The Alger Heights neighborhood added three new businesses to its rolls this month. Gathering Grounds, a coffee shop, and Sundaes in the Heights, an ice cream store, opened under the same roof at 2404 Eastern Ave. Across the street, Wing Heaven, which specializes in barbeque chicken wings, opened at 2041 Eastern Ave.
Barbara Bush, owner of Sundaes in the Heights, has run The Potpourri, a flower preservation company, in the Alger Heights community since 1986. She moved The Potpourri out of the 2404 Eastern Ave. building last spring to make way for Gathering Grounds and Sundaes in the Heights. Eric Taylor – a local basketball standout who developed a taste for cafes while playing professionally in Europe – partnered with Bush and spent nearly $100,000 to renovate the building and set up the two businesses.
Bush noted that Alger Heights has heavy pedestrian traffic and a family-friendly atmosphere, excellent conditions for ice cream and coffee shops. The local business district has been through a renaissance of late, having recently paid off a 10-year loan used to beautify the area with lighting, benches and flower boxes. Other recent additions to the area include: a new Fifth Third Bank branch and the Seymour Branch Library.
Wing Heaven, owned by Mike Staper and Tom Walker, also has a take-out location at 1117 Wealthy St., as well as locations in Detroit and Muskegon.
Source: Barbara Bush, Sundaes in the Heights; http://wingheavenrestaurant.com/
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