JC Reindl

Detroit Free Press

The half-built ruins of Oakland County's biggest development debacle in decades are about to come down, a sour end for that failed dream but it means the start of a new commercial and residential project on the site more grounded in reality.

Demolition is to get under way this month for most of the eight hollow and rusting structures built for Bloomfield Park, an upscale and amenity-filled "lifestyle center" on 87 acres straddling Pontiac and Bloomfield Township that was to rival the Somerset Collection, yet was never completed.

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Construction began in late 2006 and halted amid the recession in November 2008, before any of the planned 1,000 luxury residences, 80 retail shops, luxury hotel rooms and $1-million-plus condos were even close to ready, leaving a mess of unfinished buildings for all to see along busy Telegraph Road north of Square Lake Road.

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The site's new developer, Southfield-based REDICO, says it is preparing to raze all but two of the Bloomfield Park structures to make way for its redevelopment: The Village at Bloomfield. The new project is to feature about 500,000-square-feet of retail and commercial space, including a 100-room hotel, potential movie theater, fitness club and a rare two-story Menards store. There also would be 432 new market-rate apartments and possibly a nearby seniors community.

Of the old Bloomfield Park structures, only a parking deck and small commercial building will be saved and reused.The estimated cost of just the demolition is $3 million.

REDICO President and Chief Executive Officer Dale Watchowski said that once the old structures are gone, new construction could begin in spring 2018, with stores and residences opening in 2019 and 2020.

He declined to specify the total dollar amount of planned investment, but said the project will be much different and more compact than what previous owners tried a decade ago. A previous estimate put total expected investment at nearly $200 million.

“It’s a different development in character," Watchowski said. "We believe that the earlier Bloomfield Park, versus The Village at Bloomfield we are planning, was probably a bit optimistic. It was really intended to be the creation of a community or a downtown area, and given its proximity to downtown Birmingham and Somerset mall and some very well-established high-end residential and retail, it was probably not conceived appropriately.”

A recent Free Press tour of the Bloomfield Park ruins — under guard and off-limits to the public — revealed a cityscape of windowless building frames like something from a zombie movie set. Tattered remnants of plastic sheeting hung from several unfinished structures, flapping in the chilly breeze.

Exposed steel beams were covered in rust, with partially installed ventilation systems and intact wiring and plumbing all visible. Piles of unwrapped fiberglass sat in one building with crates of once-new elevator parts stashed inside a parking garage. Trespassers have tagged several of the structures with graffiti.

"Parking decks are meant to be exposed to the elements, so the parking decks came out OK," Watchowski said. "But some of the other structural components didn’t weather the elements so well."

The dream development

Bloomfield Park was originally conceived in the 1990s by developer Craig Schubiner. The site was to be entirely on the township side of the Bloomfield-Pontiac border, although after township officials rejected Schubiner's proposal, he and his development company, the Harbor Cos., turned to Pontiac to have most of the land annexed, which voters approved in 2001.

Ultimately about 95% of the project was in Pontiac with the rest in Bloomfield Township.

When construction of Bloomfield Park's $350-million first phase began in fall 2006, the project was headed by a development partnership involving New York-based real estate private equity firm Coventry Real Estate Advisors and the Beachwood, Ohio-based, shopping center developer DDR Corp. While Schubiner stayed on as a partner, he always denied having control over what was eventually built or not built.di

By the time construction financing dried up in 2008 and all work halted, nearly $250 million had been sunk into the project, according to court documents. The contractors and other vendors reportedly recouped only about 15 cents on the dollar in a settlement.

Even before the recession hit, there were doubts about whether the area could absorb all the high-end residential and commercial space planned for Bloomfield Park.

“I remember when the project was proposed. I looked at it and said, ‘You know what, I hope it is successful. Maybe there are people in this world smarter than me — but I don’t get it,’" said Ronald Goldstone, a retail broker and senior vice president at Southfield-based NAI Farbman, who believes the project's location was among its problems.

"It would of, could of, and should have been successful if it was in downtown Ann Arbor, downtown Birmingham," he said. "There are a few places in our state where something like that would have been vibrant and probably succeeded, (but) there was just no logic to its location.”

Today, Bloomfield Park's blighted ruins are a stark contrast to the bubbly predictions on the failed development's website, offline for years but still existing in archive form. The website declared that "Bloomfield Park will be, without a doubt, the nation's finest all-inclusive lifestyle community," and breathlessly asserted that for those who move in, "The beautiful life will be all around you, just waiting to be lived."

