As customers sat at the tables inside Blue Hat Coffee, sipping their coffee drinks over fresh pastries in the heart of downtown Farmington, they did so within the walls of the historic Farmington Masonic Hall. Built in 1876, the building has remained home to Farmington Masonic Lodge No. 151 ever since. While the members of Lodge No. 151 have utilized the second floor for 149 years and counting, the building’s first floor has changed a few tenants over these past 15 decades. Most recently, several years of renovations by Blue Hat owner Phillip Jewell would lead to his coffeehouse and restaurant opening in the repurposed space in late 2023.

Blue Hat serves as a welcome “third space” in downtown Farmington, an urban planning concept that acknowledges the importance of having somewhere to go outside of home and work. Third spaces might accommodate any sort of activity, whether meeting old friends to catch up, meeting new friends at events like Blue Hat’s bi-weekly Board Game Night, or getting out of the house just to get out of the house. There’s been a burst of such places opening in downtown Farmington these past few years, including the opening of three independent coffee shops in a roughly year-and-a-half period.

While finding a “third space” in downtown Farmington has become increasingly easy lately, finding a “first space” can be awfully challenging. For those customers quietly scrolling through house and apartment listings while enjoying coffee at Blue Hat, they’d be hard-pressed to find a vacancy or for sale sign nearby. The low-density housing that surrounds the increasingly popular downtown makes it that much harder to find a place here, a boon for property owners while a frustration for those remaining in want or need.

Like many a hometown kid from many a hometown, Joe Williams didn’t know how good he had it until he left home. Williams grew up downtown, riding his bike to get ice cream at Hershey’s or wander the shops at Village Mall. After leaving for college and pursuing an Olympic handball career, Williams would return to Farmington, eventually repurposing a vacant storefront into The Pickleball Pop-up Farmington, an indoor pickleball complex within the Downtown Farmington Center strip mall.

Next to Sipp Smoothie & Juice Bar is Dinan Park, shown as it's activated in warmer months.

Since his return, one of Williams’s favorite “third spaces” has become Sipp, a smoothie and juice bar that so happens to be in the old Hershey’s Ice Cream building. Ask him which downtown development has caught his attention the most since his return and its the GLP Financial Group’s impressive renovation of the Farmington State Savings Bank building. It’s the same building that once housed the Village Mall, which Williams remembers as being “just spooky.”

“It’s just completely different here,” he says when comparing downtown to his middle school years in the late 2000s. “There’s just a lot of energy, a lot of exciting things coming. There’s a lot of reasons to hang out in downtown Farmington now, which is really nice to see. It’s been a very, very cool transformation over my lifetime.”

And more is on the way, too. There could be a number of new families moving into downtown Farmington one day soon, bringing with them a new generation of kids riding bikes to get ice cream at the shops downtown.

Construction crews began to lay the foundation for the first building of the Hillside Townes development earlier this year, a $16 million residential development that will include 53 townhomes spread across seven three-story buildings. Metro Detroit builder Robertson Brothers Homes is developing the 3-acre parcel, which replaces the former Maxfield Training Center, a former school building that had been vacant for 12 years. Situated just a block north of Grand River Avenue, the development will be connected to downtown’s main street by way of a public promenade complete with art installations and more. 

Downtown Farmington native and now business owner Joe Williams reflects on his hometown: "It’s been a very, very cool transformation over my lifetime.”

Public art has played a big role in reinvigorating downtown these past several years, with a Public Art Blueprint completed in 2017 and a Public Art Committee formed in 2018. Nearly all of downtown’s developments in the public space since, including the creation of Dinan Park, have been punctuated with a public art installation that marks a project’s success. 

That’s certainly true at Masons Corner, the almost-finished park being built at the center of town in what used to be the sidelawn of historic Masonic Hall. An underutilized space in a downtown that doesn’t have much to spare, Masons Corner counts not one but two new sculptures created by Erik and Israel Nordin of the renowned Detroit Design Center. With numerous sculptures commissioned in public places near and far, the Nordin brothers have seen first-hand how public art investments can make communities more desirable places to live.

Sculptures by Erik and Israel Nordin punctuate the soon-to-be-finished Masons Corner.

“Public art is essential to any vibrant city,” says Erik Nordin. “The greatest cities in the world have public art that has endured for centuries, and it’s often what draws people to visit – or even move to – a city.”

For those visiting downtown Farmington and then hoping to move to it, they’ll soon be able to scroll the real estate listings online a little bit faster – or superfast, in the parlance of our times. Construction has begun on Farmington’s section of Farmington Area FiberCity by SiFi Networks, a joint infrastructure project between Farmington and Farmington Hills that is bringing superfast fiber internet to homes and businesses cities-wide.

“A fiber-optic network is more than just fast internet—it’s a foundation for economic growth, innovation, and connectivity. It empowers businesses, enhances education, and ensures residents have access to digital resources beyond entertainment, like telehealth, digital government, and more,” Farmington Mayor Joe LaRussa said when construction began in February.

“These resources are a necessity to thrive in a modern world. The Farmington Area FiberCity will introduce more competition for a utility we all need, increasing service quality and lowering the cost, because no one will use less internet in the future than they’re using today. That’s why this infrastructure is so crucial to Farmington’s future.”