DETROIT, MI – Plans are once again moving forward to demolish the 12-story Professional Plaza building and a two-floor commercial strip center next to it in favor of a medical facility and mixed-use development as well as parking.
The Professional Plaza is also known as the Hammer and Nail building, because of the three large hammers coming down on a nail along the side of its roof.
The city of Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority and private developers are moving ahead with the demolition and redevelopment plans at 3800 and 3750 Woodward Ave. after the state approved tax incentives for the project, which was originally approved in 2011 but previous developers ran into financing trouble.
Using local and school tax capture valued at $8 million, the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority and developers plan to redevelop the 5-acre site to include a 195,000-square-foot, five-story medical office building with retail on the ground floors, a four-floor mixed-use commercial building and a 648-space parking ramp.
The project is expected to be a $73 million investment that will create 30 full-time jobs, according to the Michigan Economic Growth Corporation, which also approved a 20 percent Michigan Business Tax Brownfield Credit.
The two-phase project does not have to be complete until June 2021. The MEDC granted the project an additional five years after signing off on a similar development in 2011, but the MEDC said in a briefing that “the original qualified taxpayer was unable to carry out the proposed project due to the recession.”
Midtown Project, LLC currently owns the property.
The MEDC approved the Michigan Business Tax Brownfield Credit on the project the same day it signed off on helping to fund nine projects that are expected to bring 3,900 jobs to Michigan.
