$616 Million in Development Incentives Approved for District Detroit

The Detroit City Council approved a $616 million “Transformational Brownfield” development incentive for the $1.5-billion District Detroit project, proposed by the Ilitch organization's Olympia Development of Michigan and New York-based Related Cos.

According to an article by Dana Afna and JC Reindl, most of the development incentive included in the project’s community benefits agreement would generate revenue by capturing future state-level taxes, “including state income taxes paid by workers and residents in the planned buildings.”

“The balance would come from future property taxes that would otherwise go to the Downtown Development Authority, or DDA,” according to the article.

“Separately, the developers also will get from the DDA a $23.7 million forgivable loan and $25 million in cash reimbursement for infrastructure improvements.”

The Transformational Brownfield incentive will still require approval by the Michigan Strategic Fund.

The District Detroit development proposal, which has been on the books for a decade, “calls for 10 new and rehabilitated buildings for 1.2 million square feet of office space, 695 apartments, retail spaces and two new hotels: a 14-story, 290-room hotel adjacent to Little Caesars Arena and an adaptive reuse of the 10-story Fox Theatre office building, 2211 Woodward, as the 177-room Fox Hotel,” according to the article.

The article, linked below, provides more details on the politics of the community benefits agreement approved by the city this week.