Brownfield Redevelopments Hit $680M in City

DETROIT-Gov. John Engler says the recent $90-million Federal Reserve facility announcement for Downtown is the eighth major brownfield redevelopment project in the city in the last two years. Investment has been pushed to $680 million since the brownfield redevelopment financing act was updated two years ago to include blighted and functionally obsolete properties, Engler claims.

“Michigan is the No. 1 brownfield redevelopment success story in the nation,” Engler says. “Especially for cities like Detroit, our bottom line is turning brown into green – investment, jobs and paychecks.”

The Federal Reserve Bank received approval to capture $3.2 million in state and local taxes to prepare a site for a new 260,000 sf processing center. The Federal Reserve will invest nearly $90 million in the site bounded by Warren, Russell and Forest avenues.

The other Detroit redevelopment projects that have received tax benefits as a result of the updated brownfield program include:

* American Axle world headquarters: This project involves construction of a 176,000-sf, seven-story office complex on a 19-acre parcel. The site is on Holbrook Avenue near I-75. The company plans to invest about $44 million in the project.

* Compuware Corp. headquarters: Construction of this $350 million, 14-story, more than 1-million-sf headquarters in the Campus Martius area is well underway.

* General Motors Riverfront Promenade: The project includes construction of a walkway designed to provide greater public access to the riverfront from the Renaissance Center.

* General Motors parking deck: Connected to the riverfront walkway, this project includes construction of an eight-level, mixed-use parking deck accommodating 1,100 vehicles and allowing for 18,000 sf of retail space. GM plans to invest a total of up to $83 million in the parking deck and the riverfront promenade project.

* Merchant’s Row: This project will rehabilitate buildings near the Campus Martius area on Woodward Avenue into loft apartments, retail space and a parking garage. The private investment for this project is expected to total up to $17.3 million.

* Woodward Millennium Project: Located at 3600 Woodward, this $37-million redevelopment will result in the creation of 180 units of new housing, a parking garage and retail space.

Statewide, 30 contaminated or functionally obsolete properties are being redeveloped through the new brownfield program and are expected to generate more than $3 billion in private investment in Michigan’s core communities, Engler says.