And thank you for joining us for the Planning and Economic Development Standing Committee on today, Thursday, April 16th, 2026.

Mr.

Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Good morning, Councilmember Letitia Johnson.

Present.

Councilmember Gabrielle Santiago Romero.

Present.

Council President Pro Tim Coleman, the second.

Madam Chair, there's a quorum.

Thank you.

Having a quorum present, we are now in session.

Good morning, Member Santiago Romero.

Is there a motion on the minutes?

Good morning, Madam Chair motion to approve.

There's a motion to approve the minutes.

Hearing no objections, that action shall be taken.

And we are going to move into public comment.

If there is anyone joining us in person or virtually who'd like to make a public comment, please raise your hand.

Please raise your hand.

Public comment will be cut off at 10 05.

My clock is registering 1003.

How many hands do we currently have raised?

Good morning, madam chair.

There are currently 10 hands raised for general uh for virtual public comment.

Okay, we're gonna give everyone one minute 30 seconds for general public comment.

You will please set the clock and we'll get started with Mr.

Cunningham.

313 4449114.

That's my number.

Um I just want to uh thank uh councilwoman Johnson.

Um district for two days and um for all the work you all do, uh Councilman Gabriella Santa Row and both of you in regards to DD.

Uh tonight there's an input meeting.

We have a hybrid out of the Detroit People's Platform Um building on the fifth floor.

Um we're gonna have pizza wings and two thirty one day pass raffles 31 day passes, and that comes from donations.

Um the work that I do, I do not get paid for.

I do get assistance with certain items I give out, um, but still it costs some money to take time off, takes money for gasoline, takes money to buy the pizza and and and things of that nature.

So your donations are greatly appreciated.

Um 313 444 914.

I will send you the flyer again.

If you would like to attend tonight, 430 is our uh hybrid.

The actual meeting begins at 5 p.m.

Detroit Department of Transportation.

The ID number is 962 6808255.

And again, I will text you the flyer.

That's the persons at home listening or anyone listening.

Thank you so much.

Stay prayed up.

There is a lot going on, and you don't have to be perfect to pray.

Thank you.

Public comment has now been cut off.

And who is our first virtual caller?

Our first caller is William M.

Davis.

Mr.

Clerk, if you will please note that pro Tim has joined us.

Thank you.

And William M.

Davis, you have one minute, 30 seconds for general public comment.

Good morning.

Can I be heard?

Good morning, yes.

Okay, I think as the City of Detroit exit completely exit bankruptcy.

The city of Detroit should more closely be looking at things that they possibly should raise about the bankruptcy, especially as it relates to the Detroit Water and Seward assets that allegedly uh Great Lakes Water Authority are leasing.

In so much that we did not get a fair and equable uh compensation for the lease.

Uh the lease should be a lot more.

And if we're not really helping to monitor our assets, the city could be a better steward.

Because I was at the water department at the wastewater treatment plant for 34 years.

We did not have the frequent, frequent flooding of the streets.

We did not have the frequent flooding of people's basements.

Helps determine whether or not it's more likely that your basements and streets are flooding.

So I don't think necessarily the system is being ran to our best interest.

I think it's been very helpful and beneficial for our suburban friends, but it could be better for us.

So I think the city should be exploring trying to raise the so-called lease payments, which is a joke.

Because we end up paying over one third of the lease payment for ourselves.

That's crazy.

Have a good day.

Thank you.

You as well.

The next caller.

Our next caller is caller ending in 700.

Caller ending in 700.

You have one minute, 30 seconds for general public comment.

Hey, Let's Johnson.

Let's can you hear me clearly?

You are cheated in public official from over there in District 4.

And I'm Mr.

Rule.

Mimi won't what she won't.

She wants the tag of suicide up off her mama.

I done told you, and I spoke to you privately, but just between us, and I said what I said.

I ain't lied about sugar honey ice tea.

Now y'all busted.

Oh, y'all so-called elected officials here in the city of Detroit.

And all y'all can smoke D.

Mimi can't have what she won.

Then y'all can't have what y'all got and won't.

And it's over with.

Now I'm black bag rule.

Check the records.

They're all true.

And I'm outside, outside, outside with it now.

It's Comrade Mallet Jr.

Corporation Council for the City.

Now he can smoke double D I C K.

Watch your mouth, sir.

That's double Dick.

Please, please remove him from the room.

No.

Lord, can somebody please look at the open meetings act to figure out how we address this?

This is really insane.

Who's our next caller?

Our next caller is Gwendolyn Howard.

Caller, you have one minute, 30 seconds for general public comment.

Good morning.

How are you?

Good morning.

Thank you.

Doing well.

How are you?

I'm good.

Sorry, I missed your meeting the other day.

But I'm that today I have a lot of issues, but I just want to do a public service announcement because we the people of Detroit work really hard on um getting the street sign for the honorable Reverend Dr.

Joanne Watson.

And I want PSA to this public service announcement is to know to let you know that that's actually happening on Friday, April the 17th, the street naming uh ceremony right there located on um Tuxedo and Linwood in front of um central high school.

We just want the public to come out and at least um show your face and and join in on this historic celebration for the street sign for Mother Joe honoring Mother Reverend Jo Dr.

Joanne Watson.

So um it's a three-day weekend, but come out to that event from two to four on Friday, uh April 17th, right there in front of Central High School who celebrating A100 class graduation, graduating class.

So please, public come out and honor the woman that that put so much work into that community and us.

Thank you so very much.

Thank you.

The next caller.

Owner Papa, you have one minute, 30 seconds for general public comment.

Uh good morning, and through the chair, may I be heard?

Good morning, yes.

We feel basically the same way about you that you feel about Ruben.

We sit here day after day and watch you do the same thing that you've been doing for multiple years.

You have a contract, 10.1 for 100% grant.

You don't say that where the grant is coming from, but it's to fulfill some type of um stillantis repairs for home repair.

Everybody in the city needs money, fundings for home repair, especially people who've been here and went through pink bankruptcy.

What I'm finding is the same things happening over and over again.

Mr.

Todd and Mr.

Gulat, there's something wrong with them.

If the only things that they can find to work on, plan on is in district six.

I'm sick and tired of seeing district six on this agenda and using my fundings when I don't have a recreation center in district seven.

This is going to be a reframe to all the way to the courthouse because this is inequitable, and I'm not going to go back to where we were years ago, Jim Crow, and watch you Negroes take us there.

We all deserve the funding.

Stellana should have stood up and did what they were supposed to do.

Instead, they didn't even give the people bonuses, something that the UAW gave to everyone.

So you guys picked the wrong horse.

Obviously, this horse is not providing what you said it was going to provide for us.

You guys sound like lunatics.

Thank you.

I look forward to having conversations around line item 10.1 so we can clear up any confusion.

The next caller.

Our next caller is Cecily McClellan.

Cecily McClellan, you have one minute, 30 seconds for general public comment.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Okay, good morning.

I just like to reiterate the event that's taking place tomorrow for the honorable Joanne Watson, who was uh uh a people's council person.

I mean, she fought, I mean, she passed thousands of uh legislation.

One of her key legislation was the domicile credit, where we're citizens of the city of Detroit, because we lost residency up under Archer, you could receive 15 points credit if you pass the test for a job for the city of Detroit.

She also was instrumental in uh uh the Darw Detroit residential water assistance program that prevented water shutoffs for low-income residents and provided a way to get back on track with your water bill and pay off $3,000.

She has been the vanguard for the reparation movement uh for the city as well as the task force, but way before that when she worked for council for Congressman Conyers, as well as her activities with the in quote cobra organization.

She uh was a leader in opposition against the fraudulent bankruptcy that led to taking over the water department and that uh deal with uh Gleewa that is not in the interests of black of uh the city.

So thank you.

Make sure you thank you.

The next caller.

Our next caller is Betty A.

Varner.

Betty A.

Varner, you have one minute, 30 seconds for general public comment.

Uh, good morning to all within the sound of my voice.

I'm Betty A.

Varner, the president of the Soda Els World Block Association, and we have partnered with the MySeps, Michigan Vision Doctors.

We're going to have a health fair this Saturday, April 18th from 10 a.m.

to 1 p.m.

And the doctors are going to provide eye exams and screenings.

Now, last year I attended uh one of these events at Focus Hope.

I was so impressed with the services.

It was just like going into a doctor's office, and they were uh so uh helpful to me with my mobility challenges.

I can't sit a long time, I can't stand a long time, and they went the extra mile to make sure I received the services, and I walked out of there with glasses, and I did not have to pay.

So these are wonderful people.

I talked to the doctors, they partnered, and they are coming to our community, and that will be at 7151 Finco Avenue at the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church on Finco, uh corner of Monica, a couple of blocks west of Livinois.

Also, DMC has got on board, and they will be offering health services.

This is free for anyone who needs the services, adults and children.

Thank you.

And before we proceed to the next caller, I'd like to call the 1015 public hearing to order and recess it to the call of the chair.

We are now back at general public comment.

And who do we have next?

Our next caller is Jadante Smith.

Jedante Smith, you have one minute, 30 seconds for general public comment.

Good afternoon.

Well, good morning, Mabby Hurt.

Good morning, yes.

So I want to say I hope uh expedient recovery to my council member.

Um I look forward to working with you when you get back.

We have a lot of work to do.

Also, I like to say that as much as I've been talking about Cronos Concrete, there's no way that no city council member ever asked any questions about it, never questions CPC, never questions the mayor, never questions any departments about uh a dangerous concrete mix facility surrounded by a neighborhood.

Um, I think that's egregious.

I want to uh say uh I want to kind of just reinforce what owner Papa said.

Um, the way that you guys were broken crawl is the way you feel about you.

We come with the same issues, and it's egregious to think that we come with the same issues and never get any real traction behind them.

We have to continuously complain.

Also, I want to say Colby Young, I called your office.

Also, I want to say Colby, I called your office, I did not get an answer, somebody answered the phone and hung up on me.

Then I got Fraser Cemps and sending me an email saying that they have you got one unified email.

So I'm feeling like I'm gonna do not call this when it comes to your office.

You are a citywide, Colby.

You do not do a good job at doing your job.

I talk about district three, district seven, district four, all around the city, and you never respond to anything.

You just sit there and give off spirit of Detroit awards.

I've been being very nice to you, and you sit up and laugh in my face.

You are terrible.

You're my neighbor too.

And there's lots of issues in my block club.

I'm a block club vice president, and it seems like it does nothing in the city.

I can't get any help with Nicole Curtis or any of the other things that I bring up in city council.

Terrible job, Coleman.

You're doing terrible.

I would get on Mary Waters, but she does a good job.

I can get responses from her staff.

Your staff is terrible, and so are you, Cole Mion.

Do your job for the 100k.

Do it.

The next caller.

Our next caller is caller ending in 325.

Call her ending in 325.

You have one minute, 30 seconds for general public comment.

Let's just please remove this person from the call.

Thank you.

The next caller.

Our next caller is call in user two.

Call in user two.

You have one minute, 30 seconds for general public comment.

Can I be heard?

Yes.

Um, madam, uh, council Johnson.

We need another repeat with the uh activity supposed to be for Saturday in the Finkel corridor.

I would love to know if they will start to do other areas like in either district five, six, or even two, um, for the I exam.

Can you please allow someone to give more information?

Also, the public hearing that's supposed to be with the mayor this evening, has the exact same number as DI should people be calling different numbers?

We need to know that.

I also want to bring up that drugs is allowed to be sold in front of 1055 Washington Boulevard, which is directly across the street from Rosa Parks Transit Center, and I'd like to know why that is being done.

And in closing, I'd like to know why is it that when you complain to city council and to uh building and safety, we have to run the risk of being retaliated against when showing pictures of broken elevators, mice infestation.

Why is this not getting addressed?

I've been notifying your office, council member Tate, and Council Member Young, and nothing is being done.

And I've always been the most respectful one.

Thank you.

The next caller.

Thank you, Miss Marguerite Maddox and Scarlet.

Good morning.

Yes.

Okay.

Thank you.

Um I would like to find out.

Right now, then I run it.

And the Cubs.

That particular area.

That's been a big cut in.

There is another area.

And the night we rate.

And did it bug?

And pedage.

And then a big the clip cut in there is another area the corner and the nice ready and right between the bug and nothing they on the top of the line of hanging and line on one of the word is turning there and we we didn't figure out the rain to we didn't make sure that you want it ring properly of the style because every time I see that um I would welcome against traffic working against traffic because I will shower and I've been complaining about it for years when you just figured out the way to play cake with the department to make sure that they can come out on the edit not ride up you cannot see the water standing there and another thing we get I will be making a comment during during the public hearing and I would love to see more people take you a begin' to work and uh uh city and I am doing the they the shovel the my shoes last time again su the thing thank you I'm done thank you and I understand we have iPhone who had their hand raised before public comment was cut off lower their hand and then raise their hand again uh so iPhone we'll we will give you an opportunity to speak during public comment and would just like to ask in the future if you would just keep your hand raised until you've had the opportunity to speak so that we know that you are still interested in speaking iPhone.

You have one minute 30 seconds for general public comment iPhone, are you there?

If you have not already spoken, please um unmute have one minute 30 seconds for general public comment iPhone going once iPhone going twice iPhone going three times.

Alright, iPhone, if you'd like to submit your public comment to the clerk's office for it to be put on public record, uh please do so.

That now concludes our general public comment and before we respond to any of them.

I'd like to call the 1025 public hearing to order and recess it to the call of the chair.

And um Miss Maddox, I did want to share with you that because of the walk a mile in my shoes that uh my team and I did with you, we did bring up the curb cuts and the pools of water that stand at some of them when it rains.

So we did bring that up during the budget hearing with the Department of Public Works.

Um we were asked to provide any of those areas to the department for them to be addressed.

I did note the areas that you mentioned.

Um and we are keeping track of those that we see um throughout the city as well.

