bank and photography studio space, which has sat empty for years, into a restaurant.

“We want it to be new and clean,” she said.

All the recipes will be old family traditions, and the restaurant’s name pays homage to the city Waldis was born in.

“Often people water down (ethnic food) fearing Americans wouldn’t be able to handle authentic food, but people don’t want that,” she said.

Waldis pointed to Noble Fish, the popular Japanese fish market and sushi bar in downtown Clawson, as an example of authentic food that is popular with locals.

“It’s always crowded because people aren’t afraid to try something new,” Waldis said.

As the national economy sags, Da Nang will become the latest in the line of new restaurants and shops in downtown Clawson, which has seen large growth since 2006.

DDA active in the city
After years of inactivity, the Clawson Downtown Development Authority was re-established in 2002. The DDA has really kicked itself into high gear in the past year, holding many downtown events for the first time last summer, including a movie event that closed Main Street so people could bring out lawn chairs and watch “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” on a large, inflatable screen.

“Earlier they set the groundwork with plans and studies,” said Joan Horton, the part-time acting director of the DDA, of the work that was done in 2002 and beyond. “Now we are able to focus on action-oriented items. We are working on bringing attention to the downtown businesses.”

Horton said the growth in the area has been a result of many factors, including low rent and the personal touch of city officials.

“It’s a good city to do business in,” she said.

The DDA gets its funding through both a 2 mill tax levy on downtown businesses and the capture of increased tax money from properties in the district.

In recent weeks, the DDA has launched a Web site — www.downtownclawson.com — that features a business directory and a listing of any special events going on in the downtown area.

Horton said the events, such as a block party in 2008, and Web site are all aimed at bringing more people to the area.

Black Lotus starts the movement
Black Lotus Brewing Co., the hip microbrewery on the northeast corner of 14 Mile Road and Main Street, led the way when they kicked their doors open in 2006.

“We were really surprised at the lack of activity (in Clawson) when we came in,” said co-owner Michael Allan. “This was our dream location. We knew the potential existed.”

Since Black Lotus opened, other businesses including Leon & Lulu, Trim Barberhouse, Tease Salon, Filipino karaoke bar Royal Kubo and Italian restaurant due venti have all been welcomed to the downtown area since 2006.

“There have been some good businesses coming into Clawson,” Allan said. “I think it’s only going to continue because the city is doing their part.”

In addition to events downtown, the city has installed on-street parking in the downtown area along with completely repairing 14 Mile Road and Main Street in the past two years.

Allan said there used to be a feeling that the city wasn’t easy to deal with for businesses, but that has changed.

The city recently removed a requirement in the downtown district that forced new business owners to apply for a $1,000 variance if they didn’t build on the second floor of a building. The only problem — one of the city’s three main downtown buildings didn’t even have a second floor.

“It was a situation where we wanted to encourage the businesses to utilize the second floor, but that wasn’t occurring,” said James Albus, the city’s building and planning director, about the change.

Allan said the events put on by the DDA have been great for the businesses downtown.

“It’s an opportunity for us to get in front of people that may not normally have given us a try,” he said. “It’s like having a community open house.”

And even though the economy has been in the tank, Allan said business has been trucking along nicely at Black Lotus.

“This January we did 20 percent better than last January,” he said.

Taking a chance in the downtown area
Not all the economic news in downtown Clawson has been good. Just recently, downtown Clawson staple Thomas Video & DVD moved out of the area because they said the rent was too expensive for them, and have relocated to a lower-rent facility in Royal Oak.

It leaves a big hole in the small shopping center located just south of the main shops on the west side of Main Street, south of 14 Mile Road. Despite that hole, the vacancy rate in the downtown area is a modest 15 percent, officials said.

But at the same time, other businesses are taking their chances in the city. Former engineer Jennifer Menzies of Warren opened Sprouting Tots, a kids resale shop, as a full-time venture in January.

“The city is really trying to do a lot to improve the downtown area,” she said. “(The downtown) has a little homey feeling to it, too.”

Menzies said she’s always wanted to open a resale shop, and with two kids of her own, the shop that carries newborn to size 16 kids clothes was a good fit, even in terrible economic times.

“Now is as good a time as any,” she said.