City poised to sell land for new bridge

[kraig]

City poised to sell land for new bridge

By Dave Battagello, The Windsor StarMay 4, 2009



The Brighton Beach area of west Windsor is the location for a new border crossing. The city is in the process of selling the federal government the land needed for a crossing and plaza.

Photograph by: File photo, The Windsor Star

Windsor is close to completing a deal that would see the federal government purchase more than 100 acres of city-owned lands in Brighton Beach for a new border crossing.
“There has been active negotiations and discussions for several months,” said Mayor Eddie Francis.
“The City of Windsor is doing everything we can to assist the feds with regards to the plaza and crossing location.
“We are very close to finalizing the arrangement and transaction.”
The deal is expected to be brought forward to city council for final approval sometime before the end of May, Francis said.
The land — mostly former residential lots — was purchased by the city over nearly 20 years starting in the 1980s to create an industrial park on the city's far west end and a buffer zone for the Brighton Beach power plant.
Securing the city-owned land would be “another significant step” in the federal government’s effort to build the next Windsor-Detroit crossing, said Mark Butler, spokesman for Transport Canada.
The federal government is overseeing construction of the bridge and customs plaza, while the provincial government has responsibility for building the planned $1.6-billion Windsor-Essex Parkway linking Highway 401 to the new bridge.
The full project will cost about $5 billion.
The purchase price for the city land is being kept confidential until a report goes to council for final approval, Francis said.
A local real estate agent, whose specialties include industrial lands, did not want to guess at a property value of lands included in the deal, but noted that nearby properties sold recently on Sprucewood Avenue and Weaver Road have fetched in the range of $50,000 to $60,000 per acre.
That would translate into a deal with the feds in the $5 million to $6 million range.
“It turned out to be a smart move on city’s part to assemble [[the land),” said Mark Lalovich, commercial broker with Remax Preferred Realty. “It turned out to be visionary with the new bridge going in the area.”
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I hope that the Detroit City Officials and the property owners of Delray are paying attention.