The march of investment (and tax abatements to make the projects make financial sense) continues in the heart of Detroit.
According to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, The Plaza Midtown, LLC project on Woodward Avenue (across the street from Orchestra Hall) will renovate a former medical office building into a mixed-use retail and residential building. The developer is the Roxbury Group.
Detroiters may be familiar with the structure, as it’s the one that for years had the neon hammer driving a nail as signage on the top. The building was built in 1965, and is 130,000 square feet.
According to state officials, the project will generate a total capital investment of $21.1 million and should create 25 full-time jobs. There would be a $3.5 million Michigan Community Revitalization Program performance-based equity investment and a brownfield MBT credit of $1 million.
The city of Detroit is supporting the project with a 12-year Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Tax Abatement valued at $4.2 million. That particular incentive is designed to help redevelop older buildings that are contaminated, blighted or functionally obsolete.