What’s happening: Efforts to ensure that affordable housing options remain available in Detroit’s Corktown and North Corktown neighborhoods were recently bolstered by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation as the state agency announced more than $7 million in performance-based loans for three mixed-income residential developments there.
Backstory: The developments fall in line with the city’s Greater Corktown Neighborhood Framework Plan, which itself was developed by the city due to community concerns about rising rents in the shadow of Ford Motor Company’s redevelopment of Michigan Central Station and its surrounding mobility campus.
Leading off: With the first phase of construction expected to be completed by early 2024, the Left Field development promises a mix of rates spread among its 53 residential units, from voucher units at 30 percent of the area median income (AMI) and below, and then up to market rate rentals. The four-story development, which occupies the left field area of the old Tiger Stadium site, receives a $2.7 million Michigan Community Revitalization Program (MCRP) performance-based loan from the MEDC.
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The Left Field development in Corktown.
To the north: Plans for the Preserve on Ash I development include five two-story buildings built atop 2.16 acres of vacant land in North Corktown. Commercial space complements 69 mixed-income housing units, the rental rates of which will include units with MSHDA project-based vouchers, units that are rent- and income-restricted to 60 percent AMI, and market-rate units. It receives a $2.3 million MCRP performance-based loan.
Straight ahead: The Red Arrow Redevelopment Project will repurpose a historic Corktown bottling plant into the Red Arrow Lofts. The long-vacant building will become a 28-unit multifamily housing complex with new sidewalks, landscaped areas, and more. Ten percent of the units will be available at 60 percent AMI, receiving a $2.2 million MCRP performance-based loan from the MEDC.
What they’re saying: “Today’s projects not only represent priority projects that reflect the voices of residents and goals of the city, but also support the historic investments made to create an innovative job center in Detroit and further boost the revitalization of our state’s largest city,” said Quentin Messer, Jr., CEO of the MEDC and President and Chair of the Michigan Strategic Fund.
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