Susan Mosey is the force behind much of the renovation and growth in Midtown

[begingri]

For more than 100 years, the Forest Arms apartment building anchored a vital swath of Detroit's Midtown neighborhood near Wayne State University. But after fire ravaged the four-story building in 2008, demolition seemed likely.Enter Susan Mosey, president of the University Cultural Center Association. For the last 23 years, her mission has been to rejuvenate and repopulate Midtown Detroit, a mix of historic buildings and modern construction.

Mosey arranged for grants from the Ford and Kresge foundations to reinforce the Forest Arms' roof and replace damaged interior studs, while local businessman Scott Lowell worked on securing financing to rescue the building.

Now, work is under way to restore Forest Arms to a 74-unit apartment building, with retail space on the ground floor.

"I wouldn't have entertained going after so large a project if it weren't for Sue," says Lowell, who co-owns Traffic Jam & Snug restaurant. "I tell everybody who can hear that she's probably five-eighths of the reason the neighborhood looks the way it does."

Mosey is the behind-the-scenes visionary -- by profession, an urban planner and nonprofit developer -- who has nurtured the mission of Midtown.

She's been president of the University Cultural Center Association since 1990, two years after she came to work for the nonprofit, which links 60-plus entities such as Wayne State University, the Detroit Medical Center, the College for Creative Studies, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, churches, companies, residential developments, stores and restaurants. Midtown is roughly bounded on the north by the New Center and south by the Fisher Freeway, and from I-75 on the east to the Lodge on the west.

Mosey is credited with being a topnotch fund-raiser who has brought in hundreds of millions of private and public dollars to burnish Midtown into a livable, safe, pedestrian-friendly, historically preserved and diverse slice of Detroit.

As part of the effort to keep the area's college-educated young people in Michigan, Midtown also has moved front and center in the plans to revitalize Detroit and its rusty image. New Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder highlighted his support last month in the State of the State address for the 15,000 by 2015 plan, first promoted by major employers in Midtown to lure their employees to live near where they work.

Continued at: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...=2011102060373

[BrushStart]

Any updates on the state of Forest Arms? I got a good look at it during Dally and I couldn't tell if any progress had been made.

[HazenPingree]

The building has been secured, so I don't think further work will begin until financing has been secured. That could take a year or two at the minimum.