The planned 1,000 luxury residences were to feature expansive master suites, dramatic high ceilings, marble baths, hardwood or designer flooring, and be "showplaces of beauty and distinction."

"Bloomfield Park will take the idyllic aspects of a small town one step further," the website said. "Because of it's (sic) excellent location in Michigan's most prestigious area, Bloomfield Park will offer a variety of shopping, dining, entertainment and cultural options that reach far beyond the typical community fare. Think five-star cuisine instead of local chains. World-class boutiques and well-known brands."

In fall 2014, REDICO and its California-based equity partner, Pacific Coast Capital Partners, or PCCP, bought foreclosure rights to the site from Bloomfield Park's mortgage holder, Wells Fargo Bank.

That deal followed years of efforts by Oakland County officials to market the property locally, nationally and internationally. There were potential deals with a "Chinese automotive collaboration" and also a China-based hotel company for the site, but those prospects didn't happen, according to county documents.

Farmington Hills-based Grand/Sakwa Development once had a tentative deal for the site with Wells Fargo, but backed out as anticipated costs grew.

Local officials and some development experts say REDICO's redevelopment plans are more realistic than Bloomfield Park's and have a good chance at success.

“I think we’ve got a well-conceived plan with a company that has their finances in place," said Bloomfield Township Supervisor Leo Savoie, who sits on a development committee for the site. "So we’re excited about it. We’re looking forward to getting the ground broken.”

Goldstone, the retail broker, said that nearby retail plazas along Telegraph are doing well and he is "cautiously optimistic" that the site's proposed retail space can succeed as well.

“You’ll also find people looking for high-quality, good value type residential — just not to the scope of what was previously proposed," he said of the project's residential component.

The proposed 432-unit community would be built east of the Menards and retail shops and have 216 one-bedroom residences, 192 two-bedrooms and 24 three-bedrooms in townhouse-style buildings, according to planning documents. There will be a swimming pool, fitness center and residents' clubhouse.

Rents could range from $830 to $900 a month for the one-bedrooms, $1,075 to $1,230 for the two-bedrooms and $1,315 to $1,365 for the three bedrooms, the planning documents show.

One still-remaining hurdle is approval at the state level of a Brownfield tax incremental financing proposal. The plan — already OK'd by local officials and Oakland County commissioners — calls for gradually reimbursing REDICO over three decades for the $60 million that it plans to spend demolishing the half-built structures, remediating the site and for parking, among other expenses.

Money for this reimbursement would come from future tax revenues to be generated at the site once The Village at Bloomfield opens. Officials stress there would be no upfront direct grants of government funds.

“This is using future tax revenue that would otherwise never occur" if the project wasn't built, said Deputy County Executive Matthew Gibb.

The Brownfield proposal will be subject to approval by the board of the Michigan Strategic Fund.

Schubiner, the original Bloomfield Park visionary, has more recently been making headlines in Ann Arbor.

Last November, a Washtenaw County Circuit Court judge appointed a receiver for a half-built $67-million housing and retail project that he had been developing called Packard Square. That action followed complaints from the project's lender, Los Angeles-based Canyon Capital Realty Advisors, that Schubiner's development corporation, Packard Square LLC, was over budget and 10 to 12 months behind schedule, among other claims.

Lawyers for Schubiner have denied the allegations in court filings — "the building has been constructed in an exceptional manner" — and continue to fight the receivership and potential foreclosure.

The development is on the same site as Ann Arbor's now-demolished Georgetown Mall and just under 2 miles from downtown. It calls for 249 new apartments with space on the ground floor for a potential grocery and other shops.

Neither Schubiner nor his lawyers returned multiple messages seeking comment for this story. Court filings suggest that he could still regain control of the development by finding a new lender to refinance Canyon Capital's $53.7-million loan. Meanwhile, the project's receiver, McKinley Inc., is trying to finish construction.

McKinley representatives also didn't return messages.

Packard Square was at one point scheduled for completion by last summer. However, this week, the unfinished building still appeared to be months away from welcoming tenants.

Ann Arbor City Councilman Jack Eaton said he was surprised that Schubiner was ever able to find a willing lender.

“I’m just stunned that anyone would loan money to someone who has the Bloomfield project in their past, but they did," Eaton said.

Contact JC Reindl: 313-222-6631 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@JCReindl.