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16 March 28 • 2019
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home in 2006. “We liked the good housing stock, 
the community atmosphere and that we often 
saw kids outside,” Aaron said. “
And being in the 
Berkley school district was a bonus as well.”
For those who keep kosher, Oak Park also is 
close to One Stop Kosher Market and several 
kosher restaurants, including Kravings, Prime 10, 
Jerusalem Pizza, Dave’
s Gourmet and a kosher 
Dunkin’
 Donuts/Baskin Robbins. 

BERKLEY
A charming small town dis-
tinguished by an abundance of 
single-family housing on tree-
lined streets, Berkley attracts 
Jewish families “because of 
the good schools, location and 
prices. You can afford to buy 
a house there,” said longtime 
Realtor Linda Solomon of 
Berkshire Hathaway HWWB 
Realtors in Birmingham.
Students from Huntington 
Woods and the northern part 
of Oak Park join their coun-
terparts from Berkley at the 
well-regarded Berkley High 
School on Catalpa Drive. 
Berkley schools, in general, 
have an excellent reputation. 
Nechama (Finer) Lurie and Jason Lurie are 
four-year Berkley homeowners. Both 34, he grew 
up in Troy and she’
s lived in several American 
cities. They moved back to the U.S. from Israel. 
A trained tour guide, Nechama Lurie works for 
the national Birthright Israel and does homework 
tutoring in Hebrew and Judaics. Jason Lurie is an 
executive at CARite and a freelance business intel-
ligence consultant.
The Luries belong to Kehillat Etz Chaim and also 

attend Aish HaTorah on Coolidge in Oak Park.
“We didn’
t know we’
d find other Jewish fam-
ilies in Berkley,” Nechama said. “But [Berkley] 
seemed like the logical place for ‘
spillover’
 from 
Huntington Woods and Oak Park and had Jewish 
organizations and shuls close by. There are quite 
a lot of developers building in this area and we’
ve 
seen three mezuzot go up on those new homes.”
Nechama stays close to people she knows in 
Huntington Woods and Oak 
Park because “Berkley touch-
es both of those. I can walk 
to most of those friends and 
shuls within 15-30 minutes.”
Elwin Greenwald, owner 
for 26 years of Elwin & Co. 
on Coolidge in Berkley, 
said a large influx of young 
Jewish couples is moving 
into Berkley and visiting his 
store for its baked goods and 
prepared Jewish-style food. 
He believes those outgrowing 
smaller Berkley homes usu-
ally relocate to Huntington 
Woods or Royal Oak. 
He and his late partner, Dale, 
moved 20 years ago to the 
Woodward-12 Mile section of 
Royal Oak because “we wanted 
a larger lot and a ranch home, and they’
re not avail-
able in Huntington Woods.
” Greenwald also notices 
a growing Jewish presence in his neighborhood.

FERNDALE
Brittany Feldman, 27, Hazon Detroit’
s manager of 
sustainability and outdoor engagement, attends 
events at Jewish Ferndale. A Ferndale resident for 
almost five years, Brittany calls her city “open and 
welcoming.
” 

OAK PARK
• The Kroger chain was granted state tax incen-
tives to take over a former 7.9-acre Kmart prop-
erty at 26200 Greenfield Road, south of 11 Mile 
Road. The Kroger with gas pumps and drive-
through pharmacy will open in 2020.
• Yeshiva Beth Yehudah, Metro Detroit’
s larg-
est Jewish day school with 1,063 students, is 
building a new elementary and middle school 
for girls on 10 Mile Road and the east side of 
Church Street. On the west side of Church is 
Bais Yakov High School and Meer Preschool, a 
55,000-square-foot facility that opened in August 
2013.
• MoGo Detroit Bike Share is partnering with 
local municipalities to bring the bike-share sys-
tem to southeast Oakland County. Oak Park will 
have five stations, strategically placed across the 
city, when the service becomes available to resi-
dents in late spring to early summer.

HUNTINGTON WOODS
• The small, mostly residential community has 
12 parks: two on Coolidge, four on 11 Mile and 
six in the city’
s interior. Other attractions include 
a pool, golf course, Rec Center day camps and 
classes. Some residents live close enough to the 
Detroit Zoological Park to hear the animals.

BERKLEY
• The city’
s amenities include a Recreation 
Department and an ice arena.
• For new development, a Michigan State 
Federal Credit Union is set for construction on 
Coolidge, near 11 Mile. Berkley is considering 
proposals to redevelop the former La Salette 
Catholic School on Coolidge into multiple-family 
residential housing.

FERNDALE
• Tucked between I-696 and train tracks at 
the Ferndale-Pleasant Ridge border, Iron Ridge 
Marketplace is an evolving entertainment and 
retail destination at 404 E. 10 Mile Road. The 
$35-million brownfield redevelopment project is 
on the site of a decaying 1940s wire factory with 
231,000 square feet of vacant space. Started in 
October 2017, a fitness center is open, and food, 
a brewery and other attractions are coming. 
Urbanrest Brewing Co., in Ferndale since 2017, 
is a few blocks south of Iron Ridge Marketplace.

ROYAL OAK
• The city will see completion this year of 
the Woodward Corners by Beaumont project 
on Woodward at 13 Mile. Henry Ford Health 
System’
s high-tech outpatient medical center will 
occupy the downtown Royal Oak City Center by 
April 2020.
• “Rethink” Royal Oak is a development project 
to build a new city hall, police station, downtown 
park, private office building and 581-space park-
ing deck. The project will transform the down-
town area to a gathering place for the entire city 
as well as provide necessary updates to build-
ings 
designed more than 60 years ago.

Corridor Snapshots

Horwitz family: Micah, 2, Miriam, Jonah, 4, and Dan.

jews d
in 
the

Jason and Nechama Lurie

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