Efforts to grow Eastern Market while still retaining its food industry roots took another step forward last week as the Michigan Economic Development Corporation awarded the City of Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority a $75,000 site readiness grant as part of the Michigan Build Ready Sites program.
A collection of parcels north of the market at Superior Street, once residential lots, will be marketed to attract the development of two large food production and wholesaler facilities.
The site readiness grant will be used for predevelopment purposes like environmental, geotechnical, and physical assessments of the land, clearing the way for development.
The news was announced along with nine other similar projects across the state, with the MEDC awarding $728,500 in site readiness grants in total. A $75,000 grant, for example, was awarded to a sustainable business park project in Dorr Township.
“Both the sustainability park in Dorr Township and the Eastern Market site exemplify the type of project the Build Ready program is intended for — collaborative, thoughtful plans that identify a pathway to the redevelopment of sites, making them ready to compete for site selection projects and generate long-term prosperity for their communities,” says MEDC Chief Business Development Officer and Executive Vice President Josh Hundt.
Several days prior to the news, the MEDC announced two more Detroit developments would receive financial support from their Michigan Strategic Fund.
A residential development in North Corktown will receive $62,333 in state tax capture reimbursement. And a mixed-use redevelopment in Milwaukee Junction will receive $606,800 in state tax capture reimbursement.
In North Corktown, plans are underway to construct three new three-story buildings on the north side of Pine Street between Wabash Avenue and Rosa Parks Boulevard. The buildings will add 14 two-bedroom for-sale townhomes to the neighborhood. A green alley, pocket park, and bioswale stormwater system are also planned.
In Milwaukee Junction, three existing buildings on East Grand Boulevard will be connected and converted into retail and office space and 18 residential units.
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