The long-discussed demolition of the sprawling former Kmart Corp. headquarters in Troy is about to go forward.

Crews started adding fencing around the long-vacant site at 3100 W. Big Beaver Road in the last few weeks and the city says wreckers will start tearing down parts of the behemoth starting in September, marking the end of nearly two decades of vacancy and obsolescence.
The owner has submitted a demolition permit application, but not any redevelopment proposals, the city said in a statement. Demolition would start first on the parking structure and then the main building."Demolition of this tired asset is the first step towards redevelopment of this prominent location," said Brent Savidant, community development director, said in a statement.

The property, which clocks in at about 1.1 million square feet across 40 or so acres at West Big Beaver and Coolidge, is owned by Forbes Frankel Troy Ventures LLC, which paid a reported $17.5 million for it in December 2009 in a defensive real estate move.

The JV, run by Nathan Forbes and his Southfield-based Forbes Co. and the Frankel family, also owns the adjacent luxury shopping mall, Somerset Collection. Forbes said in an interview four years ago that tearing down the Kmart property was a possibility, although some plans had called for repurposing it. In 2016, Forbes said during a conference that a master-planning process was underway, although nothing was publicly revealed on it after. Documents filed with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy and the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs list Detroit-based demolition company Adamo Group as a contractor on the project.

Troy officials did not return repeated messages. Mayor Ethan Baker referred to a statement issued by the city on Thursday afternoon. Likewise, Adamo representatives did not return messages seeking comment.
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