Five local real estate projects got a boost from the Michigan Economic Growth Authority last week with a total of $25.2 million in tax credits for $207.6 million in project development spending.
The projects are all using tax credits through the state’s brownfield redevelopment program and will be giving a new life to old buildings. Four of the projects are in Detroit and one is in Hamtramck.
The projects are:
• An $83.5 million, six-story medical office building at 3800 Woodward, north of Mack Avenue, which got a $10 million tax credit.
The project will include the demolition of a medical office building and adjacent two-story office and retail suite on approximately 4.7 acres of property, according to a project description from the Michigan Economic Development Corp.
The project will have three parts: a 200,000-square-foot, six-story mixed-use medical office building fronting Woodward; a 15,000-square-foot, single-story retail center fronting Woodward; and a 1,000-space parking garage screened by the two buildings.
The primary tenant of the new medical office building will be University Physicians Group, a for-profit corporation affiliated with the Detroit Medical Center. DMC and Wayne State University have an agreement to host residents of the medical school.
• A $73.2 million plan to redevelop the former Detroit Free Press office and printing facility at 321 W. Lafayette Blvd., which got a $10.4 million tax credit.
The project will redevelop the building into a mixed-use retail, commercial and residential complex. It will have 23,000 square feet of first-floor retail, including restaurant space, and 27,000 square feet of commercial office space on the second floor. The third through 13th floors will be reconfigured from office space into 115 market-rate apartments
• A $16.2 million project to redevelop four vacant residential buildings in the Sugar Hill Arts District in Detroit’s Midtown neighborhood. It received a $2.4 million tax credit. The two-phase project will redevelop lots at 81, 95, 107 and 119 Garfield St. In the first phase, the vacant property will be razed and a parking deck will be built. In the second phase, 46 residential units will be built above an art space.
• In Hamtramck, an old furniture showroom will be redeveloped into a $1.6 million mixed-use commercial and residential development. It received a $116,000 tax credit.
The building, at 10201 Joseph Campau, will have a 3,000-square-foot restaurant on the first floor to be calledFlavor Restaurant. The second floor will have 3,000 square feet of commercial office space, and the third and fourth floor will each have three 1,000 square-foot two-bedroom units.
• A $33.1 million project to redevelop the Charles Terrace public housing development on the city’s northeast side, receiving a $2.3 million tax credit.
The development at 5825 Emerald Springs Circle will include the construction of 158 new home units in a mixture of single family, duplex, and townhome units. Of the 158 units, 83 will be financed with low-income housing tax credits, the rest will be public housing units. Rents will range $50 to $632 per month.
