NORTHVILLE, MI - A popular Michigan downtown has unveiled its “Heat in the Street” experience to help restaurants and shops survive the winter months during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The Northville Downtown Development Authority has teamed up with local business owner Manfred Schon of Up2Go to build heated stands and pods throughout the streets. They’ll start popping up in the coming days and and weeks, and should remain up through early March.
Schon, who is from Germany, said he wanted to help his fellow Northville businesses get through the winter months with outdoor dining and shopping experiences like he experienced back home.
“He grew up with these outdoor markets and structures which took a different approach to winter, which is just embracing it instead of keeping it out," Lori Ward, director of the Northville Downtown Development Authority, told MLive. “He kind of pitched this idea to me of celebrating winter and the outdoors.”
Ward says Schon’s data business has done very well in 2020 and being a member of the community, he wanted to give back and support surrounding businesses.
“He’s been doing all the fundraising on his own and has raised $100,000 so far,” Ward added. “He just wanted to support his business and residential neighbors and believed this was so important for the community.”
There will be two types of structures. Restaurants will use food stands to serve some of their dishes, and there will be heated dining pods where visitors can stay warm while enjoying the food. Each heated pod will have high-top tables with room for four to six people.
Artist rendition of a food Stands as part of the “Heat in the Street" initiative coming to Downtown Northville. (Photo by OX Studio, Inc. via Northville Downtown Development Authority)
“Our local restaurants will be able to serve a variety of different food at the stands. The pods will allow people to kind of embrace downtown and the cold weather. We have lots of support from the restaurants who are on board to make sure the stands are always occupied with something good.”
Ward says the stands and pods located throughout downtown will be on top of outdoor areas many of the restaurants are already planning outside of their businesses for the winter months.
“Almost all of our downtown restaurants are converting their outdoor dining areas into some kind of covered structure, so they’ll be expanding the footprint of their own buildings while we give kind of an area that’s open to the public for anybody to use.”
Once construction is complete, “Heat in the Street” dining pods will be open daily from noon - 10 p.m. The vendor stands will be open from noon - 10 p.m. on weekends, Fridays through Sundays.
Downtown Northville’s street closures will continue on East Main Street (between Center and Hutton) and North Center Street (between Main and Dunlap) through March 1.
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