Old B. Siegel store on 7 Mile to get $8M makeover

The Michigan Strategic Fund Tuesday approved incentives to promote the redevelopment of the B. Siegel store at 7 Mile and Livernois in Detroit.

Mostly vacant since the early 2000s, the renovation effort will convert the store into 10 residential apartments above some 20,500 square feet of retail space on the ground floor and 29 parking spaces in an underground garage.

With a total capital cost of about $8 million, the project was approved for a $1.3 million performance-based grant award from the state. The City of Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority also plans to award incentives for clean-up activities in the amount of $989,765.

The Strategic Fund also approved incentives to help redevelop a project known as 751 Griswold in Detroit. The $6.9-million renovation will turn the former Olde Building, a 1924 bank building in downtown's financial district, into retail and office space. The space now is headquarters for MarxModa, which bills itself as the "new" dealer for Herman Miller Michigan office furniture.

The 751 Griswold building, also know for some 50 years as the First State Bank, was designed by Albert Kahn. In 1994, Renaissance Man, with Danny Devito, was filmed inside, according to MarxModa.

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