What is currently a parking lot along Monroe Street may have a future as a $111-million, 16-story office building for Livonia-based Schostak Bros. & Co. The Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, which has reviewed the company’s $27-million brownfield tax incentive plan, will hold a public hearing Thursday about the potential development.
“Obviously it’s one of the many steps in the process, and we’re real early because we needed to get the incentives in place before moving everything else forward,” says Brian Holdwick, executive vice president of Detroit Economic Growth Corp., which oversees the redevelopment authority. “We’ll start getting the approvals together next, and if we can pull this off, it would be a great addition to Campus Martius and will bring a lot of jobs to Detroit.”
The 320,000-square-foot building would be located at Monroe and Bates and include first-floor retail and a parking deck. Meridian Health Plan plans to occupy the entire office space. The Detroit Downtown Development Authority currently owns the property.
Schostak operates properties in 19 states as a full-service real estate development, management, leasing, and consulting company
“We are pleased that a developer with a strong track record in southeast Michigan is interested in building something significant on this prime piece of downtown real estate,” says Art Papapanos, vice president for DEGC board administration.
Applying for a brownfield plan — which offers incentives for the development of properties that are contaminated, blighted, or functionally obsolete — is a multiple-step process that requires approvals by the redevelopment authority, Detroit, and the state of Michigan.
Since its inception, the Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority has facilitated the approval of nearly 200 plans for redevelopment including residential, mixed-use, retail, office, and commercial uses. Once all of the current projects are built out, the projects will collectively create some $6.7 billion in new investment, 18,500 jobs, and more than 10,000 housing units in Detroit.
In related news, the Kresge Foundation and NCB Capital Impact in Arlington, Va. have announced the launch of the $30.25-million Woodward Cooridor Investment Fund, which will support real estate projects that advance the physical redevelopment of the city’s Woodward Cooridor.