But if you ever encounter that, please feel free to share the location with our office, and we'll get that to the Department of Public Works.

Um to the administration, if you all can have someone to clarify the D dot and the mayor's meeting, both that are taking place this evening.

It was indicated that the same number is on the flyer for individuals who'd like to call in.

So if you all can please um have that information for us before we wrap up, that would be appreciated.

And um, I believe it was Ms.

Betty A.

Varner who mentioned, no, it was Ms.

Shea who mentioned the eye exams throughout other districts.

If you could please share that information with our office, I'm not really sure the event that you're referring to.

Uh, and then we can follow up.

Um, and I do want to know that we did receive the email in regards to the elevator.

We'll respond back to that email because the picture that I saw was not um clear, so I couldn't really understand what the challenge was.

Um, and that is all that uh I have um pro Tim Young.

Thank you, ma'am chair.

I just wanted to say that sidewalk issues can be reported on C click fix.

It's uh improved Detroit.

They have an improved Detroit app known as the C click and fix app.

So I just encourage everybody to go to the C click and fix app called Improve Detroit.

If you have sidewalk issues, you can report them there.

Thank you, madam chair.

Thank you.

All right.

Um, we are moving back to the agenda, and I'd like to call the 1030 public hearing to order and recess it to the call of the chair.

I night I'd now like to call back to order the 1015 public hearing.

The 1015 public hearing is the establishment of a neighborhood enterprise zone as requested by Corktown Development Properties LLC in the area of 1728 Michigan Avenue, in accordance with public act 147 of 1992.

We have several individuals that are joining us.

If you, Miss Gray, can please move them over to be panelists.

If you all can please raise your hand just to make it easier for the team to do so, that would that would be appreciated.

And when you see yourself on the screen, please introduce yourself for the record.

Oh, Lake Shia Barklem, LPD.

Morning.

Yes, Ms.

Cook, how's it and revitalization department?

Morning.

Good morning, David Howell, uh Senior Vice President of Real Estate for the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation.

Morning.

Morning.

Good morning, Chance Daniel, owner of Corktown Development Properties LLC.

Good morning.

Who would like to get started?

I will.

Thank you.

For the chair, Corktown Development Properties LLC is requesting the establishment of a neighborhood enterprise zone in the area of 1728 Michigan Avenue, Detroit, Michigan.

The governing body of a local governmental unit by the resolution may designate one or more neighborhood enterprise zone within that local governmental unit.

Upon a creation of a zone, the applicant will receive the certificate as a matter of right and shall not be required to participate in a public hearing.

I would like to turn the presentation over to my colleague David Howell with the DEGC.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Justice.

Uh good morning, madam chairman.

May I share my screen, please?

Good morning, yes.

Thank you.

Any go to forgive me, Madam Chair.

I'm trying to get it to presentation mode.

I'll start.

Good morning.

Again, I'm David Howell, Senior VP with the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, and we are here today to present a request by Corktown Development Properties, which is owned by Andra Rush.

And with respect to the establishment of a PA2, PA 147 neighborhood enterprise zone located at 1728 Michigan.

Before getting into the details with respect to the request, I'd like to explain the purpose of the requested tax incentive.

Technical difficulty here.

But PA the PA 147 was enacted by the state of Michigan to promote the development and redevelopment of residential housing in eligible distressed communities.

Per the state statute, statute projects will have the taxable value frozen at pre-construction levels.

New construction projects receive an approximate 50% reduction on the improved building value.

The exemption may be approved for up to 15 years with the phase out of the uh final three years of the tax incentive.

Excuse me, there is no reduction to the existing property taxes, and the incentive benefits are not generated until the completion of the construction.

On uh December 17th of 2025, the assessor's office for the city of Detroit provided a letter confirming the project's eligibility for the exemption.

The uh project again is located at 1728, Michigan.

Uh that's in the Corktown neighborhood.

It's in uh district six, and as you can see, uh the project uh will be constructed on what is uh currently vacant land.

I'd just like to uh go over the project, uh provide you with a summary.

Um the uh anticipated investment would result in a nine-story new newly constructed newly constructed building.

Uh the anticipated uh investment is 34 point uh 31.4 million dollars.

Uh the square footage, total square footage uh 67,526 square feet.

Um there's uh contemplated 1,125 square feet of uh retail.

Uh and uh we're looking at 60 apartment units to be constructed.

Uh below you'll see the residential unit breakdown, the number of uh units, um, the developers committed to uh including 20% of the units at 80% AMI.

Um, and you'll see the the breakdown there of the studios, uh the average market rent of the studio's one bedrooms, two bedrooms, and there are two penthouse uh uh units to be cut uh that will be part of the development project.

Um the DGC uh has conducted our evaluation of the project, and as part of our evaluation, we ensure every project meets specific policy objectives.

Projects should provide strategic benefits that align with the city's goals and initiative initiatives, economic benefits that create opportunities for Detroit residents and businesses and generate a fiscal benefit to the city, notwithstanding the tax abatement.

Additionally, projects should meet the but for requirement, indicating that financially the project could not proceed without the incentives.

And as you will note, uh with respect to this strategic benefits, uh this project aligns with the city's goals of providing affordable housing, uh, eliminating blight and activating uh vacant land.

Uh with respect to the economic benefits, uh, we look at job creation.

Uh we anticipate uh 165 construction jobs and one full-time uh job located uh on site uh with respect to the fiscal benefits.

The project uh is anticipated to generate 2.6 million dollars of uh benefit to the city during the tax abatement, which equates to about 175,000 a year.

Uh and um we have uh conducted our butt for analysis and determined that the project does not have the ability to service debt uh without the tax abatement.

Um I will move to our our uh property tax analysis.

The existing property taxes uh um are currently 23, about 23,000.

2300.

Uh the improved property taxes with the abatement uh will generate about 195,000 uh almost 196,000 in property taxes uh and the improved uh property taxes without the abatement would generate just over $600,000.

There is no reduction to the existing property taxes and future benefits are not generated until the property uh is completed.

And so there, I would like uh that said, rather, I'd like to turn it over to uh the consultant for the project, uh Nevin Shokar.

Uh thank you very much, David.

I appreciate it.

And uh good morning, honorable city council.

Um pleasure to be here, and thank you so much for taking the time.

Um first of all, I'd like to start with who the developer is.

Uh the developer is a well-known uh business leader uh in the city of Detroit.

Her name is Andra Rush.

Uh she's represented here by her son, Chance Stanio, who's who's also a part of the development team and ownership team.

Um and a couple of the things that that Ms.

Rush has done.

She started Rush Trucking many years ago and turned that into a successful business.

And then more recently, um did the uh Dakota Integrated Systems Manufacturing Plant uh on the Kettering High School site, as well as uh Detroit Manufacturing Systems.

So next, uh the the parking plan for the project, there's we did extensive community engagement, and as you are all aware, um parking is is uh is a hot button item in Corktown.

And so we did our best to get to a one-to-one parking ratio.

So if there's 60 residential apartment units in the building, we try to get to as close to 60 parking spaces as possible.

And so 14 of those parking spaces are on site.

They're they take up the majority of our first floor, um, drive in through the back alley, have basically a garage remote door that comes in, and then uh they're able to park actually within the envelope of the building.

Uh three of those 14 on-site parking spaces are van accessible, um, fully handicapped accessible spaces, they're they're larger to make those accommodations for uh for any residents within our within our building.

Uh additionally, we have an off-site um uh long-term lease agreement um for 44 more parking spaces.

Um we will be offering um 12 of the spaces uh at an affordable rate at a discounted parking rate uh for those affordable residents.

And then just uh in addition to trying to get to the one-to-one parking ratio with with MDOT's improvements to the Michigan Avenue streetscape, there will also be two additional spaces that are created um in front of the building off the street, um, but we did not want to include that as part of our analysis because those will be public uh parking spaces.

But we did not want to include that as part of our analysis because those will be public parking spaces.

And so now we just want to kind of walk you through what this what this development entails.

We did a phase one, phase two, phase three environmental.

What we basically concluded is that to sort of dig and excavate and create a large basement here would not be feasible because of the cost of having to remediate the soil and bring new backfill in and all of those things.

So for the most part, we have a small basement room that we've created, and then everything else is slab on grade, including our parking, which is on, as I mentioned, the majority of the first floor.

We do have when you look at the um the rendering to the right, uh the bottom right kind of three bays are going to be a retail uh suite that David mentioned that's roughly 1100 square feet.

And to the left, those left three bays are going to be a residential lobby, a fire command room, uh, elevator mail, uh, et cetera.

And so um let's actually uh tell you a little bit about the brick and the aesthetic.

Um, you know, this is majority red brick, which is what you'll see uh throughout Corktown.

Uh, but then we do have blue glazed brick, custom tile.

Uh we do have some bronze accents that add texture and identity to the building.

Uh we do have large storefront windows for that retail space.

And we the um around the entrance of the of the uh to the building off of Michigan Ave, you'll also notice that there's spoke and wheel tiles um to sort of give reference to Corktown's rail and automotive history and help connect the project to the you know Michigan Central Station as well as uh Detroit's industrial legacy.

Um with that, let's maybe move to the next slide.

This is a view of the residential lobby.

Again, the the retail would be basically straight through those doors on the on the other side.

Um you'll notice these train uh carriage style booths as you know, basically reference again to uh the automotive and and transportation-based nature of of Corktown.

Uh, and then you'll also notice sort of behind this reception area, there's sort of like a hub and wheel uh sort of give credence to that transportation um sort of minded uh you know development that that this is.

Um so with that, um let's maybe move to the next slide.

So as we mentioned with the the parking taking, you know, the majority of the first floor, uh, we were forced to basically raise this building higher.

And so these typical amenities that you would see on the first floor, a library room, which is on the left, uh a co-working and and private offices uh on the right, uh pet wash, and then ample tenant storage as well.

Um, you know, those things that you would typically see on the first floor are now on the second floor because of because of the 14 parking spaces taking up the majority of the first floor.

Um and so these are um basically comfortable functional spaces for reading, working, storage, uh everyday needs that the uh the tenants would have.

Um next slide, please.

And then the majority of our building uh floors three through eight are residential apartments.

Um what you see on on the left is uh essentially um sort of straightforward, durable materials, uh quartz countertops, stone backsplashes, simple lighting and uh and plumbing features, as well as um the bathroom, which is is intended to be clean, practical, comfortable, um, and and just to be clear as well, these units um for the market rate and affordable will be completely indistinguishable.

What you see here is is going to be the same for an affordable unit as well as a market rate unit.

Uh next slide, please.

And then on the ninth floor, um there's uh indoor and outdoor spaces.

Um this is more sort of tenant amenities, a clubhouse room to the left, uh, and then an outdoor uh landscape sort of terrace uh uh for the residents with a with a view, if you're kind of um standing where the picture is taken, you're you're looking at downtown, and then uh sort of directly across uh sort of to the right would be where you can see the a view of the Detroit River.

If you're kind of standing where the picture is taken, you're looking at downtown, and then sort of directly across sort of to the right, would be where you can see the view of the Detroit River.

Next slide, please.

So I will go into a little bit more detail about the accessibility and universal design elements.

First of all, this this project was designed to be fully accessible from the ground up, not as an afterthought.

Per building code, there's two fully accessible type A units, which are on floors three and seven.

Then the remaining 58 units are going to be type B adaptable units, so we can easily modify those for residents' needs if they need to age in place, or um, or if they have uh special requirements, we will be able to accommodate them.

Uh the common areas, lobby, mailroom, fitness, lounge area, co-working, uh, everything will be uh fully uh accessible.

So we have wider hallways throughout the the project, we have lower countertops uh for um handicapped uh uh residents.

Uh and we also have side by side washer and dryers in every unit so that we can make every accommodation uh possible for for our residents.

Uh next slide, please.

And and again, the the sustainability is something that we um we we looked at and and sort of pushed our um architecture team, Kramer Design Group, to really sort of emphasize um healthier living and uh for also long-term efficiency.

So, for example, the heating and cooling system that we have in this building uh is is probably one of the most high-end type of um heating and cooling systems that you can put in a building.

It's very expensive.

Uh, but as a result, we loot we use way less energy, it's much more efficient, it's cheaper for the residents, um, and uh and we're able to offer um uh not just the heating and cooling at a higher standard, but also um low water use.

Um we're using uh healthier materials, and we also have bike storage within um within the um the footprint of the building as well.

Uh so next slide, please.

So from a from a job creation standpoint, um we are committed to creating at least one full-time equivalent job, which would be for property management leasing, uh, but we also understand that there's gonna be some janitorial work that needs to be done, maintenance, things like that.

And so once we get a property manager uh that we've selected uh for this, we expect there'll be probably more than two or three jobs that we create, but at the moment, our minimum commitment is to at least one full-time uh job.

Uh the retail suite that's 1100 square feet uh on the ground floor, is also going to create jobs.

We're hoping for sort of a cafe, coffee shop, some something along those lines to um uh sort of create a number of jobs, as well as about 165 temporary construction jobs that are created as a result of the 17 to 18 months it would take to build this building.

Um and all of these opportunities are gonna be posted through Detroit at work.

Uh we're we're fully compliant with um CREO's uh orders and and requirements, um, as well as we we've reached out to um different unions and we've reached out to um we've had a number of conversations.

We've toured the the skill trades uh uh educational um center, and um we we've done a lot of outreach to make sure that uh anyone and everyone can see the plans, bid on the work, um, and uh and uh that that's the way that we've we've encouraged our contractor to um to operate.

Uh next slide, please.

So we we mentioned the uh the extensive community engagement that we've been doing for probably more than the last 14 or 15 months.

Um, just to mention some of the the Corktown stakeholders that we met with, uh the East Side Block Club, we had about 12 people in that meeting.

Uh we went in front of the Corktown Business Association, which was uh over 30 people.

