Land assembly for the new Jeep plant on Detroit's east side is moving ahead.

DTE Energy said Tuesday it expects to sign a deal by the end of this week to transfer its Conners Creek power plant site on the east riverfront to the City of Detroit for use as part of the new Jeep plant project.

Under the memorandum of understanding to be signed, DTE would swap a significant portion of the 75-acre Conners Creek site to the city in exchange for city-owned land elsewhere.

DTE will retain at least 10 acres of the plant site bordering the Detroit River for its own future use, although no plans have been announced for that parcel. That part of the complex is the site of the Edison Boat Club, a marina that for decades has operated for DTE employees.

The land that DTE will keep also includes a small inlet running from the river to the power plant. That canal gained fame several years ago when a beaver lodge was discovered there. Naturalists said it marked the first confirmed return of the once-plentiful beaver to the Detroit River in perhaps a century.

DTE has said it will no longer be cost effective to operate the boat club once the plant comes. So the marina will be demolished after this boating season at the same time the power plant itself comes down. It was unclear if beavers still were found in the inlet.

The Conners Creek site is slated to become part of the sprawling new Jeep assembly plant complex announced in late February. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said then that the city would assemble 200 acres of land for FCA to make the project happen. FCA said it needs DTE's Conners Creek land for storage of vehicles for the Jeep plant to be built at Mack and St. Jean.

More:New Jeep plant won't be another Poletown: 4 ways it could impact Detroit

More:4 projects to bring Detroit RiverWalk closer to its full vision

Duggan said the city will pay for the land it needs with land swaps elsewhere in the city. In exchange for its Conners Creek site, DTE said it will accept "specific parcels that we will use for system growth and to better serve our customers. This includes land for substations and transformers, service centers and pull out yards," according to a company spokeswoman.

More:FCA to open Jeep factory in Detroit, invest $4.5 billion in southeast Michigan

Meanwhile, the Moroun family that also owns the Ambassador Bridge declined to comment on negotiations with the city for land it owns near the planned Jeep plant. "There is nothing we can discuss regarding this project at this time," Michael Samhat, president of Crown Enterprises, the Moroun family's real estate arm, said in an email to the Free Press

The Conners Creek power plant was finished it in 1921. The plant initially burned coal for fuel but later switched to natural gas. DTE ceased using the plant to generate power in 1988.

In 1996, DTE demolished the "Seven Sisters," the plant's seven identical 352-foot-tall stacks. The two "brothers" stacks remain standing and often serve as a navigational landmark for boaters.

Contact John Gallagher at313-222-5173 or gallagher@freepress.com.Follow him on Twitter@jgallagherfreep. Read more on business and sign up for our business newsletter.