The historic Avenue of Fashion is going to get some new swagger thanks to a new mixed-use development called “7.Liv.”
Developer Bagley Forest Properties, LLC plans to rehab the former B. Siegel Department Store building at the corner of Seven Mile and Livernois.
Two buildings next door to the old department store, including an old Revco pharmacy, will also be demolished and incorporated into the larger structure. The parcel size (not the entire project) will, according to a notice sign posted, be 24,882 square feet.
Above is a basic rendering provided by the Michigan Economic Development Corp.
There’s no exact word on height or number of residential units yet, but from the rendering it doesn’t look like this going to be a tall one.
We poked around took some photos of the current setup.
The department store was built, according to records, in 1951. These are photos the former Revco on the corner.
The building below will be demolished to be made part of the overall project.
Much like in Midtown, the development here is in part driven by universities.
According to press information, the completed project will provide necessary housing for nearby University of Detroit Mercy and Marygrove College staff and students, and will include retail space and underground parking.
Additionally, the Michigan Strategic Fund has approved a $1.3 million Michigan Community Revitalization Program performance-based grant will contribute toward the total capital investment of $8 million.
On top of the state incentives, the City of Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority received approval of $989,765 in local and school tax capture to perform brownfield remediation activities at the site.
The project is expected to create the “equivalent” of 30 full-time jobs.
The developer on this one is local and bought the property in 2016. Matt Hessler, owner of Bagley Forest Properties, is a resident of Sherwood Forest neighborhood that is adjacent to the Avenue of Fashion district.
“With the assistance of MEDC as well as Capital Impact Partners, Invest Detroit, and the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, the 7.Liv project will restore the B. Siegel building and add a new 10,000-square-foot retail building on the corner,” Hessler said in a release. “As a handful of new retailers and restaurants have begun to open storefronts on the avenue, 7.Liv will replace the blighted structures on the corner of the two main thoroughfares with a vibrant new mixed-use development. Adding an anchor restaurant and retail businesses to the corridor, 7.Liv will serve as a catalyst, allowing businesses to fill in along the avenue and create momentum for a new walkable shopping district along the old Avenue of Fashion.”
Picking up the pace: The pace of developments on this strip is quickening. Difference here is that nearby is already one of the highest income and well-populated areas of the city and weathered the downturn relatively well, as I mentioned when we broke the news of the new Biggby just down the street from today’s development.
Editor’s Note: A reader helpfully pointed out about the Revco and we updated photo captions appropriately. We will add more photos tomorrow. We’ve also gone down a pretty interesting mid-century architecture rathole and we’ll have a history story on that later.