We've spoken with Mudgy's Deli, uh, the train station neighbors block club, the Corktown uh Neighborhood Association and Central Block Club, uh, our direct neighbors across the street, the perennial apartments, um, the the Corktown uh community builders, which owns all the lots behind us, um, Detroit PAL, which uh Chance will speak to, um, sort of the the long-term kind of collaboration that we have with them, uh, as well as Bob Roberts and McShane's pub and uh and our direct neighbors, um, which is an insurance uh company to the left, and then two uh uh Corktown Tavern to the right, all of which have issued uh support letters for this project, including um one thing I would like to note is that at the BZA hearing for the height of this building, since we were doing parking on the first floor and we pushed everything up.

This building is about 20 feet uh higher than than what the uh the standard zoning uh allows.

And when we went to that board of zoning appeals hearing uh to to get the additional height approved, that was unanimously supported um by the board.

Um and then so then uh with that, I'd like to have to pass it off to Chance to talk about um our collaboration with Detroit PAL.

Thank you.

Appreciate you, Nevin.

Thank you for everybody's time.

As Nevin mentioned, um, you know, my family has a strong connection with Detroit PAL that started about when we started uh coming up with this uh project.

You know, it's very important to our family that you know, uh we impact our community, not just with building a building, but finding ways to you know still uh uh create positivity and opportunity.

And you know, one huge um goal of ours as a family is to really impact the youth is you know, they are future and what Pal has done over the years and um you know their commitment to helping the youth of Detroit has been phenomenal.

And so one idea that you know both pal and I have kind of come up with creating an opportunity that throughout this 18 month development um timeline.

I'd like to have some of the youth of Detroit, you know, having Pal kind of be the focal point to say, hey, you know, let's have some workshops, let's have a tour.

How many kids have seen a building go from the ground all the way to nine stories and periodically educate them with, like I said, workshops that some of the trades can help, you know, show them how they uh conduct their work and just creating opportunities to hopefully inspire the next builder, next you know, trade, next owner, whoever it may be.

And then even after we're done with this building, uh uh as it's finished, we still want to create what I like to call a dream building opportunities.

So periodically throughout the year, having some of the youth uh you know, from PAL, or maybe we have other partners as well that come to the top of the building, and whether we have a guest speaker or we just have an opportunity for some of the staff involved with these organizations to help bring these uh the youth to be inspired to dream build to say, hey, look at this amazing view.

Could you guys imagine you building it, you designing it, or whatever it may be?

Um so that's uh what I'm very excited for and uh looking forward to.

Thank you.

Madam Chair, that uh concludes the presentation.

And uh I believe uh Ms.

Barcliff is up next, if I'm not mistaken.

Thank you, Attorney Barclay.

Good afternoon, or good morning.

Um you have before you Corktown Development Property Properties LLC, seeking NEZ for property located at 1728 Michigan Avenue in the greater Corktown neighborhood.

The developer is also seeking a brownfield tax increment financing, and we'll seek a PA 210 commercial rehabilitation district when they become available again.

Corktown Development Properties is led by Andrew Rush, um, the phone former owner of Truck.

I mean Rush Trucking Corporation.

The site was uh most recently used as a surface parking lot.

The proposed project is a nine-story new construction misuse, mixed use building.

The proposed zone consists of a 0.2 acre vacant parcel.

The project will consist of the construction of a 67,000 square foot building that will contain 60 residential units and about 1,100 um square foot of first floor retail space with 14 on-site parking spaces and 14 44 off-site parking spaces.

Additionally, a 20% affordability component has been included in this project, which accounts um at the 88, 80 percent area of median income um studios, there are 15 units and three of them are affordable.

And the one bedrooms, there are 35 units with seven being affordable.

And the two bedrooms, there are eight units with two being affordable, and then there's two bedroom pinhouse suites.

The investment in this project is established.

I mean, it's estimated at 31.4 million.

The abatement is projected to be worth a tax savings of 5.3 million for the developer.

The estimated investment in new in new residents are projected to produce a positive cost benefit for the city of Detroit at 2.6 million and a total of 5.9 million to all the impacted tax and jurisdictions combined.

In addition, there will be 165 temporary construction jobs created and one developer um full-time position.

The result of this finished project develops a vacant lot that has been underutilized as a surface parking lot and provides a benefit by returning distressed property to an elevated use as a residential um investment in the community.

And that concludes my presentation.

All right, thank you so much.

Um to the developer, can you share with us recycling in the building and talk about stormwater management?

Absolutely.

Um and uh to the chair, um, I'm really glad you you brought that up.

Um, the recycling uh that we're doing within this development is actually unique to uh to any apartment building uh that I know of uh in Detroit and that our architect knows of in Detroit.

Um what we what the the ownership group uh actually decided is that um even though there was only room for one trash chute to go throughout the you know the the floors of the building, um there's actually going to be a special sort of mechanical system that's retrofitted to that trash chute so that in the event that you're you're putting trash down the chute, it would go into uh you know the trash kind of collection area on the on the first floor.

Um, but in the event that you had recycling, you would actually just push a button on that trash chute and it would divert that recycling to a separate container so that the recycling could actually be could be picked up.

And I think that is a cost of of roughly 35,000 in addition that the uh developer elected to do uh to really sort of emphasize the uh sustainability aspect of this building.

Um and uh your second question, um uh forgive me, you have to remind me, please, what your what your second question was.

It's uh stormwater management.

Sure.

Yeah, so so stormwater management.

Um we uh because we are on a quarter of an acre site, um, the stormwater management ordinance comes from uh Wayne County and and it's essentially says for any uh site where you have greater than half an acre of impervious surface, you have to account for that rainwater collection um so that you don't overwhelm uh the drains and and the Detroit you know sewer system.

Uh in this case, um, because we are only a quarter of an acre, what we have in our building is as the water comes in, uh let's just say that we had a 100-year rain.

Um that seems to be coming more and more more common.

Um, as the rain comes down onto the roof, it would be collected and sort of uh held within the building before it goes down into uh the sewer system, and there's a special uh mechanism uh that does not release the water into the sewer system if it is uh like overloaded, for example.

And so those were two uh critical things um in terms of sustainability and stormwater management that we we thought uh long and hard about and tried to come up with the best solution possible for both of them.

All right, thank you.

And of course, as you know, I believe any time we can uh redirect stormwater, it's going to benefit uh the entire city of Detroit.

So um appreciate that.

Can you speak to the cost for parking?

It was it was touched upon, but nothing was indicated.

And I know it was indicated that there would be a reduction in the cost for parking for the affordable units.

Yeah, absolutely.

Uh so uh Madam Chair, uh the um the surface parking spaces, the 44 surface parking spaces that we have that are roughly 200 feet from from the building.

Um those parking spaces, first of all, that that site is going to be fully repaved, striped, lighted, um, and and it will be secured for the residents.

And I think we're also trying to get uh video cameras up there to um you know to um to create create a safer sort of environment.

Um those 44 parking spaces, um uh 32 of them will be at a market rent rate of roughly 150 to 175 dollars per space.

Uh there will be a 50 dollar discount on those um so roughly you know, 30, 35 percent um for those affordable tenants uh to be able to park uh 12 of those spaces will be discounted.

And then within the envelope of our building, um those 14 uh sort of more premium spaces that would be heated and cooled, you know, the the temperature would never go below 60 degrees because it's inside the building, nor would it go greater than 80 degrees.

Um those will be at a premium rent, and uh those will be roughly somewhere between 300 to maybe 350 dollars a month.

Okay, thank you.

Um I'm going to run the numbers on that, especially for the affordable units.

Um can you I know you mentioned that there was a fair amount of community engagement that took place.

Can you make sure that we have the letters of support that I believe you referenced?

Yeah, madam chair, absolutely.

Uh I know that they were um I think that they were included as part of the NEZ district uh request that we submitted.

Um, but if not, we can we can share those with your your office.

Okay, thank you.

I didn't see them, so if someone could just please be sure we have those, I would appreciate it.

Um I do have a few more questions, but I'm going to turn it over to my colleagues for any questions.

Member Santiago Romero.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Good morning, everyone.

Good to see you all again.

And thank you for the overview of the project.

Um, as I mentioned when we met, I know of Andrea Rush very well.

Uh follow women in in business, and she's done great work.

Um, so excited that she's moving into in into this uh realm of work and um I do want to make sure that we're doing the best that we can for Detroiters here.

Um in uh our conversations and in your presentation, you mentioned you know, wanting to make sure that we're inspiring young people to join the trades.

Um we are bringing 160 jobs for this project.

Do we know whether or not these will be union jobs or are led by the trades?

Yeah, so uh thank you for the question.

And uh through the chair, um we have not finalized who our actual trade mix is gonna be.

Um we have not signed uh a GMP.

Um and we're we're working very closely with our contractor to to basically go out to anyone and everyone, including unions, um, uh you know, Detroit-based trades, uh to sort of make sure that uh everyone has an opportunity to bid on the project.

Okay, through the chair.

Okay.

Um and as I mentioned, uh for myself to feel comfortable supporting a project like this, uh, that's going to be really important for me.

Um I uh did not vote for the Godfrey, another project in in District 6 that was built without union labor.

And and and that quite frankly, I think there's still a stain in that project.

I I know people refuse to go in there because it lacked union labor.

So when I share these things, I'm really trying to prevent us from experiencing that again and making sure this is an opportunity that we can all benefit from.

And the Detroiters, everyone is proud of.

Um so that's why I mentioned that in and encourage your conversations to keep that in mind.

Um, if that's something that you would like for me.

And as I mentioned before, you don't need my vote to get a project like this passed.

Um, but I in order for me to to support this, I want to make sure um that we are including that if possible.

Um my next question um on this or really we keep talking about there's affordability in this project, and 80% AMI is not affordable to the average Detroiter.

The average Detroiter is making around 40,000.

Um for me, this project is market rate.

Um for me, it looks luxurious, it looks beautiful.

That's that's wonderful.

Someone can afford this.

Um, and if we build it, I know that we create then space for more affordable units that are being built in the neighborhood.

Um, those will not be occupied by people that can pay more.

They will be a newer space.

Um, but I I I do have concern about the brown field.

And noting that if we're not going to have these be union jobs, and if it's going to be market rates, that is a problem for me.

And NEZs, I actually really do appreciate them and believe in them because it's so expensive just in general to build here in the city.

But even a 15-year NEZ I have problems with.

So to come up with hopefully a deal.

But really also curious around thoughts around the NZ time, the time frame.

But those are my thoughts and my questions.

Curious to hear uh thoughts from you all.

Yeah, thank you very much.

Um and again, through the chair, uh happy to um to address some of those comments.

So the the first thing is around the 12 um of affordable uh units that are at 80% AMI.

Um the the rent um that we have at market rate to what we have at a at a discounted um percentage um for the 80% AMI units is maybe somewhere to 50 to 60 percent or more in in some cases.

Um and these units will be indistinguishable between the market rate units and the affordable units, and uh they're throughout the building.

Um so um so uh the you know those units um they're larger than than typical new construction uh units just based on the layout of this building.

Um the average square footage uh of a unit in this building is about 820 square feet.

Uh what you typically see uh is you know less than that, 600-ish square feet.

Um and and so you you know you're getting a large, well-appointed um affordable unit at a at a large discount to to what the the market rate is is um set at.

Uh and that's just dependent on the market and kind of what our our neighbor across the street at the perennial apartments is charging for rent.

Um, you know, we're at a similar rent.

Um you you uh you also brought up the point of uh you know the um the shorter NEZ uh and and also um I know that there's a brownfield discussion after this uh you know directly after this hearing, so I don't want to necessarily speak for the the Brownfield authority, but uh our 15 years of affordable commitment is tied to the length of the tax incentive.

And so our neighborhood enterprise zone and our brownfield TIFF are both projected to be 15-year incentives, and for the the time period of those those uh incentives, um we are offering uh the affordable um you know 20% of the units at 80% AMI.

And and that discount of rent, even though it's somewhere from 50 to 60 percent of a discount from the market rate for an affordable tenant, what that results in in real dollars for this development is roughly a 250,000 a year um loss of of revenue.

Um and and so that's all set by you know maybe the 400,000 of savings annually that we get from from an NEZ um you know tax benefit.

Um so uh so I just wanted to sort of equate the the two numbers.

Um and um and and then also your your question about the shorter time period of uh a five-year or an eight-year NEZ.

Um, you know, I this this project would only be able to move forward uh with a full 15 uh year NEZ.

Uh we did go in front of the Brownfield board.

Uh there was about four different meetings, including uh community advisory committee.

Uh we we did public hearings uh in court town.

Um, you know, we we did not get any pushback around the affordable rents.

The perennial apartments across the street are offering 60% AMI units, 10% of the units at 60% AMI.

Uh and then in the greater Courttown area with the choice neighborhoods grants, there's 650 affordable units being created um throughout the Courttown uh community.

Um, of our 60 units, 48 are market rate and 12 are affordable.

And um, we feel like this development sort of rounds out the neighborhood by by offering you know some something for everyone.

Um, and and so uh with that, I think I've addressed all of your your comments.

Through the chair, thank you.

I you went into the the uneasy um well, and I appreciate that.

And uh thank you for uh the reminder of of the connection to the discounted rates, which I do appreciate.

Um we did not go into oh, you mentioned you did mention that you're still in discussion with the trades.

Um those are my questions, madam chair.

Um, with the uneasy connected to the discounted rate at 15 years, I will leave it at that.

Um, so uh that's it for me at the moment.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Pro Tim Young.

Thank you.

Hello, everyone.

Devon, good to see you again.

It's been a while, man.

Uh I wanted to talk a little bit to me about the um I think this probably goes to DEGC, but I wanted to talk about the uh retail spending aspect of this.

Do we have an analysis of how much that would increase with this proposal?

And if it's in the millions, is there a breakdown of what that could translate to in terms of services?

So, how much you could buy with those dollars from this economic project in terms of more police or fire or garbage services or environmental equipment, like kind of just kind of break that down for me if you have.

