MGM Grand Detroit, an MGM MIRAGE (NYSE: MGM) development, is now accepting bookings for its 30,000 square feet of luxury meeting and convention space, set to open with the hotel this fall.
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MGM Grand Detroit’s 30,000-square-feet of exclusive meeting and convention space will accommodate private parties, conferences and events for up to 1,200 people. As its centerpiece, the destination’s expansive Grand Ballroom will open to 14,000 square feet to accommodate 1,200 guests and can be divided into four Ballroom Salons for gatherings of up to 300.
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Guests also will enjoy three signature restaurants by two of the world’s preeminent celebrity chefs: Wolfgang Puck and Michael Mina; 24-hour in-room dining by Puck in addition to casual restaurants; lounges, including a relaxed piano-style bar; high-energy nightlife; the only resort-style spa in southeast Michigan; and 30,000-square-feet of meeting space capable of hosting everything from large corporate events to intimate black-tie engagements.

A Detroit-based developer can keep the license he won from state regulators to build Pittsburgh’s only slot-machine casino, the state’s highest court ruled Wednesday.

The Supreme Court rejected two separate challenges, meaning Don H. Barden, who owns casinos in four other states, can build the Majestic Star Casino on Pittsburgh’s North Shore.

Before he heard the first four bars of an Eminem song, Paradime once thought that he was the dopest white guy in hip-hop. After popping the tape in the deck of his car and experiencing the delivery of Detroit’s most famous rapper, he knew he had some work to do. That was years ago. And now the work is done. Paradime — when he’s not working the mic, he tours as Kid Rock’s DJ — has become one of Detroit hip-hop’s most beloved rappers, and finally he has a new album out, “Spill at Will.” It pushes the boundaries of his signature fun-loving frat-boy style of rap further than anything he’s done.

Beaumonde — in French, split apart into two words, it means “the fashion elite” (among other definitions) — is made up of grads who wanted to pay homage to Detroit’s French lineage.

This weekend, group members are hosting Boss: The Rise of the New Guard at Grand Central Lounge in Detroit’s Harmonie Park area.

Chaldean leaders expressed outrage Wednesday after Warren Mayor Mark Steenbergh blasted a federal plan that could place thousands of Iraqi refugees in Warren and Sterling Heights in the coming months.

Steenbergh said he was concerned that as many as 15,000 refugees could arrive in the two cities, based on federal officials’ estimate of how many refugees could come to the United States this year and the city’s interpretation of conversations with county officials.
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In the past, refugees have been more likely to be put up in cities such as Hamtramck, where they can more easily walk to places, instead of relying on cars.

Albert Scaglione, 68, of Farmington Hills is seen outside his Park West Gallery in Southfield on Friday. He founded the business in 1969 and says annual revenue is “rapidly approaching $500 million.”
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“We’re making money all over the world and bringing it to Detroit,” Scaglione told me last week, walking through his 63,000-square-foot Southfield gallery as a private auction was being held. Doing the bidding were some of Scaglione’s best customers, 30 couples whom Park West had brought to town, put up at Birmingham’s Townsend Hotel for four nights and treated to a Detroit River cruise plus dinners in Greektown and at the Detroit Zoo.

“One Foot Outside The Door” takes readers on a journey of Cyndarella Worthy a 30 something African American female whose high school and college sweetheart Bashar Bazzi, an Iraqi Chaldean American, leaves her abruptly after a four-year courtship to take care of family matters back in home in Baghdad. “Cyn” as she is affectionately called, is forced to move on without him and 14 years later, she is getting married to Thad Mitchell, an African American gentleman that sweeps her off her feet. However, as the countdown to wedded bliss begins, Bashar Bazzi resurfaces and all hell breaks loose.

If there’s a more spectacular room in Michigan than the four-story, Art Deco upper lobby in Detroit’s 1929 Guardian Building, designed by Wirt Rowland, it’s hard to know what in the world it would be.

There’s something different every night:
Sunday: Karaoke night
Monday: Video gaming on the big screens
Tuesday: Techno night
Wednesday: Movie night, featuring new release DVDs on the projector screen
Thursday: Gay night
Friday: Promoter night; every second Friday Freshcorp presents “Family,” featuring four hand-picked resident DJs. Saturday: Gay night
“The Works is like the ‘Cheers’ of the electronic music scene,” Freshcorp events director Adriel Thornton says. “This venue gets it and openly accepts electronic music.”

The three-story, mixed-use building has one condo left for sale and its ground floor retail space available for lease. The second floor office space has been leased and the third floor condo of the brick building has been sold. Crucial Contact, a text-messaging company, has moved into the 1,900 square foot office space on the second floor. The company translates text messages sent into TV shows, such as voting for American Idol.
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The new building replaces an older wooden building that once housed Plymouth Office Supply and is headed up by Roseville-base Ferlito Construction.

The Ann Arbor Art Fairs host 1,200 artists from around the world, and a number of them are from West Michigan.