Free Bikes 4 Kidz has a new home this fall – thanks to the generosity of the Piston Group. The automotive supplier, founded by former Detroit Piston, Vinnie Johnson, is making it’s facility in Mexicantown just off Michigan Avenue available for FB4K this fall. The facility will provide around 30,000 square feet of space to allow us to store and refurbish our goal of 5,000 bikes this fall. The site is volunteer-friendly with a large, secure parking lot and in a fantastic location at 2995 Hubbard St., adjacent to Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood. The warehouse is easily accessible from I-75, I-96 and the Lodge and is across from the former site of the GM Clark Street Cadillac plant.
Nevertheless, it’s a bittersweet parting with our home for FB4K’s first three years at 411 Piquette in the Milwaukee Junction neighborhood, graciously provided by the Platform real estate developers. We’ve loved our “Big Boy” warehouse and will miss not only the location, but our friendly neighbors: the Ford Piquette Museum, General Linen and Southwest Solutions Piquette Square Veterans’ home. We’ll never forget the wonderful times we had getting FB4K off the ground at the old Studebaker plant and the thousands of volunteers that came through the door to help improve the life of a child with a bicycle. Cheers to the Platform for enabling us to launch FB4K in Detroit!