With coronavirus stories rightfully dominating the websites and pages of every newspaper in Michigan the last two weeks, I realized that something fairly newsworthy was missed: The city of Detroit is pursuing an up-to-$30 million Choice Neighborhoods implementation grant through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Fittingly, Detroit is also taking some very coronavirus-specific measures as part of the process for selecting what are very bureaucratically known as a Housing Implementation Entity and a People Implementation Entity (more on that later), including not accepting hard-copy responses to a request for qualifications issued last week and doing Zoom interviews of finalists, the RFQ says.

I digress.

If Choice Neighborhoods rings a bell, here's why: It is the same grant that Detroit attempted to secure for the Brewster Douglass housing projects site near Brush Park four years ago.

After HUD awarded the grants to five other cities, the Detroit Housing Commission opted against applying for one the following year. Dan Gilbert and others are now working on plans for the site, which most recently called for 900-plus residential units floated two years ago.

The vision for the greater Corktown area (which includes North Corktown) isn't as large in terms of residences, but is definitely ambitious and larger in physical scope: Turning a large swath of publicly and privately owned land into new mixed-income market-rate and affordable housing totaling about 500 units.

If it happens, it would take place over five years across a smattering of properties:

Of those, 87 new units would serve as replacement units for Clement Kern Gardens, an existing affordable housing development which is on a 7.1-acre site at 1661 Bagley St. owned by Detroit-based American Community Developers.

More mixed-income housing would be built on a site referred to as the "left field" of the former Tiger Stadium property is envisioned. The site is at the Fisher Service Drive and Cochrane.

Single-family and multifamily units on about 19 acres of property.

Affordable housing is also envisioned for Bagley west of Rosa Parks near Michigan Central Station.

Over the course of the process, a so-called "transformation plan" is crafted involving residents, nonprofits and developers.

Julie Schneider, deputy director of the Housing and Revitalization Department, said this afternoon that the Corktown effort dates back to last year.

"The Greater Corktown Neighborhood Framework Plan process has been going on since 2019," she said. "As a part of that process, we've been doing a number of community engagement meetings with the Planning Department. We've heard loud and clear from the neighborhood that it's important that we not only preserve the existing affordable housing, but we also create new affordable housing options, so we are looking to identify land that the city controls so we can most easily include it in a mixed-income housing development."

It would join other large projects in the works in the historic neighborhood west of the central business district. Others include Ford Motor Co.'s $750 million planned autonomous and electric vehicle campus anchored by Michigan Central Station, a new $45 million Godfrey Hotel, the first phase of the Elton Park development with 151 apartments as well as The Corner development with 111 rental units.

"With all of the economic development happening in Corktown, it is critical that there is affordable housing developed alongside it," said Donald Rencher, director of the Housing and Revitalization Department, said in a press release. "Given the tremendous investment and trends that we are seeing, we are at an important time to ensure Corktown remains a place where Detroiters of all walks of life are welcome."

The city says that it will pursue the project even if it isn't awarded the HUD grant.

Proposals for both the Housing Implementation Entity (basically, the developer) and the People Implementation Entity (an organization provides a human services plan for the area) are due to the city by 5 p.m. April 17.

Stay healthy and wash your hands.