Rosati, Brkovich partner to bring 'lively' Distillery Square to Walkerville

From the Windsor Star:
"Prominent local business leaders Mike Brkovich and the Rosati Group are partnering on an ambitious multi-use development expected to transform Walkerville's commercial core into the Distillery District envisioned by city politicians.

The Distillery Square project centers around two massive 130-foot-high red-brick "rack" warehouses built in the 1940s to store Hiram Walker and Sons' whiskey that Brkovich purchased 25 years ago.

The partnership recently acquired several other properties in the area of Wyandotte Street East and Argyle Road, including the former Walter D Kelly funeral home at Wyandotte and Devonshire Road, a commercial building at Wyandotte and Argyle, the former Canadian Legion Branch 12 at Argyle and Brant Street, and the Strathcona commercial/residential building [designed by Detroit's own Albert Kahn in 1907] on the northwest corner of Wyandotte and Devonshire where renovations are under way and a tenant-The Twisted Apron restaurant is already signed on.

At the rack warehouse site, the plan is to connect the two warehouses with another building, build another, and create a pedestrian square in the middle, according to Tony Rosati who heads the local company with his brother Nick.
"We're still looking at through the concept and tweaking it. We'll have more information to be released by the end of the year," Rosati said, expressing hope that construction could also start by the end of the year. The uses will include loft-style apartments, office and retail space, restaurants, a boutique hotel and spaces for street vendors and food trucks, he said."

Is it better than Canadian Club Whiskey!

This is excellent news! I've biked and walked past that complex a few times. It is in a good location, right on the river very close to Walkerville's vibrant Wyandotte strip.

A warehouse building was beautifully redeveloped in that vicinity about a year ago:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/winds...ding-1.5448110

Too bad we couldn't do something creative like this with the Packard Plant or State Fairgrounds. Hopefully, we can get something like on the Dequindre Cut and Rivertown Warehouse District eventually.

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Originally Posted by masterblaster

Too bad we couldn't do something creative like this with the Packard Plant or State Fairgrounds. Hopefully, we can get something like on the Dequindre Cut and Rivertown Warehouse District eventually.

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I would agree with some of those locations... but didn't they already do that with 300 River Place in the warehouse district? :confused:

Of course more of the same would be nice...

This sounds like an excellent plan for an area that has a lot of potential, and for saving and productively reusing the best parts of that area's built heritage. Mike Brkovich was a pretty damn good shooting guard with Magic back in his MSU days. Glad to see that he also seems to be doing pretty well in business.

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Originally Posted by Gistok

I would agree with some of those locations... but didn't they already do that with 300 River Place in the warehouse district? :confused:

Of course more of the same would be nice...

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Except for the older warehouse buildings, I don't see 300 River Place as anything close to the Distillery District in Toronto or the similar project underway in Windsor.

The concept is basically a public gathering spaces with things like shops, bars, and restaurants in a large pedestrian-only public square. Even though the Rattlesnake Club is in 300 River Place, I don't see 300 River Place as a public gathering space where people go browse around shops & street vendors, hang out, and dine in hip bars/restaurants.