Detroit seeking developer for housing development near train station

Kat Stafford | Detroit Free Press

A vacant parcel of land adjacent to the Michigan Central Station could soon be transformed into a mixed-use housing development, according to the City of Detroit, which announced Thursday it was seeking a developer for the site.

In a news release, the city said it plans to select a developer by September and construction could start as early as 2019, with a targeted completion date in 2021.

The land sits on the border of the city's southwest and Corktown neighborhoods and is close to Honey Bee Market and other popular destinations in the area. The city is seeking proposals that include both retail space, ideally along Bagley, with at least 20 residential units.

The announcement comes shortly after Ford Motor Co. confirmed it purchased the train station — a Detroit icon completed in 1913 that became a symbol of decline after it closed in 1988 — to create a hub for an advanced automotive campus as it re-establishes itself in the city.

The automaker also said it plans to open several floors of housing in the old depot as part of the building's top-to-bottom redevelopment, set for completion in 2022.

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The city said it hopes the new housing development will bring more retail and affordable housing to the area. The development, the city said, would also build upon the strengths of the commercial corridor and "enhance connectivity between the two neighborhoods."

The development is slated to occur in an area identified within the city's Strategic Neighborhood Fund, which started in 2016. About $42 million in investment has already been committed to three areas: Vernor/Southwest, Livernois-McNichols and Islandview/Greater Village.

The city also recently announced plans to stabilize seven additional Detroit neighborhoods as part of a $130-million fundraising plan that would also improve other commercial corridors and boost the city's park system.

The Free Press reported in May that a splash pad, a zocalo — or traditional Mexican public space — and other amenities are coming to the popular Clark Park in southwest Detroit, as part of a greater transformation of the West Vernor corridor.

Maurice Cox, Detroit's planning director, said at the time the plan was the city's "first effort in southwest to signal that the revitalization of the city is going to be in the neighborhoods."

According to the city, the vacant land near the train station was identified as a development opportunity through the Planning and Development Department’s West Vernor planning study process.

The corridor already has a variety of restaurants, bars, a theater, a recreation center and grocery store, as well as Clark Park, several Mexican restaurants and the West Riverfront Park. The area also includes three schools.

“As the city’s revitalization spreads into the neighborhoods, we are focused on developing high-quality, well-designed and affordable mixed-use projects that fit in with the existing culture of the neighborhood,” Donald Rencher, director of Housing and Revitalization for Detroit, said in a statement. “The vacant land at Bagley and 16th is a gap in this thriving area, and we want to make sure that when that gap is filled, it meets the needs of the long-term residents there.”

The city is requiring a "high-quality site design" because of the site's visibility as a gateway between southwest Detroit and Corktown.

Potential developers also will be required to provide an affordable housing program that includes a minimum of 20 percent of rental units be set aside for households making 80 percent of area median income or lower.

According to the city, the area median income at 80 percent, set by federal housing rules, is about $38,000 a year. Submissions are due Aug. 14.

Contact Katrease Stafford: kstafford@freepress.com or 313-223-4759.