Driving Change
MWW1 is the poster child for what the A long Lee Road Corridor can become: a location for
thriving businesses with connections to the adjacent
community – and to the community at large through
its work with the Shaker Schools.
By Joe Miller
Photography by Damian Eduardos
Driving down Lee Road, the former Pontiac dealership at the
corner of Hampstead Avenue can easily be mistaken for another obsolete
relic of Shaker Heights: a once-bustling auto row. But looks can be deceiving.
On the inside, new owners Matt Wright and Crystal Jones are giving the
sprawling 61-year-old building a 21st century mission as the new home of
their company, MWW1 Engineering and Prototyping Services.
Their plan is quickly transforming the old showroom and service bays
into a mixed-use, high-tech facility where Wright and Jones hope to solve
clients’ problems, breathe life into new product ideas, and even find time to
inspire the next generation of engineers.
It’s exactly what the couple envisioned when they decided to move
their business and their family out of the Detroit suburbs: a versatile
workspace with room to grow and a nearby community – they just bought a
house in the Lomond neighborhood – where they can raise their four-yearold
daughter, Nyomi.
“We just couldn’t find anything in Detroit that fit our needs,” says
Wright. “There was nothing as unique as this where we could actually live in
the same community. I walk to work two or three times a day now.”
“Obviously the shop is very important, but it was really our family
dynamic that brought us here,” Jones says.
Family dynamics were far from Wright’s mind when he first launched
MWW1 seven years ago. Seeking a way to strike out on his own after a
career in the automotive industry, the young engineer noticed that there
were plenty of consultants focused on pure engineering and design, and
many others centered on production. Few could offer both. Wright built
MMW1 to fill that niche and guide customers from the germ of an idea all
the way to the assembly line.
The 41-year-old was lead engineer on the Saleen S7 performance sports
car and helped develop a hybrid electric car at another company. But Wright
set up his new company to take on any challenge no matter the industry.
MWW1’s eclectic client list now includes hospitals, universities, military
suppliers, and one online vinyl record shop.
44 SUMMER 2021 | WWW.SHAKER.LIFE
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