And if you have not, I believe you need to do that.

Through the chair, uh good morning, uh, sir.

Um so if I if I understand the question correctly, you are asking uh about really two things.

One of which is uh retail spending generated by the retail, and then what would be the net fiscal benefit to the city of Detroit?

Well, not just the building itself, but like the people that are the spin-off economic development as well, the people that are living here now, they'll be going and shopping in the this this is the very prominent area in midtown.

Yeah, we're talking about.

So there's gonna be a lot of opportunities around there for them to be able to shop, then be able to buy things, that nature.

I just want to know what's gonna be the spin-off jobs from that, what's gonna be the spin-off economic development activity from that, not just from the building itself, but the construction workers that are building that there, was that economic?

I know it's not gonna be a lot, but it's gonna be significant for what we're doing.

And I think people need to understand what this means now economically, and how this is gonna benefit Detroiters in terms of taxpayer dollars that are being generated.

Because now there's nothing there.

Yeah, it's it's it's an empty bill, it's an empty lot.

Yeah, that's what's there currently.

And so we're talking about people that are living there, we're talking about construction is living there, we're talking about economic development that's living there.

Now, now now listen, I definitely think the biggest room in the world is a room for improvement.

And we can have a much bigger and better discussion about affordable housing.

You know, but but I think that that needs we need to have a much broader.

The issues that I have is I don't want to try to stuff all the major issues that we have into one singular project.

I think that's a much broader discussion in terms of zoning.

I think that's a much broader discussion in terms of housing, whether it's technologies or 3D printing, whether it's timber, whether it's um whether whether it's pre-fab housing, there are other you know whether it's tiny houses, whether it's container housing.

You're gonna need zoning for that.

You're gonna need planning for that.

And so I don't want to try to push that into these discussions.

I do think we need to do a better job in terms of affordability.

I actually think that's clear.

However, I also understand part of the reason why you're not doing that's because you're trying to diversify the uh tax base.

Because if you diversify the tax base, you create the tax base when you're talking about being able to raise more revenue to build more housing or to deal with the issues of mitigating poverty or homelessness, you need a tax base that is higher in order to be able to deal with that.

Otherwise, what you're gonna be doing is just taxing the very people who you're trying to help alleviate from being impoverished.

And so I understand why you have it this way.

It's not just because of the project and profit and return on investment, what is important, but it's also to be able to deal with that fact so we can protect citizens from having to be able to be taxed at higher rates that can't afford it now.

And so especially without property now again, this is and I'm gonna say this, this is why we should have went with the land value tax, like I said, but that's another discussion for another day.

So I just want you to kind of explain to me what the economic benefit of this will be so people can understand when this is being built, what the economic benefit will be.

So there will be some benefit.

For sure, and through the chair.

Uh so I'll I'll I'll answer it uh in a couple of ways, sir.

Uh if nothing happens at the property, if the building isn't built, uh, the owner is going to pay about 2300 a year in taxes.

Okay.

If the building is built, and uh they are so fortunate enough uh as to receive the uh tax abatement as requested, the property taxes that will denure to the city will be uh projected to be about 196,000 a year.

So if we do nothing, we'll keep getting 2300 a year, and we'll still have a vacant piece of property uh that will not be uh uh the the property will stay vacant.

Um now provided that the the uh property is built over the life of the incentive, there will be about 2.7 million dollars and uh bless you, uh uh net fiscal benefit that enursures to the city.

That that money goes right into the general fund.

Um if nothing is built, that 2.7 million dollars obviously doesn't exist because there's no economic benefit created.

Right that takes into consideration the income tax uh uh revenue generated by the anticipated 165 um uh construction workers, uh the property taxes that I just talked about, and and it's a net fiscal benefit because uh this 2.7 takes into consideration a couple of things.

One, the added cost for police and fire.

Whenever you have economic development, um, you know, we have to uh assume that uh cost to the city uh increase.

Um police fire, um strains on the infrastructure.

So that $2.7 million that enurs to the city is net the property tax and net the expenses that really a city incurs with respect to development.

Um that if if if I understand your question correctly, uh that's that's the answer to the question.

No, no, no, I I I appreciate that.

I I just wanted to ask: do you also have this?

Do you also have this measure in terms of in terms of is this one, are you doing this project by project, or is this one of many projects that you have in the pipeline for the future and what's the economic benefit from that?

I mean, I I I've done my own analysis.

If you had 10 or 20 projects like this, your tax revenue could be potentially from 10 between 10 to 20 years, give or take.

Uh, this is projected, estimated 85 million to 400 million.

Uh your GDP, you know, if that's your the the the amount of goods and services that the economy produces uh over 10 to 20, that's 600 million to two billion.

And so I just want to know do you have projects like is this one of many projects that you have like this, where you can then talk about what that economic impact is from the investment standpoint and and then or or is it the fact that it's attached to zoning and other reforms that have to take place for us to be able to see what this is, and is this part of an overall um uh uh continuation of the trend of property value increases over time.

And this is just one of those steps.

Yeah, I I do indeed.

I think we gotta kind of have gotta see it from the broad picture, because most of the time it's just like we see it from this one picture, and that's it, is this project.

We've had multiple projects that are like that, and this is one part of an overall system that you're building.

We didn't have a different conversation about the economic development that comes along with this and the benefits that come along with this.

Because a lot of times people are in the city and they're complaining about issues about response time, about not showing up and do it things that nature.

This is the revenue, these are the projects that generate the revenue for us to be able to have the funds to be able to address a lot of the services that they're having.

And I and like I said earlier, again, I think that we affordable housing is a definite issue.

And I'm not just talking about affordable housing, I'm talking about deep affordable housing, as far as I'm concerned.

I just don't know if this is the project to do that.

I think there's other reforms we could do on a much wider basis to get that done.

But this is part of that.

This is the financial mechanism in order for us to pay for the rest of all that.

No, I I think the the thought uh through the chair, forgive me, uh Councilmember Young, the what you just said is extremely insightful uh in that.

So back up a little bit.

So the the analysis that uh or the result of the analysis that I just laid out for you is specific to this particular property.

Uh we do, in fact, uh have a pipeline of request uh for incentives with respect to development projects.

Uh and there uh a number of them are in the greater downtown area.

Uh, but I have mentioned this before.

Um over the last couple of years, the majority of the tax incentives that we've presented to council uh and that have been uh been approved have been outside uh the the downtown area C B D area.

Um and um so yeah, I I do uh the we we do have a pipeline.

I think um uh and the the other thing about the pipeline is uh it encompasses a variety of different types of development, which allows uh development to attract uh a vast uh or or attract uh diversity uh and uh uh housing options, if you will.

Um so I I I yes, it's part of a larger uh pipeline that that we do have.

We will be bringing more projects uh like this to you.

Um but if it's yes, we do have a pipeline.

No, excellent.

I I appreciate that.

Look forward to seeing it.

I'll show you my uh info and numbers as well, just so you can have confirmation of what I'll talk about.

Yeah, and I I do want to reiterate the fact that uh we would not recommend or we wouldn't, you wouldn't even see a project, frankly, at PED if it did not generate uh net fiscal benefit to the the city.

Um and then with respect to uh the time of the incentive, um we would not uh we do not recommend projects that uh are over incentivized, meaning uh there are certain thresholds uh with respect to the metrics we use and evaluating requests.

And if the returns, for instance, exceed our thresholds, then we ultimately would scale back the number of years to ensure that we're not over incentivizing the project.

Um so I I I did want to uh uh uh through the chair and member Santiago Romero asked about the uh uh time or or the length of the incentive and when we can uh uh alter or decrease the number of years uh recommended to you, uh, we do.

Uh well, listen, I I I thank you.

I appreciate that.

I'll send you the information so you know I'm just not making this stuff up out of thin air.

Uh thank you.

So I I I did want to ask one other question about uh I don't I don't know if this is to you, this might be to the uh to the developer, but I wanted to ask about uh uh labor in unions.

uh uh alter or decrease the number of years uh recommended to you uh we do uh well listen i i i thank you i appreciate that i'll send you the information so you know just not making this stuff up out of fan air uh thank thank you so i i i i did want to ask one other question um about uh i don't i don't know if this is to you this might be to the uh the developer but i wanted to ask about uh uh labor in unions what's their involvement in this project yeah so so through the chair um you know right now where we are in this process is is we've submitted for uh a building permit about a month ago uh we we have a lender on board um we we are basically um close to the final stages prior to uh breaking ground on this development subject to these these tax incentives being approved um the the Detroit labor and the um the the contractors and the the specific trades that we're using we have not selected yet uh we we've met with multiple groups uh the carpenters union we we've been to the skilled trades uh task force you know the the sorry the the center um we've toured the facility we we've we've done a number of things uh to reach out to uh the unions to share our plans with them so that they can bid on this this project um we have not selected any bids um and uh we haven't made any decisions yet because we're we're not at that point where when we do uh select those trades and we do sign that that guaranteed maximum price contracts it will incur hundreds of thousands of dollars of cost to this development on top of the two million dollars that's already been spent to date um and it just would not be financially prudent for us to do that at this point you're killing me small um that's that's tough I mean look I look first of all let me say I'll at least I'm glad that you're at least entertaining it because you you know I there's been some who you know you had to really encourage entertain it um uh but I definitely think that you should do that uh I definitely think you should at least understand who that is I think that this will probably go through a lot smoother if you get just some sort of maybe not an agreement but maybe some sort of just understanding in terms of who you want to be with because I could I because I because I know you know saying you see like a straight shooter to me.

We've had conversations before so I don't think that you know you're pulling my leg here unlike some people but I do think that uh that's something that that that we gotta get done you know I mean so I and I don't know how long that would take for you to be able to do that but I I definitely think you want you want to do that ASAP.

That's that's that's something that that's the one thing that's really sticking in in my craw about this is is is that labor aspect.

But but about glad I'm encouraged that you're out there at least talking to people about that.

I I I I think I think that's a good thing.

So you're on the right track.

I understand this is just the beginnings of the project so it's not like you're not doing it you just can't confirm it yet so but okay.

That's right.

And and chair um there there's typically when um prevailing wages or or or unions um come into projects they come into projects that that have federal funding in them things like LITECTIS like CDBG home funds things like that that require you to use uh union labor right um it in in this case this is more of a a private endeavor with debt and equity and none of these public sources in there right there's there's very little um actually no um you know grants or or funding like that that's coming from the city or from the state or from the federal government that would require those things.

And and so the the simple sort of fact of the matter is is is that um you know we have a a certain budget that we've got to stick to to build this building and um and and so uh we we are inviting everyone to bid this project um and to uh to competitively bid this process um uh as as well uh and so to the extent that that there are uh union trades and and different um you know folks out there that could that could do this uh do this job um you know for the same price as as as someone else like we we would love to select them we just don't know if if that's the case yet and and uh we we're still working with our contractor to identify those folks but we've opened it up to everyone and we've had a number of conversations with folks okay it's definitely something for me to contemplate uh I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm gonna move forward Madam President are we are we voting this oh today okay okay because I so I so I got a little bit of time to kind of we do have a process um yeah right we are going to vote on this line item yes um once I close out public comment okay okay pro tem all right yeah I'm done thank you ma'am present all right thank you sir madam chair yes yeah I'm sorry thank you um so I do just want to um raise not only the union um question but also just making sure that Detroiters are employed within the project um you've heard from both of my colleagues about the importance of union labor um and I don't want to make it sound like other laborers can't provide quality um workmanship but we certainly do know that our union laborers provide that um and so

Um, so I do just want to um raise not only the union um question, but also just making sure that Detroiters are employed within the project.

Um, you've heard from both of my colleagues about the importance of union labor.

Um, and I don't want to make it sound like other laborers can't provide quality um workmanship, but we certainly do know that our union laborers provide that.

Um, and so I have sat here and talked about you know, making sure that we are building quality products in the city of Detroit so they can last as long as our properties that we have that have been around for um a century now.

Um so I know that there is a plan to utilize steel on the building that will help with the structure of it.

So just uh want to make sure that you all keep that in mind, not only uh city employees or city residents to be involved in this project.

And I heard you talk about Detroit at works.

Um also recognize that there is um greater support that's needed for training opportunities for people to come out of Detroit at work uh to be able to work on these types of job sites.

Um so I did hear that conversation as well earlier, but just wanted to identify those items as things to seriously consider as this process moves forward.

Um I also just want to um ensure that as we move forward, the concerns of member Santiago Romero are taken weighed very heavily because this is in District Six.

Um, and I know we've seen other projects that were not able to provide things that were requested by the body.

Um, and so I just want to make sure that you weigh that very heavily.

No need for a response.

I do want to go to public comment um because we do have another item relative to this project on our agenda.

Uh and so with that, if there is anyone who'd like to make a public comment regarding the public hearing, please raise your hand, whether in person or virtually, please raise your hand going once, going twice, going three times the collection of public comments, specifically regarding the 1015 public hearing that is the neighborhood enterprise zone for 1728 Michigan Avenue have concluded.

Ms.

Gray, how many hands do we have raised virtually, noting that there are no hands raised in the committee of the whole uh madam chair?

There are currently eight hands raised for virtual public comment.

Okay, we're gonna give everyone one minute for public comment regarding the public hearing.

And if the petitioner or if the uh representatives can please keep your ears open, we will ask for you to respond to the questions at the conclusion of public comment.

Who do we have first?

Our first caller is iPhone.

IPhone, you have one minute for public comment.

Are you there?

Ms.

Great, let's put iPhone at the end of the queue and go to the next caller.

Our next caller, we have another user named iPhone.

iPhone.

Hello, good morning.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Yes, my name is uh Bill Downing with the community builders.

Uh we are a nonprofit developer helping to spearhead efforts with the choice neighborhood initiatives and uh Corktown neighborhood.

