Noted restauranteur bringing Italian eatery to One Campus Martius

JAY DAVIS

One Campus Martius in downtown Detroit is getting a new restaurant later this year.

Chicago-based restaurant group Fabio Viviani on Wednesday announced plans to open a new, yetto-be-named Italian and Mediterranean restaurant on the ground oor of the o ce building. It will set up in the Bedrock-owned space previously occupied by Calexico Detroit, which closed in January after a little more than six years in business there.

e Fabio Viviani property will operate as a full-service restaurant with a bar, according to a spokesperson. e company website lists a Bar Cicchetti bites & booze location as “coming soon” in Detroit, but it was not con rmed if that is what is going into One Campus Martius.

e opening will bring more than 50 jobs to the area, according to the spokesperson.

e nancial investment was not disclosed. e restaurant group said it plans to release more details later this year.

The company, owned and operated by chef Fabio Viviani, is partnering with Bloomfield Hillsbased Cicero Hospitality Group on the project, according to a news release. Detroit-based Norr Architecture & Engineering Firm has been brought on to handle the buildout of the 4,000-square-foot

Fabio Viviani |

space, the release states.

e nancial investment put into the project was not disclosed. Viviani’s company in 2022 had revenue of nearly $111 million. e Fabio Viviani Hospitality Group operates restaurants in Boston, New York City, Chicago and Memphis, along with locations at O’Hare Airport in Chicago and Los Angeles International Airport.

Viviani in a statement said he and his group are excited to bring a concept to downtown Detroit. e restaurant will join Texas De Brazil in One Campus Martius.

Viviani, who was born in Florence, Italy, began opening restaurants in the U.S. in 2005.

“We are delighted to be joining

GM Global Chief Marketing O cer Deborah Wahl. GM EVs have already appeared in “Love is Blind” and “Queer Eye,” Lee said. Decisions on how EVs are used are left up to showrunners and directors, she said, adding “we don’t dictate storylines.”

Net ix’s EV commitment is not exclusive to GM — it can use EVs from other automakers — but Netix is “really committed to GM vehicles,” Lee said.

“ is is a long-term partnership that we have with GM, there’s no end date in our mind,” she said. “And so we’ll continue to work with GM for as long as they want to work with Net ix.”

Lee portrayed the deal as being part of Net ix’s “broader e orts in the sustainability space,” which include a commitment to cut its emissions in half by 2030. e company has reported that its carbon footprint in 2021 was about 1.5 million metric tons. It is seeking “more sustainable storytelling, which comes to life in two ways, both on-screen and behind the camera,” Lee said.

For GM, the deal helps it “normalize” EVs and highlight the “EV lifestyle in the most binge-worthy content ... which Net ix is a master at,” Wahl said. She added that the Netix arrangement is “one example of how we’re approaching partnerships and relationships di erently,” calling it a “blueprint for the whole entertainment industry.”

SMALL BUSINESS e downtick in Super Bowl investment comes as the auto industry deals with a tougher economy, including higher interest rates. GM this week reported record pre-tax pro ts for 2022 and a 28 percent surge in fourth-quarter revenue, according to Automotive News. But it also announced a two-year, $2 billion cost-cutting plan in part to brace for tougher macroeconomic conditions. e plan does not include layo s, according to the company.

While EVs still only account for a small fraction of the total automotive marketplace, sales are growing and automakers keep pouring billions of dollars into EV production. GM CEO Mary Barra during an earnings call last week said the company was on track to produce 400,000 EVs in North America from 2022 to mid-2024 using its proprietary Ultium platform, with “volumes increasing signi cantly in the second half of this year.” GM anticipates having a total of nine EV models in the market this year.

Promoting EV ambitions was a popular tactic for automakers in last year’s Super Bowl — Kia, BMW and EV startup Polestar were among the brands touting them. But this year, GM is the only one so far to con rm an electric vehicle Super Bowl ad. Kia is in the game but plans to highlight its gas-powered 2023 Telluride X-Pro. Multiple other brands are staying on the sidelines.