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Login to post Forums » Grassroots Motorsports » We're Launching a Huge Non-Profit Garage Collective in Detroit, MI

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Feb. 16, 2010 11:58 a.m. andydenver None

Yo!

We've launched a 20,000 sq/ft garage collective right here in Detroit. To locals, it's actually in the nicer end of town; Ferndale.

We're not making a dime off of this thing; we leased a building and we're splitting it up evenly for use by racers, motorsports operations and the like.

In the 2,000 sq/ft common area, we'll be installing tire mounting and balancing equipment, scales and an alignment rig.

We've got a few documents cooked up to answer questions you never knew you had. Take a peek:

Our one-sheet describing what we do: http://bit.ly/a6gagd

Our FAQ sheet with all sorts of answers: http://bit.ly/dlBjan

Our Press Release, the shortest way to describe what we do: http://bit.ly/bxndIx

If you've got any interest, ping me at 313-903-2963 or andy@detroitindie.com. We got a website up, welovepaperstreet.com and paperstreetmotors.com, but it's just a digital business card type of thing without any info on it.

Cheers.
Feb. 16, 2010 12:07 p.m. zomby woof HalfDork

Nice links!
Feb. 16, 2010 12:11 p.m. andydenver New Reader

zomby woof wrote:

Nice links!

Is that a good or a bad smiley? ;)

Dropbox is super easy to get files and information out. I couldn't do what I do without it now that I've found it: https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTU3OTg3OQ
Feb. 16, 2010 12:13 p.m. stuart in mn SuperDork

Sounds like a good idea, but the links aren't working.
Feb. 16, 2010 12:14 p.m. EvanB HalfDork

I think he means that the links don't work. "Oops! (404)"
Feb. 16, 2010 12:25 p.m. klipless New Reader

Where in Ferndale? I'm right by 696/Hilton.
Feb. 16, 2010 3:52 p.m. andydenver New Reader

EvanB wrote:

I think he means that the links don't work. "Oops! (404)"

Wuh oh! Let me try'n fix them.

klipless wrote:

Where in Ferndale? I'm right by 696/Hilton.

Right off of Wanda and 9 Mile. Want to drop by and take a look? We welcome all tire kickers. It's a damn neat spot to poke around in regardless.
Feb. 16, 2010 3:53 p.m. andydenver New Reader

Weird! The links work great for me. Can someone who's not me confirm that they're borked?
Feb. 16, 2010 3:57 p.m. keethrax Reader

andydenver wrote:

Weird! The links work great for me. Can someone who's not me confirm that they're borked?

They seem to work for me.
Feb. 16, 2010 4:20 p.m. scardeal Reader

Too bad it's over an hour away from where I live... plus, it's probably WAY more than I can afford anyway!
Feb. 16, 2010 4:22 p.m. Brust Reader

Neat dude. Best of luck. I was telling the wife its either a multi millionaire who bought the joint and is trying to recoup an investment, or a cool kid with a great idea.

Again, best of luck. Wish I had one of these or a TechShop nearby. This seems cooler as it seems less constrained by rules (probably having a shared signed lease is the key).
Feb. 16, 2010 4:34 p.m. alex Dork

Links work for me.

Great concept. If you want to branch out into St. Louis, drop me a line.
Feb. 16, 2010 4:39 p.m. zomby woof HalfDork

The links work for me now, but they're not the same as the original links.
Feb. 16, 2010 5:17 p.m. andydenver New Reader

scardeal wrote:

Too bad it's over an hour away from where I live... plus, it's probably WAY more than I can afford anyway!

$300 a month gets you a big-ish space with all the utilities included, even wifi. It'll be heated to about 60 in the winter. You can't even get cold storage for this much.

Brust wrote:

Neat dude. Best of luck. I was telling the wife its either a multi millionaire who bought the joint and is trying to recoup an investment, or a cool kid with a great idea.

Again, best of luck. Wish I had one of these or a TechShop nearby. This seems cooler as it seems less constrained by rules (probably having a shared signed lease is the key).

Answer B, a cool kid with a great idea.

Thanks for the wishes! We are leasing it from the prime Landlord and each tenant is signing their own sublease from us. If will fill the place we'll just be squeaking by; but that's good enough for me.

alex wrote:

Links work for me.

Great concept. If you want to branch out into St. Louis, drop me a line.

For sure. If this takes off (which it will), we'll be expanding. You can count on that.

zomby woof wrote:

The links work for me now, but they're not the same as the original links.

