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Detroit’s famed Heidelberg Project has sold its headquarters building.
The Detroit Food Academy, a nonprofit that teaches Detroit youth about food entrepreneurship, purchased the 4,500-square-foot building at 3442 McDougall St. for $360,000, Heidelberg said in a news release.
The Heidelberg Project, the nonprofit behind artist Tyree Guyton’s painted houses, clocks and massive sculptures of found objects, put its main building up for sale one year ago — six months after laying off its staff and pausing educational programs. It said at the time that it would focus all available resources on preserving its namesake art installation after failing to fully recover revenue lost during the COVID-19 pandemic and spending down cash reserves.
Heidelberg Project is operating without an administrative headquarters now, but it maintains a Detroit address at the nearby Spot Lite, a creative organization with which it collaborates that is owned by its board chair, Roula David, said Andy Sturm, the executive director of Heidelberg Project.
It provides critical resources to support the nonprofit’s focus on the Heidelberg Project’s core art environment on Heidelberg and Elba Place streets between Ellery and Mt. Elliott.
“The sale to DFA also supports the continued development of McDougall Hunt as a destination for creativity, civic engagement, and service to the community,” said Sturm, creative director and founder of Chicago-based Public Works Studio.
Sturm, a University of Detroit Mercy alumnus, joined Heidelberg’s board more than 18 years ago and had chaired it since 2015 before taking on the executive director role last year following the departure of longtime head Jenenne Whitfield — who is married to Guyton — to lead the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore.
Sturm said he splits his time between Detroit and Chicago.
The Detroit Food Academy and Executive Director Kiki Louya, a chef and “Top Chef” contestant, plan to bring teaching kitchens, a college and career center, office space and a small youth-run café to the newly purchased building.
“Marrying our signature youth development programming with world-class hospitality training, Detroit Food Academy will allow hundreds of students each year to access enriching afterschool programs, earn industry credentials, receive one-on-one job coaching, experience real-world professional training, and explore career and educational opportunities uniquely suited to their interests,” Louya said in the release. “We are thrilled to join the McDougall Hunt neighborhood and acquire a property that facilitates this vision.”
Heidelberg purchased the property in 2018 along with an adjacent house and six lots for a total of $490,000. The nonprofit sold the house and vacant lots to Whitfield and Guyton last year for $250,000, Sturm said.
The internationally known nonprofit had planned to dismantle Guyton’s nearby outdoor arts installation and shift to “Heidelberg 3.0,” a plan to create an arts community with residences for visiting artists.
“For Tyree, dismantling meant going back through and cleaning things up,” Sturm said. “It n
ever meant completely wiping the canvas.”
Guyton, Heidleberg Project’s founder, maintains a residence next door to the headquarters building sold to the Detroit Food Academy, the organization said in the release.
“I welcome Kiki and the DFA to the community and can’t wait to see what they’ll cook up,” Guyton said. “I hope we can create something fantastic together.”
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