Here's the Tribune Article describing the project.:
http://dailytribune.com/articles/200...0005515100.txt
http://images.townnews.com/dailytrib...0055151001.jpg
By Michael P. McConnell, Daily Tribune Staff Writer
David N. Posavetz/Daily Tribune Developer Peter Najar, left, and Hazel Park City Manager Ed Klobucher stand near the excavating machines that knocked bricks out of the massive and blighted Warehouse Club building on Eight Mile near Dequindre.
Warehouse Club building being demolished to make way for green design.
HAZEL PARK — A longtime commercial eyesore on Eight Mile Road promises to blink back to life with a $12 million redevelopment project.
Two huge yellow excavating machines Thursday took bites out of the empty brick Warehouse Club building, formerly a Federal Department Store.
Hazel Park City Manager Ed Klobucher, Tami Salisbury of the Eight Mile Boulevard Association and developer Pete Najar embraced in a three-way hug as they watched the first bricks fall.
Located at 1727 Eight Mile, the 70,000-square-foot building and massive asphalt parking area cover eight acres. It has been the largest vacant business property
in the city for about a decade and a symbol of unchecked blight near Dequindre where Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties share a border.
"This is a great day for Hazel Park," Klobucher said. "We're pleased to bring some good news to the region."
City and county officials were on hand for a ceremonial celebration and a chance to look at renderings of the new development.
"Full-scale demolition will begin on Monday," Najar said.
The Gateway Crossing development will include a new Sav-A-Lot grocery store, a 49,000-square-foot retail and office building, and a couple of out buildings are planned for the site, Najar said.
He credited Hazel Park with giving the site a brownfield designation and tax breaks totaling $1.4 million to spur the development.
"This is only possible because the City of Hazel Park bent over backwards to help make it happen," Najor said.
The project also got a $500,000 tax incentive from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
Highlights of the project include adding 100 trees and shrubs and 600 feet of "bioswales" at the rear of the property. The bioswales include landscaping trees and vegetation on topsoil placed in a drainage ditch that removes silt and pollution from runoff rainwater on the parking lot.
"This will be a very green development," Najor said.
Demolition is expected to take about six weeks with construction set to get under way late this summer.
Salisbury is credited with bringing together city and development players to work out problems to get the project going.
"Historically, the relationship was not always as cozy as it is today," Klobucher said.
Salisbury has said the vacant property contributed to the stigma attached to Eight Mile Road, but the project will help reverse that impression.
Once completed, the Gateway Crossing development is expected to bring about 300 jobs to the city.