Happy Holidays

The Southfield Downtown Development Authority had its final meeting of the year and hosted a holiday breakfast catered by Panera Bread as the Director gave her year end re-cap of SDDA accomplishments and future missions. Some of the key topics that were discussed:

1. Greenfield Gateway signs phase 1 is complete with its first signs officially installed

2. Foster Winter Drive construction is complete and now open

3. The old Art Van building was bought by a furniture company and should be opening in January.

4. Creating an updated SDDA Strategic Plan for the Cornerstone District

5. The SDDA and the City of Southfield will be putting up a “Welcome Henry Ford Banner” across the Ascension/Providence Pedestrian Bridge

In 2025, the SDDA will be working with McKenna Consultants to create an updated Strategic Plan for the district. We will be launching a kickoff meeting with McKenna this month. During the meeting, we will also finalize public participation strategies and other mechanisms for public input.

A strategic plan generally involves setting strategic goals, determining actions to achieve the goals, setting a timeline of up to 5 years, and mobilizing resources to execute the actions. The strategic plan describes how the ends (goals) will be achieved by the means (resources) in a span of time. It ensures that there is coordination wherein everyone in the organization is moving in the same direction. The plan will communicate the board’s strategic intentions, thereby promoting a common direction instead of individual discretion.

We need YOU! This is your district so we would love to know what you would be excited to see and how to improve the area. As the process is moving along, we will be asking more specific questions to help us get a better understanding of what we can do for our community. Thank you for your feedback during our food truck event! We received a lot of good feedback that we will be using towards this update as well. Best Wishes.