Hello. Today is our first day talking publicly about Landline Creative Labs and our plans to redevelop 209 Pearl Street in downtown Ypsilanti. If we’d had it our way, we would have waited until the entire deal was done before going public, but, given that we have to announce our plans before Ypsilanti City Council this evening, the cat is pretty much out of the bag… So, if you’ve seen the two of us conspiring over beers these past several months at various local watering holes, and wondered what we were up to, now you know.
When we say that we would rather have waited until the deal was done before going public, we mean that we still don’t technically own the property, or, for that matter, have the bank loan that we’ll need to turn our dream into a reality. What we do have, though, is a signed purchase agreement with the building’s current owner, a term sheet from the bank, and a bunch of architectural plans, which, as far as the City is concerned, is enough to get the various approvals underway.
Over time, I’m sure we’ll get into a lot of detail here as to what we have in mind for Landline, the companies that will be joining us, etc. For now, though, we just want to say that we’re thankful to have finally gotten this far. After investing nearly a year and a half of our lives, exploring numerous buildings around Ypsilanti, and getting close to making offers on a few only to have things fall apart on us, it feels good to finally see things coming together around a building that we love, and a plan that we’re incredibly enthusiastic about.
It’s going to be a ton of work, but we’re both up for the challenge, and it feels good to actually be investing in this city that we’ve called home for so long.
-Mark and Jesse
