Gilbert expected to announce Brush Park development plan

UPDATE:

Billionaire businessman Dan Gilbert plans a major housing development in Detroit's Brush Park, a sparsely-populated district next to downtown that thrived in the 19th Century but has defied recent attempts at revival, people familiar with the development told the Free Press.

Details of Gilbert's plan were not available Tuesday, but he and city officials could reveal the project in an official announcement that may come as early as Wednesday, the sources, requesting anonymity, told the Free Press.

In recent weeks Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan has hinted that a future Brush Park redevelopment would involve a mix of rehabbing Gilded Age mansions and constructing new housing in the design of the period.

Gilbert's project also could have a celebrity name attached: Nicole Curtis, the host of "Rehab Addict" on the HGTV cable network.

Curtis, a southeast Michigan native, recently returned to the Detroit area and announced in March that her next fixer-upper would be in Brush Park, roughly bound by Woodward to the east, Mack to the north, and the I-75 service drive to the south.

The district has several new or renovated townhouse and apartment buildings, but it is best known for the few standing Gilded Age mansions that fell apart over decades. The city cleared many of them out but some die-hard residents bought several of the old 19th Century structures and have been rehabbing them. But the district now has many open fields.

During a business conference on Tuesday, Gilbert spoke of the need for greater investment in Detroit's neighborhoods, warning that recent growth in the gentrifying downtown and Midtown areas would otherwise plateau. He did not mention Brush Park, although its redevelopment would appear to fit the need he described.

"Downtown will not be sustainable in the direction we're going if the neighborhoods are not coming along," Gilbert said in an onstage interview at a Forbes magazine event in the Westin Book Cadillac Detroit hotel.

Longtime Detroiters in recent years have often raised questions about the lack of development in the city's neighborhoods, outside of downtown.

Duggan's office declined to confirm details about the project. A representative for Gilbert's Bedrock Real Estate Services did not respond to a request for comment.

As a whole, Brush Park spans more than 100 acres east of Woodward and is considered a part of Midtown. It is separated by I-75 from downtown. The city's past attempts at redeveloping the district fell victim to poor economic conditions and a crashing housing market.People familiar with the Brush Park plans said that Gilbert's organization won a project bid with the city to rebuild about 8.5 acres of the district.

The city has spent millions clearing out deteriorated homes in the district over the years.

Gilbert has been the leading player over the past five years in downtown Detroit's resurgence. His Bedrock Real Estate Services currently owns or controls more than 70 downtown-area properties and has renovated and filled numerous landmark properties such as the old Federal Reserve Building.

For more Brush Park photos on Instagram go to Detroit Free Press photographer Diane Weiss' Instagram account.