Uh currently we're in the process of advancing several formal housing projects directly adjacent to the subject site with several hundred units of subsidized housing plan, uh serving households from 30% area media income all the way up to 80% area media income.

Uh, first, uh I would like to uh comment on the development team and ownership team has been very proactive in communicating our intentions with us.

Uh have been more than willing to help support neighborhood impact efforts in the greater area, and we thank them for that collaboration.

Uh I want to provide my support for development as a compliment as a compliments the mission of the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative and helps to revive realize a vision of a true mixed income community.

Uh this project has a benefit to the material and architectural aesthetic of the corridor and further achieves the goals of the neighborhood revitalization criteria as outlined transformational development plan supported through the CNI grant program.

Uh I commend the Belmont team on their efforts in the creation of this project and uh look forward to seeing it come to fruition.

Uh thank you very much for your time.

Thank you.

The next caller.

Our next caller is Jordan Chapman.

Jordan Chapman, you have one minute for public comment regarding the public hearing.

Hi, uh, my name is Jordan Chapman.

I live at 1611 Michigan Avenue.

Uh, been in the neighborhood for you know about the time the perennial opened.

Um, I think that the project proposed here today, it would be uh a great benefit to uh the neighborhood.

Um, you know, right now we're looking at an underutilized lot with contamination.

And I think what the developers uh presenting here only uh benefits all parties.

Um I would be supportive of the uh you know the TIFF for the project and bringing this to fruition.

I think, you know, as I've lived in the neighborhood for the last few years, you start to see um you know these retail spaces fill up and and more economic uh growth.

And I think this will only continue that growth as the uh neighborhood continues to evolve and uh further benefit the community.

So appreciate the developers uh really walking through things and you know all the questions that were asked.

So thank you for your time.

Thank you.

The next caller.

Our next caller is Kathy Schneider.

Kathy Schneider, you have one minute for public comment.

May I be heard?

Yes.

Hi, uh, this is Richard Notewith Kathy.

Um we're the president and and secretary of the Western Corktown Association.

We've been ignored again with a project in our area.

Those they should have come and asked us what we think about the project is not directly involved with us.

I love the project and I love the idea of what's going on.

My biggest concern is parking.

There doesn't seem to be a permanent parking solution.

They're gonna have a rented lot for they didn't say how many years it's gonna be.

But what happens when that rent the lot, the rent, the lease is up, what's gonna happen?

That area is gonna be used for development.

And so now the there'll be a lot more cars and enabled for parking, not to mention the high cost of the parking lots.

The tenants will be looking for parking in the area.

So I think a more detailed analysis of what the parking effect will be from this project, knowing those things that our concerns are.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next caller.

Our next caller is William M.

Davis.

William M.

Davis.

Do you have one minute for public comment?

Uh good afternoon, can be heard.

Yes.

Okay.

I didn't hear whether or not there's more than one aller.

I was also wondering about the fact that the parking is problematic to me in a number of ways.

Uh was there any discussion about possibly using rainwater to flush the toilets and in the building that helped help coordinate the receiver waters?

Uh also, you know, that's not an economic depressed area.

I don't know why people keep saying that.

I mean, that is a thriving area with a lot of developments of time.

Every week there's a new development in Corktown.

You know, I I think that uh it should be more units available for lower income.

Uh I think that this has problems with it.

Uh also as it relates to the Garfield Hotel, I was involved in and a couple of city council members with me of protesting it because the lack of union uh labor involved in.

I think this needs union labor also.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next caller.

Our next caller is Owner Papa.

Owner Papa, you have one minute for public comment.

Uh good morning, and to the chair, may I be heard?

Uh good morning, yes.

Yes, I don't believe this is the stressed area, which means I think they're misusing the use of this NEZ.

Um, 404,000 is that per year that the city will lose.

How about the cost and the increase in cost of the city cost, you know, for police for fire for all of the things that the regular citizens, the rest of us have to increase our taxes to pay for.

These people are going to be frozen at one particular amount.

I think it's unfair to the citizens.

And unless you can explain why you had to spend 42 million dollars to plug a corporate income tax, means that maybe you're picking the wrong projects, and we should stop picking but four projects, Mr.

Howe.

Um, and and to the uh the the developer.

Um PAL is a athletic league.

And um it would be better if you would support financially uh one of the teams.

I don't feel good about financing penthouses and things of that nature.

So no to this project.

Thank you.

The next caller.

Our next caller is Betty A.

Varner.

Betty A.

Varner, you have one minute for public comment regarding the public hearing.

Uh good morning.

The conversation was a little weak when it came to the unions and uh the union labor.

Uh please, uh, the developers, they need to focus uh and make the conversation stronger in regards to using union labor and the Detroit residents.

That's where they're uh is going to uh be doing their development.

Uh so focus on union labor and the Detroit residents and to make sure our people are put to work.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next caller.

Miss Marguerite Maddox and Scarlet Okay?

Yes.

Okay, thank you.

Um surprise that no one did not pick up the criminality that you get me instead of the cat.

Please do not use that similarity again.

Do not use that word again, please disability uh the same I mean let's say um what kind of doors are gonna be used to get inside the um the leak chair space and how many rest rooms are they gonna be on the first floor and I think it's gonna be I remember opponents and with with the apartment and the parking issue we and the riches gonna be able and visit the kid who maybe helped you up to get those where I think it is a put at how many faces again how many public did you say that is used for people with many cats um and watching right to be shot by shacks or they give it me uh oh one floor is usually gonna be my friend for each unit and with the key pad who will be going in and they give the key uh keep with with the new I think it would be package package uh and shot mid rooms with the man.

I think it's the package package and the man pays the king.

But the key and lock it with the key.

Not good.

That's me.

Thank you.

I'm getting thank you, Miss Maddox.

And my apologies for neglecting to correct um the developer in regards to the terminology that was used.

But I didn't neglect to mention it.

So thank you for that.

Ms.

Great, do we have any additional callers?

The last caller was going back to iPhone, noting there was one hand raised after you cut off public comment.

Okay, thank you.

iPhone will give you one more opportunity to speak.

You have one minute for public comment regarding the public hearing.

Yeah, uh one of the things I sent you emails, numerous emails uh during the hearing, because I don't agree with a lot of that stuff that was said.

But I I don't know why the affordable housing only lasts for about 10 or it used to be you were saying it's 35 years.

Well, 35 years doesn't last that long for our children and our grandchildren.

I don't have any children, but some of you do.

It just uh the minute I went to the uh building safety meeting and they're talking trying to get people into the unions for the unions.

I was a I'm a union retiree, and uh we got most of our work in the auto plants that could afford to pay us.

We didn't get a lot of work in the housing market, but when you get these developers downtown that are billionaires and they didn't use union labor, and this one doesn't want to use union labor.

Well, too bad.

If they can't afford it, well, who can and I can't afford even to do my whole building.

Thank you.

That now concludes public comment regarding the public hearing.

Uh several questions regarding parking.

Uh yes, uh madam chair.

Um I did take notes, and so I'm I'm happy to sort of address um all of these uh different uh concerns.

Um so starting with uh the parking, I think um Miss uh Schneider said um you know she questioned kind of the term of the uh the parking arrangement.

Um so I can tell you that there's a long-term parking agreement.

Um these uh these these parking spaces will not go away after five years or ten years or fifteen years.

Uh we will have uh access to these parking spaces for you know basic basically long-term, you know, for through the foreseeable future.

Um and I think uh that was the same comment that um Mr.

Davis had um and then just to address uh owner pop-up.

Um so so the the property taxes, and it if this if this wasn't made clear, I'd like to just just make this clear um you know uh right now uh on the record.

So so $2300 a year is what's currently paid for those those parking spaces, even with the NEZ, if it were to be approved, and the TIFF if it were to be approved, you know, with all of the different tax incentives that we're seeking, that 2300 a year would jump to at least 70,000, if not more, that the city would collect, um, you know, that that is something that the developer is paying.

Um, you know, that they're paying 70,000 a year to the city even after all of these abatements are approved.

So there is going to be uh much more in property taxes that the city gets as a result of this development, and that does not take into account the income tax uh benefit that goes directly into the general fund uh that Mr.

Howell presented, uh overall, there's a $2.6 million net benefit over 15 years to doing this development.

So when you take away the you know, the um, you know, if this development were not to happen, the city would be 2.6 million dollars less better off.

Um and and um also to owners pop up or Own Papa uh the commenter about the Detroit PAL, um, we have financially supported them.

Uh Chance and and his family uh have sponsored the Halloween Palooza or Halapalooza uh event, and they look forward to a long-term partnership and financially you know sponsoring more events uh in the future.

Um and and then uh just to the comment on union labor.

Um you know, we haven't made a decision if if we can incorporate union labor into this into this project.

Um if we can build it for the same price using union labor, uh we will.

We would love to uh use union labor.

Um we just don't have any requirements on our funding the way that other projects do, that like with CDBG or LITEC funds that do require you to use it.

Um we we don't have those types of subsidies in this project.

Um and then just to miss Maddox's uh point, and I apologize for um for uh using the terminology that I used.

I did not mean for that to be um uh miss misrepresented.

Uh we have three ADA parking spaces uh out of the 14 uh on the first floor of the building.

So you know, three out of the 14 is a significant um you know chunk of those those parking spaces.

The washer and dryer uh will be side by side in each unit.

Um and then uh regarding the automatic doors, um there'll be key fob.

Uh I I don't know for sure if when you swipe your key fob, if they open, swing open and stay that way.

I've got a question out to my architect to uh to to uh get the answer to that, but um but it if if you know that that's that's an accommodation I think we're willing to make in in keeping this building um you know ADA um uh compliant and not just compliant, but to go above and beyond the standards in terms of the sustainability, like with the trash shoots that that chance and his family have agreed to uh to take on that additional cost to create something that's not just uh not just the bare minimum of sustainable, but also going above and beyond.

And I think that's really what we've tried to do uh and try to take into account here, um especially with things like the parking ratio being as close to one-to-one as possible.

The the actual um uh city regulation, I think is 0.5.

Um, and so we have almost twice as many parking spaces as what would be required by the city.

Um and so with that, um, Madam Chair, if I if I left anything out, um please let me know.

But otherwise I I think I addressed uh all the comments.

Thank you.

I did note a a couple of well, three questions that um were not addressed.

I'm not sure if you all have already um done the layout for the main floor, and I know we're gonna talk about that um shortly, but uh as it relates to restrooms on the ground floor, um also the mailroom.

And I was going to ask a question in regards to the elevators to understand how many elevators there are in the building.

Yeah, so so madam chair, there was only room to incorporate one elevator.

Um, you know, if you ask Chance, uh, he would have loved to have had a second elevator.

Um there just wasn't the room on this site.

This site is like slightly less than a quarter of an acre.

We are building a zero lot line development.

Um, you know, there's no more room on the site to really incorporate um an additional elevator.

And I think we would have lost at least one residential apartment unit on each floor.

Uh and you know, given the buck four and the how financially strained this development is to even create something like this to begin with, um, you know, we could not afford to lose uh any additional um any additional um residential units.

Um and so that was the the comment on the elevator, and madam chair, I think you have you had one additional question as well.

The mail rooms, miss maddox inquired about how the mail rooms will be set up and the restrooms, the number of residents.

Right.

Um so uh we we we do have uh a mail room, um a package room, um that there's uh it's it's really a package room and then separate mailboxes.

Um they're they're accessible.

Um and um they're all located on the first floor.

Um and uh and that and that's um that that's something that we did give a lot of a lot of thought to, and we we have the ground floor layout plan if you if you'd like to see it.

I'm happy to share it with you.

That would be great.

And do you have rest rooms on the ground floor we um let me see one second?

I'm just gonna share my screen if that's okay, madam chair.

Um it looks like we how about you reserve the response to that for our next um hearing, but if you can please just make sure you note uh restrooms on the ground floor when we talk about um when we go into the 1025 public hearing, right?

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Colleagues, any additional questions, comments.

Is there a motion?

Discussion pro Tim Young, noting that we have one hour before we uh oh that's right, you're the chair.

I'm very well aware, I'm gonna move very quickly.

I just want to ask this is a motion to bring this back in one week or a motion to move this forward.

I'm requesting a motion.

What's the pleasure of the body?

Oh, I would like to request a motion to bring this back in one week.

There's some more um research analysis that I want to do before I move this forward.

There's people I need to talk to.

So if the chair would be so kindly, I would like to request to make a motion to bring this item back in one week.

And pro Tim, the request is to bring line item five back as a line item in one week.

Yes.

All right, there is a motion to bring line item five back as a line item uh and not a continued public hearing, just for clarity.

In one week hearing no objections, that action shall be taken.

All right.

Um that now closes out the 1015 public hearing.

I'd like to call the order the 1020 discussion.

The 1020 discussion is in regards to uh any taxing jurisdictions for 1728 Michigan Avenue.

Are there any taxing jurisdjurisdictions that are present for 1728 Michigan Avenue?

Seeing none, that now closes out the 1020 discussion.

I'd now like to call back to order the 1025 public hearing.

The 1025 public hearing is regarding approval of the brown field of the city of Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority for 1728 Michigan Avenue.

All those participating, please introduce yourself for the record.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, Corinne Kapler.

I'm the senior Brownfield Program Manager at the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation and for the Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority.

Good afternoon.

Gentlemen, Nevin and Chance.

Uh good afternoon now.

Um Nevin Shokar, consultant to the developer.

Thank you.

And I believe Ms.

Kappler, are you going to kick it off?

And because of the now one hour that we have for the rest of our agenda, if you can do high level and touch on anything that is specific to the brownfield, we would appreciate it.

Thank you.

The floor is yours.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Is it all right if I share my screen?

Yes.

Okay.

So I'd like to start with just a brief explanation of what is tax increment financing and what is a brownfield plan.

And so a brownfield plan uses tax increment financing or TIFF to reimburse developers for costs they have to pay to redevelop land and properties that they wouldn't otherwise have to pay if they were to develop on an undeveloped site on the edge of the suburbs.

