Will Barnes & Noble bookstore last in Royal Oak

Source: Detroit Free PressDec.迷你倉最平 17--Barnes & Noble could be closer to leaving downtown Royal Oak after city commissioners voted Monday night to help a fast-growing software and marketing firm relocate from the city's outskirts to the second floor of the building currently in use by the bookstore.The state of Michigan already has tentatively granted $375,000 to worldwide firm Vectorform under its Business Development Program, which extends grants, loans and other deal sweeteners to firms that promise to make investments or add jobs in the state. Vectorform, whose clients include Chrysler and DTE Energy as well as Coca-Cola and Walt Disney, according to city documents, would double its local employment from 70 to about 140 in the next three years.Under the proposed plan, Vectorform would take over the bookstore's second-floor space on Main Street, which has a cafe, children's books and music sales."I think it's clear that Barnes & Noble's time is numbered," said Royal Oak Planning Director Tim Thwing during the meeting.Monday's vote approved parking incentives for Vectorform, including providing 75 parking spots at no charge for a full year, needed before the state's Michigan Economic Development Corp. would allow its grant, MEDC official Michelle Elder told the commissioners.But losing the bookstore would be a blow to a downtown that recently lost or is set to lose other retailers, including Caribou Coffee, Ariana Gallery, Elie Wine and Coldstone Creamery, said City Commissioner Peggy Goodwin, who cast the lone dissenting vote.But City Manager Don Johnson said that, with or without Vectorform moving to the downtown, it was likely that the bookstore soon would be forced out by the landlord, who is seeking a rent increase. Barnes & Noble is "only paying half rent there because they can't make it any other way," Johnson 迷你倉aid."It's not up to us whether the bookstore stays. It's up to the bookstore and the landlord," he said.Vectorform, which designs software and computer interface products, would add jobs over three years and expand from its location on Rochester Road, between 13 Mile and 14 Mile, the firm's officials said. It now employs 125 people worldwide, and the company seeks to hire more software developers, graphic artists, project managers, content specialists and other workers, cofounder Kurt Steckling said.The Michigan Economic Development Corp. planned to pay a $375,000 grant to assist Vectorform in the move, estimated to be a $2.2-million investment, according to the firm. Vectorform was founded in Detroit in 1999 and moved to Royal Oak in 2005, Steckling said.A spokesman for Barnes & Noble at its corporate offices in New York said that the Royal Oak branch is paying about $300,000 a year in rent, about half of the original lease's requirement of $600,000 a year. The spokesman cited an e-mail Monday from the chain's vice president for development David Deason in Plano, Texas, in which Deason said that the Royal Oak branch was profitable at the lower rent and hoped to stay in the city.Deason sent his e-mail in response to inquiries by downtown Royal Oak condominium resident Tom December, who spoke at city meetings this fall against a previous plan to replace the bookstore with a large Italian-themed restaurant and nightclub in the location. That plan was blocked when the police department objected to adding another large nightclub to the city's entertainment district, city officials said.December said he is still worried that a new bar will open below Vectorform if the bookstore leaves.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Detroit Free Press Visit the Detroit Free Press at .freep.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesmini storage