Detroit City Council OKs $300M deal for former Brewster-Douglass site - Detroit, MI - News Article Locations on Waymarking.com

Detroit City Council approved a redevelopment plan Tuesday for the site of the old Brewster-Douglass public housing project that calls for Dan Gilbert's real estate firm to buy the land and build 913 units of mixed-income housing plus a preschool and a hotel.

The council voted 7-2 for the deal over concerns by some members that a requirement for Gilbert's Bedrock firm to set aside at least 25 percent of the rental apartments as "affordable" units was insufficient.

"I don’t think 25% is really enough," said Council President Pro Tem Mary Sheffield, whose district includes the site. She and councilman Roy McCalister voted no.

Yet after an hour of discussion and back-and-forth exchanges with a Bedrock representative, most council members backed the deal, citing assurances that the 25 percent benchmark for affordable housing would be a minimum — not a maximum.

Specifically, the deal requires Bedrock to build at least 156 housing units that are affordable, or 25 percent of the total rental units on site, whichever is greater.

Rent for the affordable units must be priced reasonably for those earning 80 percent or less of the area median income for the Detroit-Warren-Livonia geographic area, which comes out to $48,000 for a single person.

Councilwoman Raquel Castañeda-López also voiced concerns during Tuesday's council meeting about the amount of affordable housing in the project, as well as the target demographic for the market-rate units.

Bedrock hasn't said how much it anticipates charging in rent for those.

“Who is the market that you are thinking of when you’re coming up with these rates?" she asked.

But Castañeda-López backed the deal in the end, telling the Free Press that she supports it because the affordability minimum was clarified, and there are still separate requirements to come for additional ways the project can benefit the broader community.

Those future "community benefits" are required for new projects in Detroit worth at least $75 million. Costs for the Brewster-Douglass redevelopment are projected to exceed $300 million.

Gilbert, chairman of Bedrock, said in a statement that there is "something for everyone" in the project.

“Parks, courtyards, retail, affordable housing and for-sale units are all in the mix on this project," Gilbert said, "and we look forward to working with our partners to create a thriving and diverse community with opportunity for all Detroiters to enjoy."

The development deal involves selling the demolished housing project's 22-acre site for $23 million to a partnership involving Bedrock and local developer Woodborn Partners. The land sale by the Detroit Housing Commission still needs approval by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Bedrock has yet t

o say when it anticipates breaking ground or when the housing might be available. The project is expected to receive financial support from numerous federal, state and local development incentives. Bedrock officials have said that such subsidies are crucial to ensuring the below-market rents.

What's to come

The redevelopment project calls for:
913 units of housing (648 rentals/265 for sale)
An 80-room hotel
19,000 square feet of ground-floor retail
A new early childhood education center
3.2 acres of open space
The breakdown of the housing units:

60 percent apartments (average 800 square-feet)
12 percent "town homes" (1,800 to 2,200 square-feet)
11 percent big walk-up apartments (1,600 square-feet)
7 percent "duplettes" (900 to 1,100 square-feet)
5 percent "stacked flats" (1,000 to 2,000 square-feet)
5 percent back alley apartments, called "mews flats" (800 to 1,400 square-feet)

The Brewster-Douglass site is situated along I-75, just north of downtown, and has been vacant since 2014, when demolition crews finished razing the last of its four 15-story brick towers. No one has lived on the property since 2008.

Type of publication: Newspaper When was the article reported?: 07/31/2018 Publication: Detroit Free Press Article Url: [Web Link] Is Registration Required?: no How widespread was the article reported?: local News Category: Business/Finance

Visit Instructions:
Give the date of your visit at the news location along with a description of what you learned or experienced.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.