TIFF is used to help level the playing field and encourage the redevelopment of contaminated, blighted, obsolete and historic properties and for the development of affordable housing within the city.

At its simplest, TIFF works by freezing taxes at the current undeveloped value of the property, which continues to be paid by the developer and received by all taxing jurisdictions.

The developer captures the increase in property taxes from the renovated property to be paid back over several years for costs they paid related to environmental cleanup, demolition, obsolete utilities, and other eligible expenses.

Once the approved eligible costs for the property are received by all taxing jurisdictions.

And then the yellow bars is what will be captured by the Brownfield Authority and then reimbursed to the developer for their eligible costs.

And then the phase out for the NEZ is shown in years 12 through 15.

And then the capture to the developer would then be concluded.

And then the uh the taxes can be captured by the DBRA for revolving loan fund for a period of up to five years.

And then after that, the full tax bill will then go to all taxing jurisdictions.

So the developer for this brownfield plan is Corktown Development Properties LLC.

The plan consists of one parcel located at 1728 Michigan Avenue, bounded by the property line to the west and east, Michigan Avenue to the south, and an alleyway to the north in the Corktown neighborhood.

The property is eligible property to be included in a brownfield plan because it will be developed for housing.

The project at the Bacon property will be a new construction nine-story, 60-unit uh mixed-use apartment building.

The first floor will feature a small commercial space, tenant amenities, and surface parking apartments will be located on the second through ninth floors with indoor and outdoor tenant amenity spaces on the ninth floor.

The 60 residential apartments will include studio, one bedroom, and two bedroom units for the duration of the plan, which is 15 years.

20% of the units will be priced at 80% AMI and evenly spread across all unit types and floors, which will consist of three studio units, seven one-bedroom units, and two two-bedroom units being income restricted for the life of the Brownfield plan, which again is 15 years.

For eligible activities, which include the project lint law rent loss, which is calculated based on the affordability of those 20% of the units.

Approximately 165 temporary construction jobs are expected to be created by the project, and one permanent permanent job is expected to be created by the developer with additional permanent jobs to be created by the future commission commercial tenant.

A DBRA local public hearing was held on Monday, February 2nd, and the minutes from that meeting were included in the submission to city council.

This concludes the DBRA's presentation to this honorable body, and I will turn it over to the development team to address anything that was brought up in the last public hearing.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Would you like to address the uh restrooms on the main floor?

Uh certainly, Madam Chair.

There is one unisex bathroom that is on the ground floor.

Uh that is um uh accessible.

Thank you.

Attorney Barcliff.

Good afternoon.

Um, Corktown Development Properties um is seeking a $2.9 million dollar brownfield TIFF reimbursement with the overall value of the plan estimated at $5.1 million, which includes the local brownfield costs.

Um overall capital investment included, um, including land is estimated approximately 31.4 million.

The property is considered eligible property because the property includes housing property for which eligible activities are identified under a brown field plan, including personal property located on the property to the extent included in a brownfield plan.

The DBRA will reimburse the developer for the cost of the approved eligible activities, but only from tax increment revenues generated and captured from the property.

No advances have been or shall be made to the city of to the city or the DBRA for the cost of eligible activities under this plan.

Eligible activities are estimated to commence within 18 months of the approval of the plan to be clean completed within three years, unless otherwise agreed in writing by DBRA.

Oh no, I've already um no cost eligible for activities will be qualified for reimbursement to except to the extent permitted in accordance with the terms and conditions of the reimbursement agreement and act 381.

And that concludes my presentation.

All right, thank you so much.

Um I will kick it off again with questions.

Um my question is to Ms.

Kappler.

I'm wondering do you all have a market rate analysis that you can share with us that helps me to understand the gap between market rate and the affordable rates?

Sure.

Um so to the chair, the um the housing TIFF program um uses the control rents provided by MISHA on an annual basis.

Um so we we provide um a housing TIFF calculator to developers to use um that has the uh miss to control rents for that year, um, and then you know, based on the affordable affordability rate that the developer is looking to provide, and then calculates what the gap is between um the 80% area median income or whatever rate the developer is is providing and um the control rents provided by Mishta.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And do you have a are you able to articulate how the control rents are determined?

Um so the control rents are determined uh based on geography.

I believe for uh for Detroit, it is the uh Lavonia, Warren, Detroit um uh uh MSA or Metro Statistical Area.

Um and then that information is is uh collected by Ms.

Shah and then published on an annual basis.

And it's not based on income of the MSA.

It is based on income of the MSA, and then it varies based on um the unit sizes too.

So for studios, one bedrooms, two bedrooms.

Um it's different based on income and the size of the units.

Okay, if you can please share that with us, um we'd appreciate it.

Thank you.

Colleagues, any questions, comments?

All right, seeing none, we are going to go to public comment.

If there is anyone joining us who'd like to speak in regards to the 1025 public hearing, that is the brownfield request for 1728 Michigan Avenue.

Please raise your hand.

Please raise your hand.

Going once, going twice.

Going three times, the collection of public comment has concluded.

We do not have any hands raised in the committee of the whole.

How many hands do we have raised virtually?

We have five hands raised for virtual public comment.

Thank you.

If we can please set the clock for one minute.

And who's our first caller?

Our first caller is Jim B.

North Corktown Flood Zone.

Call you have one minute for public comment.

Caller, are you there?

Ms.

Gray, let's come back to this caller.

Our next caller is owner papa.

Owner Papa, you have one minute for public comment.

Uh yes.

Uh good afternoon into the chair, may I be heard?

Good afternoon, yes.

Thank you.

This property currently is a parking lot.

Is that what it currently is?

And um, if it's a parking lot, there's no personal property on this lot.

It's vacant.

It's a vacant lot with a use as a parking lot.

Um and I want to know how was the contamination found and what contamination was found there.

Um and how do they plan on eradicating it, just covering it with slabs?

Is that what I understand?

But please tell me how this lot was found to be uh contaminated and they're already at phase three of cleanup.

Is it still a parking lot or was it a parking lot or had they dug it up?

Uh please tell me where you are in the process of um cleaning up the um the site.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next caller.

Our next caller is iPhone.

IPhone, you have one minute for public excuse me, one minute for public comment.

Yeah.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Okay.

Um I I uh objected to when the brownfield got, I guess, amended to include it development, not just cleanup.

Now I wasn't listening carefully, but uh that's what it was meant for, brownfield.

But then the city I was told by roads that the city benefits because we get more state money by using Brownfield and some of it comes out of their budget instead of ours.

But I really uh object to mixing the two development and brownfield and uh that uh if the I don't know how close if they're gonna use that for parking, how close is that to the the other venue that you say doesn't have enough parking?

And uh it seems like maybe uh if there's gonna be a lot of need, maybe you need some parking lots that are more than one level.

Thank you.

The next caller.

Our next caller is William M.

Davis.

William M.

Davis, you have one minute for public comment.

Uh good afternoon, glad we heard.

Good afternoon, yes.

Okay, my question is this.

Yep, in so much if it appears as if they're gonna get possible a possible uh subsidy, the help with the the lower income people.

If that is the case, couldn't they ask for a greater type subsidy so that these truly could be affordable to the average Detroiter?

Because even with this so-called subsidy or so the rent is still exciting extremely high.

Also, I think they hear an answer about the possibility of using a rainwater to flush the toilets or the yonos by the number of other buildings in the city now that would you know how reduce the water demand and also have a more control amount of water that's going to uh the system, the receiving system.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next caller.

Our next caller is Marguerite Maddox and Scarlett.

Miss Marguerite Maddox and Scarlet.

What's the woman and you have some window?

The elevators.

And give me the partner.

Thank you.

The next caller.

Madam Chair, the last caller just dropped off.

All right.

Thank you.

That now concludes public comment.

And to the presenters.

There were several questions that were asked.

Well, actually, maybe Miss Kappler can take the first one as it relates to contamination.

I would defer to the develop to the consultant to talk about how the containment contamination was found and the environmental studies conducted on the property.

And in their pursuit of the housing TIFF request, they will be required to submit to Mish environmental compliance affidavits, both prior to construction.

Ms.

Kappler, your signal is it appears to be weak.

I'm sorry, can you hear me now?

We can.

Okay.

Part of the housing TIFF request, they are required to submit an environmental compliance after the David both to pre-construction and post-construction.

And then a post-construction to say that they have met all of those requirements for the for the due care plan.

So I'll refer to uh defer to Nevin about the environmental reports.

Thank you.

Mr.

Shokar.

Yeah, Ted, thank you, Madam Chair.

Um so we uh we we began this process um probably nearly two years ago, and one of the first things that we did was we did a phase one environmental um report.

Uh we we commissioned uh TEC, which is the testing and engineering consultants.

Um they do a lot of environmental testing in Detroit and around the area.

Um that phase one basically indicated that based on the prior use of the site, which which could have been uh a laundromat, dry cleaners, um, you know, other things, uh, that there was likely contamination in the soil, as well as um like higher or elevated levels of of different uh metals, mercury, arsenic, uh, etc.

Um, our phase two environmental assessment that we completed a couple months after that, uh, did confirm it.

There was soil borings and testing done on 18 different um uh locations throughout the site.

Uh we went to a depth of over 12 feet in most of those cases.

Um and it wasn't just to determine um you know the the contamination, but also um from a geotechnical standpoint, uh the foundations that we would need to put in for this building for a steel high-rise nine-story building, uh, if you have sand and other kind of like loose grit um and not necessarily um you know the type of soil that you need to support this development.

Um we we did a phase three environmental, which which confirmed that we actually need to compact uh stone and crushed aggregate and put that into the ground so that we can support uh this building and and build vertically and you know, basically support the building uh without any detriment to our to our neighbors' buildings.

Um and so we've done a ton of environmental testing as I mentioned to phase one, phase two, and phase three, and our plan for construction um is to um is to clean um sort of the the top level of the site uh as much as as much as is is required and then to haul off and excavate to a fate to a level two landfill, which is a specific landfill, you pay certain tipping fees and and things like that so that um you can take hazardous materials such as these um and and dispose of them safely uh at a landfill.

Um and so all of these costs are costs that we're having to um sort of uh bear in our pro forma to help you know not only do the right thing from an environmental standpoint, but also build a building that's that's safe uh and clean and does not negatively impact uh the residents of Detroit.

All right, thank you.

If we can um be brief in our responses, we do have limited time.

Um there was a question in regards to rainwater um to utilize that to flush toilets, and I believe Miss Maddox had inquired about um clarification for parking.

I think she may have um heard you all say that the parking would be in the alley.

So can you just clarify that?

Uh certainly, madam chair.

So so the um uh the the parking is is not in the alley, the parking is off the alley.

So you come in through the alley, you drive to the alley, you open up essentially a large garage door where there's 14 spaces inside the building.

Um, and three of those spaces are like wide van accessible, um, you know, marked spaces.

Um and uh and so those are are made to be ADA spaces, uh three out of the 14.

Um and then on the the comment about rainwater to flush the toilets.

This is something I I'd probably have to bring up either with our um our consultant or maybe our architects.

Uh I I would imagine that we've looked at this.

I I don't know how practical it is for us, but it's something that that we can uh have an answer for you uh maybe via email.

Thank you.

And the last question, um, Ms.

Kappler, perhaps you can address this.

If there was a question about increasing the subsidy to be able to decrease the rental rates.

Yeah, so the requirement um for housing TIFF, the the bare minimum requirement for um providing affordability is 20% of the units at 80% AMI.

Um there are other funding sources that the developer could pursue um whether through the city of Detroit through MESTRA um or federal funding to provide uh deeper affordability.

Um I'm not sure if if those sources were um pursued, I would defer to Nevin to provide that quick answer.

And and Madam Chair, just to just to add to that, those those deeper sources, um, you know, LITEX, CDBG, um they are um they would open up basically a number of different factors for construction, uh for basically for financing conditions, um, potentially changes of how this this building is designed.

Um there would be a number of implications.

Um we this we we basically um at this point um you know our are we're not able to um you know to to kind of evaluate we we've already did our evaluation and we we've looked at those things, but um there they're not they're not things that would help us in in this development or enable us to do to do any deeper affordability.

All right, thank you.

Colleagues, any additional questions?

If not, is there a motion on line item seven can we can we move this forward without moving the previous um project forward, or did we want to like kind of wait they're they're they're for the same project.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

We want to like postpone this one too, so we can really work this out.

Yes, okay.

So let me just take the lead here.

I would like to make a motion to postpone this line item for one week.

And I want to postpone this to turn this into a line item.

There's a motion to bring line item seven, the public hearing back as a line item in one week, noting that we will be on recess next week.

So this is essentially a two-week bring back hearing no objections, that action shall be taken.

Line item seven will be brought back in two weeks as a line item.

Discussions.

Thank you all so much.

Pro Tim Young?

I I forgot about the recess.

I just want to know.

I I'm still support my motion.

I just want to know, does that impact this project timeline at all?

It has already been moved.

Um so no, no, I'm not trying to move it again.

I just want to know just for my clarification.

Mr.

Shokar, very quickly.

Uh yes, Madam Chair.

Um, you know, our our intent was to be able to break ground on this development um, you know, towards the end of May or early June.

Um we will be delayed uh by a couple of weeks, but we're happy to address your concerns and and uh you know um discuss this further.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

This now closes out the 1025 public hearing.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I now like to call back to order the 1030 public hearing.

The 1030 public hearing is regarding amended and restated project plan and issuance of bonds by the economic development corporation of the city of Detroit for the music hall expansion project.

We have a number of people joining us for this line item.

If you all would please raise your hand so that the team can move you over as a panelist.

When you see yourself on the screen, please introduce yourself for the record.

Good afternoon, David Howell, uh Detroit Economic Growth Corporation.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Please introduce yourself for the record.

Uh Alex Parish, Chairman of the Music Hall.

Good afternoon.

