Two notorious Detroit property owners made headlines this past week. Detroit City FC says it plans to build a new stadium on an infamous site recently sold by Dennis Kefallinos. A company owned by the Moroun family has systematically dismantled a neighborhood and is making life miserable for the residents who stayed. In better news, the state Department of Natural Resources provided some updates about Belle Isle that should excite visitors.
Getting the ball rolling
Detroit’s professional soccer club plans to have a new home in a few years. Detroit City FC announced it recently purchased the old Southwest Detroit Hospital at the I-75/I-96 interchange and plans to build a soccer stadium to open in the 2027 season. The club has played its matches out of Keyworth Stadium in Hamtramck since 2016.
Dennis Kefallinos bought the hospital for less than $8,000 in 2016, left it abandoned, then sold it earlier this year for $6.5 million to an entity tied to Edward Siegel, who previously owned a downtown coffee shop now known as Spkrbox. The soccer club says it now owns the site. The connection between Detroit City FC and Siegel is unclear. The team hasn’t provided any details about its development plans, though an unnamed source told Crain’s Detroit Business that it’s expected to seat around 14,000 people (paywalled) and be subject to a community benefits agreement. Those agreements are required by the city for projects that exceed $75 million and receive some public subsidy or land. (Metro Times, Crain’s)
Morouns strike again
A company owned by the Moroun family has mostly cleared out a neighborhood near I-75 and the Davison Freeway, making life unbearable for the few residents who didn’t take buyouts. The family’s business, Crown Enterprises Inc., had been acquiring property in the Cadillac Heights neighborhood for years in preparation to build a concrete mixing plant. It started construction in 2022 without proper permits, BridgeDetroit found. But the city didn’t penalize Crown and issued a permit a few months later. The Morouns have regularly flouted the law in their dealings with the city and suffered few consequences.
The company cleared some of the land it owns around the plant, bought out some residents and left other properties blighted. The plant began operating last month. Neighbors who remain complain of dust and generator noise late into the night. (BridgeDetroit, Outlier Media)
Everything Belle Isle
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources provided a number of updates last week about Belle Isle, which it manages. The department said it has invested more than $140 million since taking over the park in 2014 and saw a 7% uptick in visitors last year compared to 2022.
First, the issue on the top of everybody’s mind: The giant slide is coming back later this summer. Its landing surface will be improved, and the department promised slower speeds. The department said it got several viable proposals for redeveloping the Belle Isle Boathouse. The building has been largely vacant since the mid-‘90s and needs more than $40 million of work. The department also confirmed that it’s going to demolish the more than 20 structures at the abandoned Belle Isle Zoo, likely next year, and put in nature trails. (BridgeDetroit, Outlier)
No notice
Residents near a proposed electric vehicle battery plant in Milwaukee Junction say they weren’t notified about the project (paywalled) or provided any opportunity to weigh in, even though it seems to require a community benefits agreement. Some say they only heard about the Fortescue WAE plant after the city and state approved more than $23 million in subsidies last month.
The project is expected to cost $210 million, exceeding the threshold set by the city’s community benefits ordinance, which would require the developers to negotiate a community benefits agreement with residents. The city said the project didn’t meet the ordinance’s criteria but didn’t explain why. (Crain’s)
Development news quick-hitters
The City Planning Commission approved a rezoning request for one of the two smaller towers at the Renaissance Center. The office tower is currently at just 10% capacity. One of the owners said it didn’t have any definite plans for the building, but rezoning would allow for residential, hotel or retail use. (Detroit Free Press)
A youth-focused nonprofit broke ground on a recreation facility and park in northwest Detroit. Merit Park will have a basketball court, turf field, rock climbing wall and other amenities at the 57,500-square-foot facility (paywalled). It’s expected to open next summer. (BridgeDetroit, Crain’s)
The Cass Corridor Neighborhood Development Corp. is looking to build a 49-unit apartment complex for seniors on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. between Cass and Second avenues. (Freep)
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