All three awards support environmental sustainability efforts and aim to improve stormwater management in the city, said Camilla Seth, executive director of sustainable finance at JPMorgan Chase.

Stormwater, in addition to becoming a major a lake and river pollutant, has plagued businesses in Detroit for years. Improper drainage begets flooding and difficult stormwater management fees. The city has been utilizing green infrastructure models to address the lack of proper stormwater drainage, Crain's reported last year.

The stormwater management methods JPMorgan Chase is financing include elimination of impervious ground surfaces that don't allow water to soak through. Installing plant-filled surfaces such as bioswales allows rain to more naturally filter into the ground, rather than running off into city sewers. Fee burdens are lessened if stormwater is more effectively managed, Seth said.

"These (grants) represent an effort of the firm to contribute to the work that's going on to build sustainable economic drivers in the city, but also ones that are more sustainable and adaptive to the stormwater systems," she said.

Arlington, Va.-based Nature Conservancy, which has an office in Midtown, is working with the city of Detroit and Eastern Market Corp. on a pilot program that would support creation of new stormwater management infrastructure in Eastern Market.

The feasibility study for the stormwater project is expected to be complete around fall 2018, said Valerie Strassberg, urban conservation director for the nonprofit's Detroit program. Work is still underway on what, exactly, that infrastructure would look like. But the new "special purpose district" would aim to serve as a model and be replicated in other Detroit neighborhoods, Strassberg said.

Studies and plans to create the district model are being funded through the JPMorgan Chase grant, as well as other funders the Kresge Foundation, Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation and Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation, she said.

Eastside Community Network's grant will support acquisition and rehabilitation of vacant commercial properties along the Mack Avenue commercial corridor to revitalize and expand local retail and commercial businesses and attract new businesses. The organization, which aims to create opportunity on Detroit's lower east side, is also building stormwater drainage management infrastructure between buildings. JPMorgan Chase in February awarded Eastside Community Network a separate $75,000 grant.

Jefferson East, a development group for the city's East Jefferson corridor, will use the funding to build parking lots that use green spaces to absorb stormwater on vacant sites next to commercial buildings, Seth said.

JPMorgan Chase also announced it is installing LED lighting and new building management systems at 13 of its branches in Detroit, aiming to cut lighting energy consumption by 50 percent, electric and gas consumption by 15 percent and water consumption from irrigation systems by 20 percent.

The banking firm committed $100 million for economic development and neighborhood stabilization during the depths of Detroit's bankruptcy three years ago. It increased that amount by $50 million in May.

Half is grants and the other comprises a variety of loan funds for small business growth, mixed-use real estate development and residential housing projects, Crain's reported in May.

The banking firm previously announced dispersement of other chunks of the $150 million, including $1.2 million for six community development programs and $2.5 million for four small business development groups.