I'm Vin Spall.

I'm the president and artistic director of the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts.

Good afternoon.

Uh good afternoon.

I'm Ryan Conway.

I'm a managing director with PFM Financial Advisors, and we're the financial advisor to um the client.

Good afternoon.

Afternoon.

Uh good afternoon, Becky Nevin uh with the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation on behalf of the Economic Development Corporation.

Good afternoon.

Do we have everyone to be able to get started?

I do note that we there are two additional individuals that are planning to join us.

But if we are able to get started, please proceed.

Thank you, madam chair.

May I share my screen, please?

Yes.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Uh again, David Howell, the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation.

And uh I am joined by uh colleagues from uh DGC representing the EDC and uh the music hall development team.

And Madam Chair, uh today we are here to discuss is as you just indicated um the request uh before council is the approval of an amended and restated uh project plan as well as the approval of the uh issuance of uh tax exempt uh or or ish issuance of bonds by the EDC as required by the Internal Revenue Code.

Um I'd like to uh just give some background uh with respect to the development project.

Uh there's uh about a hundred and seventy-four million dollar estimated investment, um, which will create 446 new uh full-time jobs.

Uh the existing jobs and or retained jobs uh presently are uh 278.

Uh the expansion, the music hall expansion will uh result in about 350 uh annual events and 300,000 new attendees.

Again, we're here to talk about the expansion uh of the uh current music hall, which will be about a thousand a hundred thousand uh square feet, uh which will encompass a music academy, recital hall, state-of-the-art concert venue, uh new restaurant and uh rooftop space.

Uh as well as uh welcoming and ticket center uh and uh uh activated alley that will separate the uh the uh current uh music hall and the expansion.

The approval will allow the music hall to pursue up to 166 million dollars in bonds, uh 501c3 bonds for the expansion of the music hall.

And the uh music hall is a nonprofit uh and is not seeking any uh incentives.

This next slide details the uh project plan area, which encompasses the existing uh facility as well as the uh uh site where the expansion will occur, uh as well as uh the area adjacent or in close proximity to uh the music hall that that uh will be impacted.

Just like to go over or remind you uh of the timeline uh associated with uh the initial approval uh and uh just reiterating the uh request before you today.

Uh in uh November of 2023, the uh approval of the project plan and district area occurred, uh, which uh includes the again the existing uh music hall and adjacent lot uh as well as the project area includes uh the area surrounding uh the the project.

Um that uh same year, the mayor uh uh appointed two special directors to the EDC board with respect uh to the project plan, and those special directors uh must be representatives of uh the neighborhood, either residents and or business owners uh that would be likely affected by the pro the proposed project.

The special directors that were uh added to the EDC uh board are Hiram Jackson and Dennis Archer Jr., both of which uh own businesses in uh the project plan area.

Uh in April of 2024, uh the project plan was approved.

Uh and a project plan is is simply a comp comprehensive overview of the project, uh detailing the development plan, the timeline and the budget, uh, and includes authorization for the EDC to issue uh the not-for-profit bonds.

And again, the current request uh is uh an approval of an amended project plan to reflect an updated budget uh and plan of financing, which includes uh an increased project uh budget from 125 million to 174 million, uh, and increasing the bond size of the project.

Uh again, uh the approval of the issuance of bonds uh by the EDC uh as required by the Internal Revenue Service.

Uh just some information with respect to the financing of the project.

Again, the uh music hall is a nonprofit uh corporation uh and it is organized as a 501c3.

The the benefits of uh 501c3, not for profit bond financing, are that the interest on the uh tax exempt bonds um only the tax exempt bonds uh is tax exempt throughout the life of the bonds.

The bonds will be repaid by program revenues uh in this case uh from the music hall and in and secured uh by a mortgage.

Uh with respect to the economic uh development corporation or the EDC, uh it will serve as the conduit to the financing and is not a source of financing.

And I think it's uh very important to note uh to this honorable body as well as the listening public that the EDC nor the city of Detroit uh will be obligors to the bonds.

Uh, neither will uh pledge its full faith and credit uh towards the bonds.

And simply put, in other words, the city nor the EDC is on the hook uh for the repayment of the bonds.

Uh it is the sole source of repayment, are again project revenues uh by the music hall.

So at this point, I'd like to uh turn the presentation over to Vince Paul, who is the uh president of the music hall.

Thank you, David, and and thank you to the honorable city council uh for allowing us to uh present to you once again and provide additional information on uh the music hall expansion.

As David indicated, uh the the building is quite complex by design.

Um it's over a decade in the making of what would go into this uh very important uh location.

So as he mentioned, it's a non-for-profit music academy and recital hall.

Again, really expanding um on music halls um education programs that we already do in the schools, but providing that after school activities and weekend activities for uh all of our students uh throughout uh all of the Detroit neighborhoods.

It also consolidates music industry offices.

It also provides a recording studio in downtown, which doesn't currently exist.

Uh also uh it's it'll be the first say of the art concert hall built in over 80 years in uh in Detroit, uh, which also really helps because it provides a mid-sized conference venue uh that I know uh is another sort of gap in the in some of the city programs.

Um the activated alley, we take a dilapidated alley and it it will become a promenade.

We call it the digital promenade of music legends um uh of all of our great Detroit music legends.

Um and with that comes a welcome center plaza, which uh has all city ticketing outlet or all venue uh ticketing outlet.

Uh what we're doing is really getting uh the public familiarized with all of the abundance of um of attractions that we have in the city of Detroit.

It also has a year-round rooftop entertainment and special events venue with breathtaking views of the city.

It also has a uh Detroit uh legend uh music themed restaurant on the first floor, and it also has a music store.

And uh this is a place where uh if you wanted to rent your child a clarinet, you could do that in the city of Detroit once again.

Okay, next slide.

Ah this is uh the location.

Uh again, the music hall uh is right in the middle of one of America's premier stadium and theater districts.

We have four soon to be five professional sports teams, three stadiums, and eight theaters essentially adjacent to each other, moving over 40 million people through our city.

And right in the middle of it is music hall.

And in a way, you can look at where would you put such a facility that would be equitable to all?

Well, no matter how you triangulate uh Southeast Michigan or the city of Detroit, the most convenient for everybody would be right there in the corner of Randolph and Madison.

Next slide.

The architects uh have spent uh they they have an incredible resume.

We are so fortunate to have this sort of gold standard team between the uh uh Bard Mallow as the construction manager, um the architect teams of Todd Williams and Billy Shin and Rainey Hamilton and Hamilton associates, and uh they have a vast experience in designing gathering spaces.

So they've spent uh a lot of time on universal design principles.

Uh so as you can see, it's uh there's a focus on equitable use, uh flexibility, uh, very simple, intuitive use.

There's seven entrances, though there's one main entrance.

Uh there are three ground floor restrooms that are all barrier-free and have handles on both sides.

Um there's a tolerance for error.

Um, there's low physical effort that in all of the doorways.

It's a public building.

Uh we surmise that we'll move uh up to 300,000 people through this building in a given year.

So it not a detail has been overlooked in uh we have extra wide corridors that people don't think of.

Um, and and music hall also uh we're 97 years of gathering space.

So we have pretty good understanding of what it takes to um to really accommodate all of our guests from around the region.

And uh hospitality is something that uh I think we really bring to this project, our understanding of diversity and and and uh how to serve all of our different uh demographics that that make up our current audiences and our future audiences.

Next slide, please.

Uh again, uh we're pretty close neighborhood in the uh in the uh stadium and theater district, and this is a pretty good shot of how we plan to build it, uh that that is really minimizes impact to the existing uh uh businesses.

Uh when I say we're we're close, we all kind of know each other very, very well.

So right next to us is the casa, and that's Ishmael.

Um then you have uh honey and Hiram Jackson's building.

You have uh uh fixing soul, uh that's Rainey Hamilton's building.

Uh I might add Rainey's on our board, uh, vinyl society with Dennis Archer Jr.

I mentioned all these specific names because we spoke with everybody over a period of time.

In fact, David is in quite a few of those meetings where how do we set up the construction walls where we can continue to keep traffic moving pretty much the way it moves right now.

You'll see that we encroach a little bit on the right turn lane of uh of Randolph Street as it goes into Madison, but it doesn't block it.

So you still have northbound, southbound, eastbound, westbound, all of those roads remain open during the construction period.

Okay, next slide.

Well, parking are us.

You know, as I mentioned, we move so many people through our district, and uh so uh we have abundant parking, uh literally thousands of spaces of parking.

Uh I think what's most exciting about the new building uh that the expansion is it really activates the daytime, and all of these parking lots are pretty empty during the daytime.

So uh uh parking was one thing that that really worked for us right from the get-go.

I mentioned Todd Williams and Billy Shin and uh and Rainey Hamilton uh and Hamilton Anson Associates.

Um I might add Todd Williams is a native Detroiter, and this is the first project he's going to build in his hometown.

Uh he's currently working on the Obama Presidential Center, Obama Library in Chicago, uh having just finished uh Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.

That was an 800 million revisioning.

Uh so uh he is an undisputed uh expert in uh in architecture, uh, but specifically in gathering spaces like like Geffen Hall and Obama.

And uh and of course Hamilton Anderson, uh, they're one of the primary uh architects for the Motown Hittsville next, and that's currently under construction and plans to open next year.

Oh, this is a great slide of our trustees, you know.

Music Hall.

Um we we tend to be inclusive.

That is to say, we look at all of Detroit and we say, okay, who actually lives here and how do we represent everyone who lives here?

And as a business plan, that really worked.

You know, in a way, it's not one city, it's like 25 towns.

And so we want to represent all 25 towns.

And so on our board, you'll see that that is pretty much reflected.

Um it's a great diverse group, and we have harnessed the power of diversity.

And this is something we hope to lead by example for everybody else.

Um you can harness that power of diversity, and and and it really is an effective business plan.

And it grew the music hall to such a point where we're gonna build a hundred thousand square foot expansion um to to really be able to serve the demand.

Okay, so I think music hall is on disputed.

Okay, uh, is undisputedly uh uh Detroit centric.

Uh you know, a full 75% of our resident uh of our employees live in Detroit, so we are in Detroit.

Okay, thanks.

Next slide.

Uh demographics won't surprise you.

Um 40% African American audiences, uh our students are 78% African American.

Uh uh, our students are 78% African American.

Uh next slide.

Sorry, I'm gonna move quickly now.

We're literally woven into the fabric.

We have so many historic relationships.

Uh this is just an example of some of the relationships that we have.

Okay.

Next slide.

Uh as I mentioned, of course, Music Hall uh conducts uh its music education programs throughout uh Detroit uh DPS C D.

I would say our flagship is at the School of Mary Grove.

Uh what's very important is that we have learned from our parents and our students where the gaps are in music education, and over the decades, our music education has become marginalized.

Uh Detroit is the undisputed capital of music.

I think it's really one of our identities, and it's we need to build back that infrastructure so that we uh maintain those those job opportunities that come in the music industry, and it starts with education.

Okay, next slide.

I I can't, I guess I get it.

Thank you.

Uh okay, but it's a great rendering, you know.

Uh this will be an iconic addition to the city of Detroit that we hope will be on the cover of visit Detroit pamphlets for years to come.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

So, madam chair, that concludes our presentation.

Thank you so much.

Yes, and I know that I was here maybe two years ago when this project was presented to us.

Um, I was ecstatic about the expansion then as I am today.

Um, and grateful to see the variety of schools uh that are um that you all are reaching out to to be involved in this project, especially as it it expands.

We all know um how music was taken out of uh so many of our schools, and I think it's very important for our young people to have that culture um and something that they get to experience.

So thank you for that.

I will open the floor to my colleagues to see if they have any questions.

My colleagues are saying no, they're excited about it as well.

All right, so we will open the floor for public comment.

If there is anyone joining us in person or virtually who would like to make a comment, please raise your hand.

Please raise your hand.

Going once.

Going twice.

Going three times, the collection of public comment has concluded.

And I don't believe I saw any hands raised in the committee of the whole.

Ms.

Great, how many hands do we have raised virtually?

Good morning or good afternoon, madam chair.

We have four hands um that were raised before you cut off public comment.

Okay, thank you.

If you can set the clock for one minute, we'll get started with the first virtual caller.

Our first caller is Owner Papa.

Owner Papa, you have one minute for public comment.

Uh good afternoon, and through the chair, Matthew Heard.

Yes.

Great project, I believe.

I I've great memories of the music hall and its affiliation with uh DPS, as I am a student of or a former student of DPS.

Uh, but my question is to uh Mr.

Howe.

Can you explain what conduit means when you are asking for uh like twice the number amount of money in bonds?

What is actually um being bonded?

What what are we using or what are they using?

And uh why is Detroit being a conduit for this particular um project?

And can you explain it?

And uh yes, but uh the price tag seems uh seems to have doubled, so that seems to be a little uh frightening.

And I wanted to know what are you adding with this extra uh amount of money, what are you adding to the project?

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next caller.

Our next caller is Marguerite Maddox and Scarlet.

Miss Marguerite Maddox and Scarlet.

Yes.

Um become down.

But this renovation includes a shit.

Because that was really coming down with it.

Because of the not of sustainable seedings.

Because I invite somebody to come with me.

Who would be seeing next to me?

The can we find out that my seating was not a set of books.

And how many?

How many shit?

I do a beat.

And this is by it.

I would take a look.

I love through it.

He the state of the up educational.

Not just for the school tears.

But everyone was learning little about the movies.

And the most time.

And at the end of the zika.

So I would love let's let's go back to change the instrument.

I'm then thank you.

Thank you.

The next caller.

Our next caller is iPhone.

IPhone.

You have one minute for public comment.

Yeah, uh, I sent you an email on this.

I want to know.

I didn't understand it.

How does D E G say not be responsible for bonds that are sold?

Uh if we're part of that and they're part of that, they're part of us.

I thought they were part of a city department.

