Tables with umbrellas are planned at DTE Energy Plaza, a new spot for shoppers to gather and snack on fare from food trucks and Eastern Market vendors.
More upgrades are coming to Eastern Market by next June, as John Gallagher describes in the Free Press:
Eastern Market received a $750,000 grant Friday from the DTE Energy Foundation to support redevelopment of the market’s Shed 5, including the development of an outdoor 200-seat social gathering place.
When renovations are completed, Shed 5 will also house the market’s Community Kitchen, designed to help emerging food businesses bring their products to market by offering low-cost licensed production space.
At a Friday night dinner there for corporate and civic leaders, DTE Energy chief executive Gerry Anderson described Eastern Market improvements as "part of a larger Detroit renaissance taking place from the riverfront to downtown to Midtown to the city’s neighborhoods,” according to prepared remarks quoted by Gallagher.
The latest financing follows a $1-million grant in June from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. for interior work on Shed 5. Eastern Market Corp. renovated Shed 2 in 2008 for $2.1 million and Shed 3 in 2009 for $6.2 million.
