Editor's note: The Eastern Echo staff meets regularly with interesting people on and off campus. Engage in those conversations with us through our Q&A reports.
Elize Jekabson, an Eastern Michigan University alum, has been the director of the Ypsilanti Downtown Development Authority for two years and has worked at the DDA for eight years. As a student, Jekabson was involved in creating First Fridays in Ypsilanti, which connects local artists and businesses for events that bring community members to commercial districts. From there, Jekabson worked with friends and colleagues to create Ypsi Pride. Jekabson moved to Ypsilanti in 2008 and graduated from EMU in 2013.
Q: What do you do in your role as DDA director?
A: The DDA, we do so many things. We are run by a board of business owners and the mayor. We have funding to divert into town projects and we have different districts. So, downtown, Depot Town, West Cross — each one of those districts has different needs. We do all sorts of things. We will do grant programs to help property owners or businesses fix up the facades of their buildings or help them get ADA accessibility. It's a historic district, so a lot of these buildings are not accessible. We do those sorts of grants.
We do incentives for the businesses. Last year we had our first Sammie Slam. It was a sandwich competition. We do a holiday storefront competition. We support events like First Fridays and other special events that come through. At the same time, we're also working on infrastructure projects. So, helping to pay for some parking lots and those sorts of things. It's really all over the place.
Q: What are the top priorities for the DDA for 2026?
A: One of them is addressing vacancies, especially downtown. We are working on a market analysis, and we have got a new district vitality committee where we are talking about the things that can revitalize all our districts but particularly downtown.
We have partnerships. We were selected as a Recast Leader. Recast Leaders community … so, we're joining a cohort that helps revitalize downtowns. So it's a lot of those sorts of things. Deferred maintenance, that's one of our priorities; that's where I'm talking about helping take care of some parking lots. We have Ballard Street lot, and West Cross has been deferred for a long time. We're planning to have that done; Freighthouse parking lot … adding some accessibility things to the plaza by the Freighthouse.
We are really trying to attract and retain residents, businesses and talent; increase property value in the area. We were talking about business support, vacancy mitigation, advocating for businesses and safety, youth engagement. It's just a little bit of everything.
I think one of our biggest goals is deferred maintenance and revitalizing downtown.
Q: What does revitalizing downtown look like?
A: It's figuring out what gaps we have. What are we missing? Well, first inventorying, what do we have? What are we missing? How many second floors are empty, and what has opportunities? Standardizing open hours is something … just whatever we can do to influence foot traffic.
It all kind of bumps into creating housing downtown, and creating more business opportunities, working with business incubators. … There's a really good business incubator at Growing Hope. If they have people graduating out of their program, making sure that we get to retain those businesses in our DDA, instead of them going to Ann Arbor or the township. Then it also would help us keep our vacancies down as well.
Q: Those vacant storefronts, how many are there? If the DDA is looking for gaps, for what's not there — what kind of things have been identified?
A: I believe it is just over 30 vacancies. But they're all different situations, right? That includes businesses that have been either purchased or leased, and they are just not open yet. Then there's vacancies that are … we have property owners that are making more, for whatever reason, they make their money from the residential rentals upstairs. So, they are not renting out the downstairs. Then there's the buildings that are really far beyond use, that need a lot of dollars to be put in to bring back. I think every vacancy has a story and they are all quite different. We are really collecting all that information and trying to figure out how to move forward from there. Some of these vacancies have been vacant for 30, 40 years.
Q: What do you think are the biggest challenges that Ypsilanti businesses face?
A: There's so many. I mean, there's just changing lifestyles of everybody. People are not drinking as much, so they are not going out to the bars and restaurants as much. Things are more expensive. You are competing with online shopping. Another one would be, EMU is dropping in enrollment. So that has a huge impact, especially on our West Cross district. EMU is kind of like … a great marketing tool for us because people around the country know where Ypsilanti is because they went to EMU. So that also has a huge impact. We have safety issues to address, foot traffic issues to address. Then affordability is a huge thing, too. Rents have gone up, and not a lot of wages have. So it's just a little bit harder to live in a downtown these days.
Q: Some businesses that were previously in Ann Arbor, a larger city, have moved to Ypsilanti, which is much smaller. What do you think of that?
A: It is welcoming — I mean, the first one I think about is Earthen Jar. Owner Pushpinder Sethi was able to take one of those vacancies that was one of our forever vacant spaces, that we didn't know if anyone would ever touch. And he was able to, through our grants and some state grants, be able to completely take this dilapidated space and make it usable again. So, I think that's great, specifically for that example.
Q: There has been an ongoing conversation about gentrification in Ypsilanti. How do you respond to those concerns and address them in your work?
A: When you have a very vibrant community and vibrant community organization with a lot of hands on deck, you tend to have a lot more community folks taking care of it. You will see those communities that have the main street programs and the DDAs — they tend to have less of the more-corporate businesses.
Obviously, gentrification is a concern of ours, but I think that we are at a point where filling vacancies and getting the right property owners and creating opportunities and jobs for people in Ypsi is to come first, and when I say come first, it doesn't mean that there is a second. I think Ypsi is very unique in that we have a very specific type of business that we all support, and they are going to do well here if the community wants them to.
Q: Do you have any examples of the kind of businesses that you think do really well in Ypsilanti?
A: The ones that get involved. The ones that get involved with First Fridays, so they are opening up their doors to the community. They are opening up their doors to artists and collaborating. Those are the ones that tend to do really well. If they are offering something unique; most of our businesses are mom-and-pops. They are the ones that are going to participate. We have some corporate spots up on West Cross Street, but you don't see this same type of community built around it.
Q: You mentioned Ypsilanti is unique. What do you think makes Ypsi so unique when it comes to the business aspect?
A: There's a huge can-do attitude of Ypsi residents. So, a lot of people that end up opening businesses here, they are from here, or they live here. And a lot of times it's their first business.
Again, it all ties into ... it's more of a do-it-yourself sort of space. You see a lot of help and collaboration across the businesses, too. They have their communities, as well. They work together.
The DDA recently partnered with photographer Leisa Thompson for a portrait series featuring local business owners in their shops, highlighting their work and providing marketing materials to the owners at no cost. The portraits can be viewed on the Ypsilanti DDA website and more information about the business owners and shops is on YpsiReal. Find out more about the Ypsilanti DDA and view its 2026 strategic plan at its website.
Editor's note: Portions of this Q&A were edited and condensed for clarity.
