Building identification [[Ferndale)

[coloroflaw]

I have a question regarding this building. It sits on Ten Mile road about where the railroad crosses 696 in Ferndale. It appears vacant. Does anyone know what this large building was?

[Scottathew]

Former ePrize headquarters?

FYI - It's technically Pleasant Ridge, not Ferndale.

[Scottathew]

Address: 1 ePrize Drive, Pleasant Ridge, Michigan 48069

[One Shot]

But what WAS it? As in originally. I've seen that building as well.

[Scottathew]

It was a brewery, bakery, and industrial space.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/eprize-transforms-detroit-area-brewery-into-new-ultra-modern-world-headquarters-53851187.html

PLEASANT RIDGE, Mich., March 1 /PRNewswire/ -- ePrize, a global interactive promotion agency, completed the transformation of a seventy-six-
year-old former brewery into a new, highly creative headquarters, to support
its rapid expansion.
ePrize's move to the new headquarters is emblematic of the company's
global growth in its highly specialized market space: creating interactive
marketing promotions such as online sweepstakes, instant-win games and
interactive points-based reward campaigns for global marketing giants
including Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, American Express, General Motors and
The GAP.
"The revitalization of a vacant industrial building not only adds value to
our clients and team members, but also helps rejuvenate the community," said
ePrize founder and CEO Josh Linkner. "New York City isn't the only place to
have a loft-style agency environment. The space was designed to foster
creativity, team building, and open communication."
From one client and one staff member in 1999, ePrize has skyrocketed to
become the industry leader in interactive promotions. Signing more than 78
major brand accounts in 2004, including FedEx, Visa, Blockbuster, Dell, Home
Depot and Target, the company enjoyed a dramatic growth in sales, which rose
from $9 million to $18.5 million for the year.
Opening the new world headquarters is part of the company's overall
strategy to attract talented marketing professionals and drive rapid
expansion. ePrize had completely outgrown its previous space in Farmington
Hills, with a headcount that is expected to top 125 employees by the end of
this year.
In conjunction with the move, the company successfully petitioned the City
of Pleasant Ridge to change the street name on which the building resides.
The new address, "One ePrize Drive" reflects the company's prominence as the
largest building in the city.
The new headquarters building, once featured in "Ripley's Believe It or
Not" nationally syndicated comic strip for housing a brewery that never brewed
a single beer, has served as industrial space for more than seventy years.
The building had also been a bakery and a manufacturing plant. It had fallen
into poor condition and was vacant for many years prior to ePrize's
revitalization. The nearly 20,000-square-foot office space includes a roof-
top deck, two spiral staircases and a nine-story tower.
The adaptive use of this space has allowed ePrize to maximize the
unconventional floor plan and transform the office into a colorful, unique and
modern environment. Many of the building's original features are preserved
including a wood parquet floor, brick walls, 14-20 foot ceilings, and iron
staircases. The office includes, among other interior design items, two full
kitchens, and a coffee bar lounge area for employees.

About ePrize
As the industry leader of interactive promotions, ePrize has developed and
managed over 1,200 campaigns in 36 countries for the world's most recognized
brands. ePrize has successfully developed and managed promotions for major
advertisers including for Coca-Cola, American Express, Harrah's, General
Motors, The Home Depot, Yahoo!, The Gap, ConAgra Foods, Dell, Ford, Northwest
Airlines, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Warner Brothers, and palmOne. With
offices in Detroit, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and London, ePrize
conceives and implements powerfully effective programs which create
relationships between consumers and brands and motivate specific consumer
behavior. ePrize promotions create actionable customer profiles that turn
data into dollars for clients and their agencies. For more information, visit
http://www.eprize.com .



SOURCE ePrize

[Scottathew]

The road was formerly called "Barber Avenue" before it was named "ePrize Drive".

Now that ePrize has abandoned Pleasant Ridge, the city is referring to it once again as "Barber Avenue".

Source: http://www.cityofpleasantridge.org/d...s/2015PRMP.pdf


Also, Barber used to end at 10 Mile Road along with Longfellow. I-696 changed all that.

[MikeM]

Branch Davidian compound?

[Zacha341]

^^^ Some who worked for ePrize felt that way!

[p69rrh51]

404 E. 10 Mile Pleasant Ridge, MI.Built as a brew house for the Voight Brewing Company 1934-1935, and designed by Gustave A. Mueller. Mueller was one a handful of Detroit architects who specialized in designing breweries.

An article featuring the brew house from an October 28, 1934 edition of the Freep.

[archfan]

Here's a link to a pretty good history of the Voight Brewing Co., and the building.

[ferndalien]

404 E. 10 Mile Pleasant Ridge, MI.

Always amused me that an internet marketing firm had an address of 404...

[bust]

Always amused me that an internet marketing firm had an address of 404...

301 would be appropriate now.

[56packman]

The renovation from an industrial space into a modern office facility was done about 20 years ago by a former partner of my former employer's. They had a company that worked with audio, they made a special microphone that utilized technology pioneered by the KGB to funnel sound through channels to capture it--the soviets first used this in a gift they had made for the new US embassy in Moscow, they made a seal of the United States for the embassy that was a listening device. This company produced these microphones, and the one product they had that actually made money was a series of self-help audio tapes for behavior modification--quitting smoking, overeating-etc.
It all ended acrimoniously for my boss, and my co-worker and I hauled stuff out of the building on the coldest day of the year, it was 10 degrees out and windy. It felt like helping a buddy move out during a bad marriage break up.