I just took the Dropbox links and put them into Bit.ly, a redirect. Same links. But the forum software might've parsed Dropbox links a bit weird.
Feb. 16, 2010 6:14 p.m. maroon92 SuperDork

Sounds like an interesting idea. Let me know when you want to start one in Atlanta, GA. I am sure there are a few guys on this board that might even want to take advantage of something like that.

(how would garage space work out in a challenge budget? It is free right?)
Feb. 16, 2010 8:00 p.m. unevolved Reader

Great idea, I hope it takes off. I'd be down for something like this once I graduate and relocate somewheres.
Feb. 16, 2010 8:11 p.m. Matt B Reader

Kudos man! A friend and I were talking/dreaming about starting a similar space. I know we'd never do it, so it's awesome to see someone else get it off the ground.

I'll second the Atlanta connection. There seems to be quite a few board members around here. I would love to see something like this down here.

(edit - document links aren't working for me either. It tries to load into a new tab, but then closes it. Using firefox 3.5.7 on a mac.)
Feb. 16, 2010 8:26 p.m. Josh Dork

That sounds super awesome. Never though I'd actually be jealous of people living in Detroit!
Feb. 16, 2010 9:00 p.m. Xceler8x Dork

Any connection to the Paper Street Soap Company?
Feb. 16, 2010 10:26 p.m. andydenver New Reader

maroon92 wrote:

Sounds like an interesting idea. Let me know when you want to start one in Atlanta, GA. I am sure there are a few guys on this board that might even want to take advantage of something like that.

(how would garage space work out in a challenge budget? It is free right?)

We'll keep our eyes on the South after this one gets legs. The space definitely ain't free, but I don't think it adds up to the cost of your car. ;)

unevolved wrote:

Great idea, I hope it takes off. I'd be down for something like this once I graduate and relocate somewheres.

For sure! We've got a few current college kids buying up space. It's great when you live in a dorm but want to keep your car in one piece.

Matt B wrote:

Kudos man! A friend and I were talking/dreaming about starting a similar space. I know we'd never do it, so it's awesome to see someone else get it off the ground.

I'll second the Atlanta connection. There seems to be quite a few board members around here. I would love to see something like this down here.

(edit - document links aren't working for me either. It tries to load into a new tab, but then closes it. Using firefox 3.5.7 on a mac.)

It's nearly impossible to do. I figured it would be cake, that it was an untapped market. It's juggling thirty variables that don't want to cooperate. Herding cats, kind of. It's difficult to describe, but I'm about a month of 120/hr/week work-weeks into this and I feel like I've gone nowhere.

I don't know what the issue might be - I'm using Firefox 3.5 on a Mac and they work great for me. They're download links straight from Dropbox. I haven't the slightest idea why they don't work. I will post some .ftp links tomorrow when I'm not so wiped out.

Xceler8x wrote:

Any connection to the Paper Street Soap Company?

Absolutely.
Feb. 16, 2010 11:30 p.m. amg_rx7 Reader

Interesting... I've thought about doing the same thing.
Feb. 17, 2010 8:39 a.m. Xceler8x Dork

andydenver wrote:

Xceler8x wrote:

Any connection to the Paper Street Soap Company?

Absolutely.

You are a beautiful and unique snowflake for doing this. Have fun. Good to see that space in Michigan being put to use. How close are you to Ann Arbor?
Feb. 17, 2010 9:15 a.m. Tom Heath Marketing / Club Coordinator

For those with link troubles-

It's a direct link to a .pdf file; on my machine it opens a blank window and downloads the .pdf to my computer before opening the actual file. Check your downloads folder?

OT- I've been toying with the idea of doing something similar with a few friends and coworkers locally. I'm already paying $100 bucks for a small garage space at my apartment, but would much rather put that toward a real space. Good luck, I hope this is the next big thing!
Feb. 17, 2010 9:29 a.m. WilD Reader

This is close to me, and I've always wished for more garage space. Hmmm.

How much space does one get for $300 a month?
Feb. 17, 2010 10:00 a.m. willy19592 Reader

The concept is AWESOME!

Having personally witnessed a co-op of a shop, you are gonna have your hands full ;)

get 3 car guys together, and everyone has a different idea what it should be.

The neat freak, (guilty) who likes everything looking slick when you walk in the door.

The guy who will leave his project in the middle, when he istired and leave everything as was to go home, and come back the next time he feels like.

And the Pig who leaves garbage everywhere, open buckets of oil etc.

and anywhere in between.

But again, neat concept! I had thought about something sort of similar, only doing condo style garages, with one area that could be "rented" on a 24 hour deal, thus kinda separating the different personalities for the most part.

I wish you good luck!

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