John Gallagher

Detroit Free Press

Detroit is looking for developers to turn a dilapidated empty building in the Eastern Market district into a food production center that will enhance the city's emerging identity in the region's multibillion-dollar food economy.

The City of Detroit Planning Department and the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation issued a request for proposals this week, seeking qualified teams to renovate and develop the city-owned site.

The site on the northwest corner of Orleans and Erskine is a 104,000-square-foot, vacant, concrete and brick structure situated on a 6.2-acre site.

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The city hopes to develop the structure into Detroit’s Regional Food Accelerator, a site of food production and processing that will become home to a food-related tenant mix in a building that will "offer the public a new interactive experience with the food production process."

The complete Detroit Regional Food Accelerator request for proposals and qualifications can be downloaded from the DEGC's website at degc.org.

Eastern Market itself covers some 300 acres and is one of the largest historic public market districts in the U.S. In recent years, the market has become a focus of the local food economy with dozens of specialty food entrepreneurs selling their Detroit-produced meats, cheeses, breads, pickles and other products from market stalls.

The market has also played a role in the growing importance of the urban agriculture movement in the city, with some urban growers selling their produce at the market. The market has also popularized the farm-to-table movement that encourages residents to buy and consume locally produced food.

Contact John Gallalgher: 313-222-5173 or gallagher@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @jgallagherfreep.