At the corner of Charlevoix and Lakepointe sits a 1927 former gas station in the house-with-canopy style, a building made for cars. It now holds Two Dudes Coffee Bar. Its facade is a blue so dark it looks almost black, and a corrugated stainless steel canopy covers the ceiling inside. The street outside has been rebuilt for people on foot. Since the ribbon cutting on Oct. 29, the stretch of Charlevoix from Alter Road to Beaconsfield Avenue has had no curbs.
To make Charlevoix a street for walking, Grosse Pointe Park gave up two things drivers count on. The curb used to separate cars from people, and some of the on-street spaces near the bars and restaurants are gone. Everything else on the new block follows from those two decisions.
A road raised to meet the sidewalk
A curbless street is built from the road up, not the sidewalk down. Alex Blehm, the OHM Advisors project manager, explained it to C&G News in January 2025 as raising the road to the height of the curb. The storefront doorways and the travel lanes now sit on one plane. A stroller, a walker or a wheelchair can cross the street without a ramp.
The finished block, as C&G News reported after the ribbon cutting, has:
- wider sidewalks
- a curbless street
- benches
- ornamental lighting
- more green space
The string lights came first. They went up before the 2025 planning meetings and look much like the ones on Kercheval. At those meetings, Blehm also explained where the rain goes. A slight slope runs from the business entrances toward the street, so stormwater still collects in the roadway.
Comparable streets are State Street in Ann Arbor, Main Street in Brighton and Bagley Street in Detroit. According to Blehm, the level surface also gives the block more room for festivals and pop-up shops, which a curbed street does not.
Why a street with several bars lost its curbs
Not everyone welcomed the idea. Charlevoix has several bars and restaurants that serve alcohol, and at the January 2025 kickoff meeting at Park City Hall, a gallery owner on the block said he was worried about safety. He told C&G that vehicles already "hit the curbs all the time."
The engineers answered by narrowing the street. Widening the sidewalks took space from the roadway, and a narrower road is expected to slow traffic. Engineers told C&G that streets like this are actually safer. In 2025, Blehm said the city was also considering more stop signs. In other words, the curb no longer does the work of keeping cars in their lane. The street's width and speed do.
That same design choice is what cost the block its parking.
The parking spaces that paid for it
Parking was a problem on Charlevoix well before construction began. In January 2025, Andrew Curcuru, owner of Ripe Records Detroit, told C&G, "Parking is a problem right now on Friday and Saturday nights." Residents who live near the district said that when the lots and street spaces fill up, visitors park on the side streets. Blehm said early on that some spaces near intersections would have to go because they create blind spots for drivers.
That is what happened. Christopher Schmidlin, project manager for the remodeling firm GPH Services, told C&G News at the reopening, "I just don't like how they took a lot of parking spaces away from us. It does look a lot better." Brian Czerny, managing partner of The Charlevoix, focused on the new layout.
"I think it's going to make it a much more walkable, more enjoyable experience for customers. I love the landscaping and the accessibility. I think it's a lot safer for people."
Czerny told C&G that business was hard during construction. He also thanked the city for working with businesses to keep access open for deliveries.
On busy weekend nights, it is easier to come on foot than to look for a space.
Who paid, and how one dig did two jobs
When construction started, the Grosse Pointe News reported construction costs of $3,184,739 from three sources. At the ribbon cutting, C&G described the full project at $3.8 million. The city also hired OHM for engineering oversight under a separate $480,000 contract.
| Funding source | Amount |
|---|---|
| Federal Transportation Alternatives Program grant, administered by MDOT | $1,811,344 |
| Grosse Pointe Park Tax Increment Finance Authority | $573,586 |
| City road resurfacing funds | about $800,000 |
The federal grant covered more than half of the construction cost. Amy O'Leary, executive director of the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, told C&G that elected leaders from across the region chose the project because of its focus on walkability and pedestrian safety.
The city was able to raise the road because it had to dig up Charlevoix anyway. A new water main and sewer improvements were already planned under the street. The city coordinated that work with the streetscape so the road would be torn up and rebuilt only once. Warren Rothe, then the assistant city manager and TIFA director, said in 2025 that this would keep the added cost of raising the road small. "If we're going to rip the road up, we want to make sure everything else is done, too," he told C&G.
The work moved quickly once it started:
- Planning began in 2023, with meetings where residents and business owners could weigh in.
- The new water main went in starting in October 2025.
- Streetscape construction began in April 2026, in two phases. The Alter-to-Lakepointe half was built first while the upper half stayed open, then crews moved on to Lakepointe-to-Beaconsfield.
- Work finished just before the Oct. 29 ribbon cutting.
"It was fast," City Manager Nick Sizeland told C&G. "We used great contractors." The contractors were the city's engineers at OHM and Detroit-based Major Contracting.
The businesses that bet on the finished street
Sizeland told C&G that two new businesses, Two Dudes Coffee Bar and Millie Lou's Pretzel Co., picked Charlevoix specifically because of the streetscape renovations.
Two Dudes made that choice early. Its grand opening was April 26, 2026, the same month streetscape construction was set to begin. It opened onto a street about to become a work zone. The founders, Alex Georgoulis and Logan Gray, started out making protein lattes for themselves as roommates. They then ran a coffee pop-up at gyms and studios across Oakland County. Their partners are Alex Trombley, Kyle Alburtus and Tommy Vasilos, the Crazy Gringos owner who saw the old station was available. Georgoulis explained the choice to the Grosse Pointe News. "Walkable, community driven and diverse. This was the perfect spot." The signature drink is an iced peanut butter, salted caramel latte with cookie butter protein. The shop also runs a purchase plan called the Mug Club. Hours have changed since opening, so check before a weekend visit.
Millie Lou's is owned by Steve and Irda Dothage and makes hand-shaped soft pretzels with dips. The Grosse Pointe News introduced it in October 2025 at 15324 E. Jefferson. Its next address is planned for Charlevoix.
Two Dudes is now one of the businesses on the block, and Millie Lou's plans to follow. The Charlevoix at 14927 Charlevoix has rotating menus, wings, po' boys, brunch and cocktails. Gallery Animato is at 15102 Charlevoix. Coffee, pretzels, a gallery and a restaurant with a changing menu all draw people who walk over, stay awhile and come back often.
Where the block goes from here
The new Charlevoix reaches past Alter Road. The Park's business district borders Detroit. Victoria Westbrooks, a spokesperson for Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield, came to the ribbon cutting and said new development is also coming to the Detroit side of Charlevoix. State Sen. Kevin Hertel, whose district includes all five Grosse Pointes, called it "an important project between the city of Grosse Pointe Park and Detroit." He also said community events like street festivals are the kind of gathering the district will support.
The first event on the new street was a rainy one. The reopening included trick-or-treating and characters from Part of Your World Princess Company. Rain kept the crowd small, but some families still came in costume. Mayor Michele Hodges cut the ribbon in the rain. Sizeland's verdict was simple. "It's beautiful. It's exactly what I was picturing." The block's first holiday season on the level street is now underway.
If you have questions about how changes on Charlevoix or Kercheval touch your own corner of Grosse Pointe Park, Shana Sine Cameron would be glad to talk them through. Schedule Your Free Consultation.