So why are they involved in this if they're not uh obligating us to the bonds themselves?

I mean, if if music hall wanted to do that by themselves, what what's the difference?

I don't I'm not understanding D E G that was the original land bank that uh Joanne Watson by the uh they're gonna name a street after her tomorrow.

But they uh that's the original uh land bank, she was kind of fighting against land bank my building after they burn it down on third and Charlotte.

Uh well it's Arson.

Uh well it's ours and I don't know who burn it.

I can't prove it.

But uh that's that's what I want to know what you the next caller.

Our last caller is William M.

Davis, noting there were two hands raised after you cut off public comment.

Thank you.

William M.

Davis, you have one minute for public comment.

Uh good afternoon.

Can I be her?

Good afternoon, yes.

I like to start off by saying I love the music hall.

I enjoy going.

Um, my question is this uh will this bonding extend the life for any of these entities, this downtown that some of us hope will go away.

You know, like the downtown building authority, I mean downtown development or any other entity.

Will that extend that protected life before we could get rid of them?

Uh also uh I noticed one of the pictures on there was uh Betty Brooks that started with as a police commissioner.

I thought she passed, and uh is any other people that pictures that you're displaying that passed are no longer in this area.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That now concludes public comment.

And to the presenters, there were several questions that were noted.

Mr.

Howe, perhaps if you can kick it off, um, just or maybe Miss Rebecca Naven, um addressing the EDC being the conduit for the project, and um whether or not there is any obligation on on behalf of the EDC, the DEGC, the City of Detroit, all of all of us.

Uh certainly I can um I can answer I can answer a question at the questions.

There were uh a couple that were that were related on this topic.

Um, and I would ask that Mr.

Conway from PFM jump in um as he is the bond expert, and I in case I get something uh something wrong or miss uh miss one of the questions.

Um so the question about you know what is a conduit, you know, um from a high level, the internal under the internal revenue code, nonprofit organizations are um are eligible to um to be the beneficiary of a tax exempt bond issuance.

However, they need a start a state authorized entity to actually act as the issuer.

They are not able to um issue these themselves.

Um, so uh typically uh bond issuance um for a nonprofit entity would go through um a state of Michigan entity, uh a municipal entity, or some other public entity that has the legal authority under their enabling act to issue bonds.

So the EDC under the um economic development corporations act um is authorized to um to issue to issue bonds, um, including um including 501c3 bonds.

So under this construct, um that uh that is permitted, the EDC um is uh again is the conduit issuer, meaning that we are issuing the bonds um because that is what the law requires in order for you know this third party entity to um to be the beneficiary of the bonds, um, but we are not the obligator of the bonds.

So um the the bond documents, the indenture will specify um uh that uh that although we are issuing the bonds, all of the um the repayment of the bonds will be the sole responsibility of the music hall.

Um, and the that responsibility, those obligations will be secured by a pledge of the music hall's revenues as well as a uh lien on the real estate or a mortgage on the real estate.

Um looking back at the the question.

So the economic development corporation again is uh is a public body that has this authority.

Yes, I apologize.

I need to interrupt you before you proceed.

I'd like to uh recess the planning and economic development committee to the call of the chair neighborhood community service standing committee will now come in the order with a clerk please call the roll.

Council President Pro Tim Coleman Young the second here, Councilmember Scott Benson, Councilmember Renata Miller, Mr.

Chair, there's no quorn.

Excellent.

Um we will now recess at the call of the chair.

Thank you, Pro Tim.

And with that, I'd like to call back to order the planning and economic development standing committee.

Mr.

Clerk, will you please call the role?

Councilmember Letitia Johnson.

Present.

Councilmember Gabriel Santiago Romero.

Present.

Council President Pro Tim Calm Young the second.

Here.

Madam Chair, DeCorm.

Thank you.

Having a quorum, we are now back in session.

And I apologize for that.

Ms.

Naven, you may proceed.

Oh, just uh thank you.

Um, thank you, Madam Chair.

Just one final remark.

Um, so the music hall had uh could have asked um a state agency, for example, um, to act as the conduit issuer.

Um, but it was important to the music hall that um that the city be closely involved in this project.

So it came to the um the academic development corporation um who's an authorized issuer um and asked us to assist in this um in this regard.

Thank you.

And I I believe that that answers that should answer both of the the questions that were raised uh regarding the EDC's involvement and what a conduit issuer um is.

And is there someone else?

And I'm not sure if I missed it as we were trying to make sure we were taking care of procedural matters.

Um did you indicate whether or not this will extend the life of the DDA?

Uh madam, madam chair, to be to be clear, it is the economic development corporation that is um that is making this request.

Um, and this has nothing to do with the downtown development authority.

Um, and so there will be there's no impact on um on the DDA with respect to this transaction.

Thank you.

Anyone else prepared to respond to any other questions?

Uh I I would be happy to respond to Ms.

Maddox uh about uh accessibility because it's so important uh that we we have to build from scratch.

You know, we're one of um the historic theaters that we have.

The new concert hall is the first one built in 80 years, and accessibility has really changed over that 80 years, and so by building this new one from the ground up, we are really able to do state of the art, uh restrooms, um uh and also location of where they sit.

So there'll be no problem sitting together, Miss Maddox in this new building.

And Mr.

Paul, I'm not sure if you can respond to the question about restrooms.

There are four restrooms on the first floor, all of them are ADA accessible through various entrances.

Thank you.

And the other question that I have written down is um what's being added for the increase in the price or at least the perception of that.

Can someone just clarify?

Uh any one of us can.

Um, I would say that the building um as designed, uh the the costs have increased a bit um over the past two years since we were last here in front of the honorable body.

Um, but most importantly, it was the cost of the financing, the capitalized interest, the debt reserve, in order to make it sustainable for years to come.

That was put into the initial uh bond request.

Yeah, and good afternoon.

This is Ryan Conway from PFM.

Um, just to expand on Vince's answer there, and also Miss Nevin did a great job um in her response on the conduit.

So I don't have anything to add on that.

Um since then mentioned, um, there has been some level of cost escalation in the capital project.

That's common from from what we see on capital projects across the country right now.

Uh, and then the cost of increase as well.

Um, we've included certain reserves that we anticipate lenders will require um to enhance their security.

Um, and so that's increased the total borrowing amount that uh we anticipate for the project.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

All right, thank you all so much.

Colleagues, any additional questions or comments?

If not, is there a motion on line item eight?

Motion to approve, send in formal with the recommendation to approve.

There's a motion to send line item eight to formal with recommendation to approve.

Hearing no objections, that action shall be taken.

That now closes out the 1030 public hearing.

And thank you all so much for joining us.

Thank you, madam chair.

Mr.

Clerk, if you will please note that member Benson has joined us.

Clerk was a note.

Thank you.

And colleagues, we're gonna move through this as quickly as possible.

All right, we are moving on to unfinished business and line item 9.1 status of status of council member Mary Waters, submitted memorandum relative to a request for information on tax foreclosed property transfers with the Detroit Land Bank Authority.

We have had an opportunity to speak with member waters staff.

Um and is there a motion to remove line item 9.1 for a different process to uh proceed with the request?

Motion to remove 9.1.

There's a motion to remove line item 9.1 hearing no objections that action shall be taken.

Line item 9.2 status of council member Gabriela Santiago Romero, submitted memorandum relative to Board of Zoning Notices and Meeting Minutes.

Is there a motion to bring back in one week?

Motion hearing no objections, that action shall be taken.

Line item 9.3 status of council member Gabriela Santiago Romero's amended memorandum relative to property sales and price consistency.

Uh is there a motion to discuss?

Discussion.

Uh is there anyone joining us from the administration to give a sense of uh how long?

Oh, madam chair, Mr.

Washington.

Good afternoon, madam chair.

Um in committee.

Um I believe if we want to postpone this one week.

I I'm not sure if this one has been sent out already.

I think this actually may be connected to budget questions.

Um but if you give us a week, I think it is in the final stages if it hasn't been sent already.

Okay, colleagues, is there a motion to bring line item 9.3 back in two weeks when we are back in committee?

Motion hearing no objections, that action shall be taken.

Line item 9.4 status of council member Angela Whitfield Callaway submitted memorandum requesting a resolution seeking recovery of costs without objection.

I'd like to combine line item.

Oh, never mind.

Uh is there a motion to receive and file line item 9.4, noting that the resolution is in line item 10.2.

Motion there's a motion to receive and file line item 9.4, hearing no objections, that action shall be taken.

Line item 9.5, status of council member Mary Waters, submitting memorandum relative to the NAP suit request for the Leland House Apartments.

Is there a motion to discuss?

Discussion.

Uh Attorney Anderson.

Through the chair Graham Anderson Law Department, as um uh brother counsel Jason Harrison uh laid out to this body on Tuesday at formal session.

This is an ongoing process.

Uh I would ask maybe for a bring back TBD if this body would find that appropriate.

Um, if not, I would take a two-week bring back.

Is there a motion to bring line item 9.5 back for a date to be determined?

Motion hearing no objections, that action shall be taken.

Thank you, Attorney Anderson.

Thank you.

Line item 9.6 status of council member Scott Benson submitted memorandum regarding the M4 Green Buffer Text Amendment.

Timeline and process.

Is there a motion to receive and file?

Motion to receive and file.

There's a motion to receive and file line item 9.6.

Hearing no objections, that action shall be taken.

That brings us to new business.

Line item 10.1 contract number 6007 267-a1 100% grant funding amendment number one to add funds to provide general contracting services for occupied single family or multifamily residential homes for Stellantis Home Repair Program Phase 3.

Colleagues, we did receive a walk on.

Um is there a motion to walk on contract number?

Okay, this is an amendment to the line item 10.1 to add.

Is there a motion to discuss discussion?

Thank you.

Um I believe Chief Razo is joining us.

Chief Razzo.

Ms.

Great, do you see Rico Razzo?

Yes, madam Chair.

I um attempted to promote a panelist, and it looks like he just accepted it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Please introduce yourself for the record.

Yes, through the chair, Rico Rosso, Chief of Home Repair and Neighborhood Services.

Human Homeless and Family Services division.

Thank you so much.

And colleagues, I just realized what it is that I was seeing.

Um so is there a motion to walk on contract number six zero zero seven two six six dash A1 motion?

Hearing no objections, that action shall be taken.

Um and the walk on contract as well as line item 10.1 without objection, we shall uh discuss both of these items because they are relevant to um the same uh phase three home repair for Stellantis.

Chief Razo, if you can just briefly share with us what these two items, what these two contracts are for, and if you can share the source of the grant funding.

Thank you, Councilmember Johnson, and uh to the chair.

Uh these funds were provided uh through the MEDC Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority as part of uh the Stallantis community benefit agreement.

And so we took on um HRD took on phase one, which it was FCA at the time, home repair, phase two, FCA home repair, and then when the name changed to Stallantis, it's now phase three Stellantis home repair program.

And so those those funds uh became available.

There was um uh 2.8 million dollars in funding, and then we had another five hundred and eighty-four thousand dollars in neighborhood improvement funding um from the community benefit agreement, which totaled 3.3 million.

And so the the contracts before you today for amendment are part of three um general contract home repair contracts that totaled uh 2.6 million dollars to do 130 uh home repairs at 130 houses within the Stallantis uh CBA boundary or footprint, and so of the three contracts that we awarded, they were each about 866,000.

Um we are amending two of those contracts to pull dollars from one contractor CTI and move those dollars into these uh two contracts, Blue Horizon and DMC.

And the reason behind that is uh each contractor had different pricing and CTI their pricing was a little bit higher, and to make sure that we could really maximize the dollars and be good stewards of the money.

We decided to pull back some of the dollars that were with CTI and put those into contract where we had better pricing um with Blue Horizon and DMC.

And so that that's what's before you today.

Excellent.

Thank you so much for that.

Uh colleagues, any questions, comments, concerns?

If not, is there a motion to send line item 10.1 and the walk on to formal for a recommendation with a recommendation to approve?

Motion hearing no objections, those actions shall be taken.

Thank you so much, Chief Razo.

Thank you.

Line item 10.2 is a resolution urging the law department to seek recovery costs.

This is from requested by council member Angela Whitfield Callaway.

Is there a motion to send this item to formal for a recommendation with a recommendation to approve?

Motion hearing no objections, that action shall be taken.

Line item 10.3 is an ordinance that was referred to PED, uh, which should have been referred to PHS.

Is there a motion to refer this item to the president's office for referral to public health and safety motion?

Hearing no objections, that action shall be taken.

And line item 10.4 is submitted report relative to uh multiple a transfer of multiple parcels to the Detroit Housing Commission.

Is there a motion to discuss or receive and file?

Receive and file motion to receive and file.

There's a motion to receive and file line item 10.4.

Hearing no objections, that action shall be taken.

for referral to public health and safety motion hearing no objections that action shall be taken and line item 10.4 is submit a report relative to uh multiple a transfer of multiple parcels to the detroit housing commission is there a motion to discuss or receive and file receive and file motion to receive and file there's a motion to receive and file line item 10.4 hearing no objections that action shall be taken is there a motion to suspend member reports motion hearing no objections that action shall be taken and if there is um to the administration i did request earlier on that clarification be provided in regards to the two zoom meetings that are taking place this evening D dot as well as the mayor's charter mandated meeting did anyone get clarification on the phone number for the two events mr washington good afternoon again madam chair if you could give me just a moment I did not catch that comment earlier if you can give me just a second if you miss Mr.

Washington as we are trying to wrap up for NCS if you can just share that information with us we'll make sure we get it to um miss Shea but I think it's something that we need to share via social media to make sure that everyone knows it sounded like the same phone number was provided for both meetings and of course if that were to happen I'm not really sure which meeting they would end up in so if we can just clarify that and get it shared broadly so that people are aware.

Thank you we'll do madam chair thank you colleagues is there a motion to adjourn motion hearing no objections that action shall be taken we shall stand adjourned