Harmonize Ypsi | Vision Project

The Concept

A self-sustaining ecosystem where creativity, food, community,
and wellness converge.

Harmonize Ypsi is a proposed multi-use destination designed to address four interconnected gaps in the Ypsilanti community — lack of third spaces, limited support for creative entrepreneurs, scarce access to fresh local food, and the absence of a place where all of these things happen together.

What makes this project different is what was behind it. Not a gap analysis or a timed experiment, but a conviction Brandon and Britten had been carrying for most of their lives — that a space like this could exist, and that a community like Ypsilanti deserved one. When the moment came to try, they took it seriously.

What it becomes is a farm stop, a café, an artisan marketplace, a performance venue, a classroom, and an online platform — six revenue streams working together in one space, sustained by a proven partnership model and a community that was there from the beginning.

Harmonize Ypsi is how we think applied at community scale — a space designed from the people outward: acoustics and light for the performance space, nature and fresh food access, a physical environment built around how people actually gather.

One of the home gatherings that started it all

Where It Started

Two years of open mics —
then a building showed up.

For two years, Brandon, Britten, and their friend Catherine have been hosting open mics — rotating between their home on Posey Lane and a house in Ann Arbor. No venue, no budget, just people showing up to play, listen, and be in a room together.

The same thing kept happening: people didn’t want to leave. The conversations kept going. And the question kept coming up — why doesn’t a place like this actually exist here?

When a building near their home came into view, they stopped asking the question and started finding out if they could answer it.

Interconnected components — each a community resource and revenue stream

5-yr

Financial proforma built across all six income streams

The Problem

Four gaps in the community
that one place can address.

No Third Spaces

People need somewhere to gather, create, and connect that isn’t work and isn’t home. Those spaces are nearly absent in Ypsilanti.

No Support for Creatives

Artists, musicians, makers, and healers in the area have no infrastructure for turning their work into sustainable income.

Limited Fresh Food Access

Downtown Ypsilanti has few options for fresh, local, and healthy food. The local food system exists but lacks a central access point.

Fragmented Resources

Creative spaces, wellness offerings, local food, and business education exist in isolation. No single place brings them into one working ecosystem.

What It Becomes

Six components.
One cohesive place.

Each component of Harmonize Ypsi is both a community resource and a revenue stream. They’re designed to reinforce each other — the farm stop feeds the café, the marketplace supports the artists, the events build the membership, the education strengthens the ecosystem. Nothing exists in isolation.

Component 01

Farm Stop Grocery

Local produce, dairy, meat, and value-added products through consignment partnerships with local farmers. A neighborhood food hub that brings the farm to downtown Ypsilanti.

Component 02

Café

Coffee, tea, locally sourced baked goods, and light meals made with ingredients from the farm stop. The daily-visit anchor that keeps the space active and welcoming.

Component 03

Artisan Marketplace

Local art, handmade goods, herbal products, crafts, and clothing. A platform for creative entrepreneurs to sell their work without needing their own storefront.

Component 04

Performance & Event Space

Open mics, live music, storytelling, theater, and community gatherings. The beating heart of the space — the part that started everything, now with a permanent home.

Component 05

Educational Programming

Creative workshops, business education, wellness classes, movement classes, and community skill sharing. A place where people come to learn, not just consume.

Component 06

Online Platform

E-commerce, digital education, live-streamed events, and membership content. The digital extension of the physical community — reaching beyond what four walls can hold.

Strategic Partnership

Built on a
proven model, not
a theory.

Argus Farm Stop in Ann Arbor was the inspiration and the blueprint. With seven-plus years of successful operation, Argus had proven that a community-centered local food model could work in this region. Rather than starting from theory, Brandon and Britten worked directly with the owner of Argus to understand how they built their system — the supplier relationships, the operational structure, the community positioning — and used that knowledge to design the Harmonize Ypsi farm stop from the ground up.

This wasn’t just research. It was a working relationship with an owner who had already solved the hardest problems. The farm stop component of Harmonize Ypsi was designed with that real-world guidance built in.

Direct collaboration with the Argus Farm Stop owner throughout the planning process

Farm stop system designed using Argus’s proven operational model as the foundation

Supplier relationships and consignment structure modeled on 7+ years of Argus execution

Dramatically reduced operational risk by building on what was already working

The Full Scope of Work

Every layer of a real
business, built from scratch.

5-Year Financial Proforma

A complete five-year financial model built across all six income streams — farm stop, café, artisan retail, events, memberships, and tenant income. The proforma covered phased startup costs, operational projections, and year-by-year growth scenarios. It was built to be presented to investors and funding partners, not just used internally.

Community Foundation of Ann Arbor

The project attracted the attention and support of the Community Foundation of Ann Arbor. Working with the foundation was part of the funding strategy for the project’s early phases. That relationship was a meaningful validation of the concept’s community value — the kind of endorsement that doesn’t come from a pitch deck alone.

Why It Paused

After completing the community validation, business planning, design, and partnership development, the project was paused. An unresolvable issue with the property’s land owner and financing terms that couldn’t be secured at a workable rate made moving forward the wrong call. The decision to stop was deliberate. The concept, the community, and the relationships are intact.

Harmonic Studios’ Role

The full arc —
from vision to
viable.

Harmonize Ypsi represents Harmonic Studios’ mission at its largest scale — not a single room or a single building, but a living ecosystem designed to support human flourishing. Brandon and Britten developed this project the same way they approach every engagement: community first, design second, commitment only after clarity.

This project demonstrates what Harmonic Studios can do across a full project lifecycle — from initial vision development through financial modeling, partnership strategy, community engagement, and architectural visualization.

Vision Development

Community-Centered Design

Business & Financial Planning

Place-Making Strategy

Strategic Partnerships

3D Visualization

Phased Growth Planning

Ecosystem Building

Harmonize
Ypsi

A self-sustaining ecosystem where creativity, food, community,
and wellness converge.

Two years of open mics —
then a building showed up.

Four gaps in the community
that one place can address.