A new building in Corktown has just passed inspection and will soon open with a new business. Spectacle Society will add to the many women-owned small businesses that have made a home at the corner of Bagley and Trumbull.
Ballet Real Estate, owned by Brian and Stacy Mulloy, built the new construction right next to the corner building they redeveloped in the last five years. Brian says they always wanted to build in the lot next door on Bagley, specifically a simple two-story, four corner building with many windows facing the street. Becky Nix of bioLINIA designed the building, delivering just what Brian and Stacy wanted, using simple bricks on the exterior. "The recessed window and door openings are lined with beautiful bricks that echo the recessed openings of the historic, 1870s brick building to the east," says Brian.
Courtesy of Ballet Real Estate
Permits to build were pulled in late 2019, but COVID delayed construction by four months.
The new tenant, Spectacle Society, is eager to open by the end of the month. Owner and Optician Tina Arroyo grew up in New York and always wanted to own a business and live in an apartment over it. Fate and Detroit connections have finally made it a reality.
Arroyo went to school for photography, and became fascinated with how the human eye sees color and shapes. She's now worked in optics around the country for 20 years, and from 2014-2017, knew she wanted to move to Detroit to realize her dream of opening her own business. She visited in January 2018 and fell in love with the people of the city and how they'd talk about their neighborhoods. She moved later that year.
She attended TechTown's retail boot camp in 2019, and met Brian through a connection there. Brian took her to the site pre-construction and told her their plans. It was there she said she wanted both the apartment and business space - her dream realized.
The site before the build.Courtesy of Ballet Real Estate
"I want people to feel amazing and express themselves in their eyewear," says Arroyo. The interior aesthetic is clean, modern, warm, and accessible. She took special care to make sure there are no barriers to entry to the shop -- that anyone and any body will feel welcome. When the shop opens, due to Covid and the small space, customers will get one-on-one service by appointment only.
The interior of Spectacle SocietyCourtesy of Tina Arroyo
"When we started the new build we had five women-owned businesses and two apartments on our campus," says Brian. "My wife and I live in one of the apartments with our three dogs. Now we have a sixth woman-owned business and a third apartment. We hope that providing a platform for talented entrepreneurs to work and live allows Corktown to keep growing as a fun, mixed-used, local-business neighborhood."
