Detroit Evening Report: City awarded $14.5M in grants for five development projects
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Community stakeholders gathered with local dignitaries on Wednesday to announce $14.5 million in MEDC grants that will go toward development projects in Detroit.
City leaders announced Wednesday that Detroit received $14.5 million in grants from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) to support five neighborhood mixed-use projects.
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The announcement was made at the Jefferson Intermediate School building, one of the five locations recommended for the Revitalization and Placemaking funding, or RAP 2.0 funds.
Joined by local dignitaries and representatives from the lending service Invest Detroit and MEDC, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation Chief Operating Officer Kenyetta Hairston-Bridges announced the funding, saying it will create equitable opportunities for Detroiters.
“With this $14.5 million that have been entrusted to the DEGC by the MEDC, this will help us to continue to build from the ground up and advance inclusive opportunities in the city of Detroit,” she said.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan also addressed the crowd, saying the funds will help put vacant commercial buildings in the city “back to work.”
“For less than a $15 million state investment, you’re getting a 1,100 new housing units and $250 million of investment. This is the way we should be incentivizing development,” he said.
Invest Detroit will be moving its headquarters to the Jefferson Intermediate School building, which is being created into a multi-tenant co-working space.
Marcia Ventura, senior vice president of Invest Detroit, said the company supported 20 small businesses last year with $7 million in debt financing.
“The mission of this project is to set aside 20% of the space where we will lend to emerging businesses, hopefully owned by Detroit residents, who are just getting off the ground and need some support to facilitate and help them grow,” she said.
Ventura says the building will have common spaces for people to collaborate. The project is already under construction and halfway through completion, according to the city. The DEGC will remain actively engaged throughout the projects’ construction to verify expenditures and help ensure project completion.
The other four projects being funded include:
- Broadway Lofts: The development will convert three buildings in the 1300 block of Broadway Street into mixed-use property with 80 residential units and ground-floor retail space.
- Fisher 21 Lofts – The project will convert a 600,000-square-foot building into 433 residential units with a mix of studios, one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms, plus 26,700 square feet of retail space and 17,685 square feet of co-working space.
- The Arthur Murray Building – The now abandoned Arthur Murray Building on E. Warren Ave. has historical significance as the first franchise location of the Arthur Murray Dance Studio, founded in the early 1950s. The mixed-use development will convert the 25,242-square-foot building into 32 residential apartments with 7,900 square feet of ground-floor retail space.
- The Deco – The development at 16703 E. Warren is an 8,000-square-foot, two-story commercial building that has been vacant for several decades along a high-profile Detroit commercial corridor. The project will receive $1.197 million in RAP grant funding to activate the long-vacant structure into six new rental apartments and a ground floor restaurant to be occupied by La Jalisciense Taqueria.
WDET reporter Nargis Rahman contributed to this report.
Other headlines for Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024:
- Detroit officials held its first Community Benefits Ordinance meeting this week for residents affected by the proposed “Hotel at Water Square” project, which would bring a new 25-story hotel to the former site of Joe Louis Arena.
- Heavy snow is expected throughout southeast Michigan beginning around 10 a.m. on Friday, with 6-8 inches of snow projected to fall.
- Cedric the Entertainer will perform at Motor City Casino’s Sound Board venue at 8 p.m.
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