DETROIT, MI -- More than 1,400 volunteers last May planted 15,000 saplings in a desolate section of Detroit once consumed with blight.

This year, the future inner-city forest will expand to include 5,000 more.

The land, nearly 180 acres, is a collection of abandoned lots last owned by the city of Detroit following years of foreclosure. Hantz Woodlands, with the blessing of Gov. Rick Snyder, purchased the land, about 1,300 parcels, for just over $500,000 in 2013.

Hantz Woodlands cleared the lots, removed debris, overgrowth, trash, tires, more than 50 rotting homes and is now planting trees.

Hantz Woodlands, an outgrowth of Hantz Farms, created a Facebook event page this week for a second annual volunteer planting day scheduled from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 9.

"Join us on May 9 as we continue to transform blight to beauty on Detroit's lower east side with the planting of 5,000 tulip poplar trees," the Facebook page says. "In addition to tree planting, there will be live music, equipment demonstrations, face painting, educational tours and complimentary food."

Volunteers planted about 20 acres in 2014 and will plant another five this year, says Hantz Farms President Mike Score.

Hantz Woodlands is the brainchild of business mogul John Hantz, a Detroit resident and the CEO of Hantz Financial in Southfield who said he was sick of looking all of the blight driving to and from his home in Indian Village.

The project faced some adversity early on from opponents who saw it as a speculative land grab, but seems to have won over many, including Mayor Mike Duggan and, perhaps most importantly, numerous residents who have told MLive over the last two years their neighborhoods look better than they have in a long time.

President of Hantz Farms Mike Score standing in one of their lots of trees.

Score said the for-profit company plans to sell the lumber produced in a couple decades to offset maintenance costs. It will also likely benefit in the long term from increasing land values.

The company mows 180 acres bi-weekly and has about 80 acres left to totally clear in preparation for planting, Score said Friday.

He said the plan is to grow the trees for about 10 years in tight rows,causing them to grow taller and straighter, and then "thin" them by transplanting some to other open lots.

Score believes community support will continue with the second annual planting event.

"We don't have any goals, we just want people to come out and have a good time," he said. "I think we'll have more than we had last year.

"It wouldn't surprise me if we had about 2,000."