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Michigan Chronicle
Vol. 81 – No. 46 | July 25-31, 2018
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Detroit Land Bank buyback program gives residents second chance at home ownership By Michael V. Hubbard More than 70 individuals who have been living in houses owned by the Detroit Land Bank Authority and have completed its “Occupied Buy-Back” program officially became homeowners and received their deeds in the first of two planned ceremonies this year. The new homeowners were presented their deeds on Tuesday, July 17that the Northwest Activities Center on the city’s west side. The Occupied Buy-Back Program, launched in 2015, offers an opportunity for eligible occupants in a DLBA-owned house a path to homeownership. Last year, 180 occupants completed the program and are now homeowners. This year, nearly 150 more occupants receive deeds to the houses they now occupy.
Gov. Rick Snyder, Prime Minister Harper, Murray Howe, and Marty Howe pose in front of a rendering showcasing the future name of the new bridge: the Gordie Howe International Crossing.
New international bridge to be built over the Detroit River
By Branden Hunter “Through a variety of circumstances, these individuals and families have been living in Land Bank-owned properties because they felt they had no other option,” said DLBA Board Chair, Erica Ward Gerson. “The Occupied Buyback Program is like none other in the country because it gives these individuals a path to homeownership and the support they need to be successful homeowners.” The program not only provides an opportunity for homeownership, participants are given homeownership and financial counseling courses, then partnered with a local non-profit that will provide resources and guidance. Each participant must open a savings account to save toward the following year’s summer tax bill. Who qualifies? The Occupied Buy-back Program is a key component of the DLBA’s mission to invest in and stabilize Detroit neighborhoods. The program is open to the individuals who meet some or all of the criteria listed below: • The last owner of record before public ownership • People renting the property at time of foreclosure • Has a family member that was the last owner of record before public ownership • Have paid utilities in the property for at least twelve months
See LAND
BANK page A2
WHAT’S INSIDE
The City of Detroit will soon have two bridges stretching across its waters to Canada. United States and Canadian officials praised the long friendship between the two countries, while acknowledging the economic benefits a new international bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, will bring, during a groundbreaking for the advance construction of the Gordie Howe International Bridge was held last week in southwest Detroit. The six-lane, cable-stayed Canadian-financed span over the Detroit River is expected to provide direct connections to existing highway networks in Detroit and Windsor. Construction could start by early October and is scheduled to open in 2020. The Gordie Howe bridge is named after the late hockey legend, who was born in Canada and grew up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Most of his 26 years in the NHL were with the Detroit Red Wings. He died in 2016. “Make no mistake, we are starting to build this bridge and it’s going to be built and the people of the United States and Canada will be using it very soon,” Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority Chair Dwight Duncan said at the ceremony. The Windsor-Detroit trade corridor
Gordie Howe International Bridge rendering, which will be platted in Detroit’s Delray neighborhood. is the busiest commercial land crossing on the border between the U.S. and Canada, handling more than 30 percent of trade hauled by trucks.
is also an important symbol of our deep friendship and mutually beneficial relationship with the United States.”
“The Gordie Howe International Bridge will play a vital role in supporting and growing the local economies on both sides of the border and will create opportunities for residents and businesses alike,” said Amarjeet Sohi, Canadian minister of Infrastructure and Communities. “This project
Currently, the privately-owned Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel are the only commuter crossings between the two cities.
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See NEW
BRIDGE page A2
Vacant Detroit elementary school to get $6 million investment By Branden Hunter
One On One with Lincoln First Listen Artist –
The Detroit International Bridge
The City of Detroit has vacant schools all over the city and developers have begun to give them a future. The latest is a thirty-two-unit senior cooperative housing community, St. Matthew Cooperative, which will be coming to the Old Redford neighborhood in a $6 million project that will renovate and restore the vacant Holcomb Elementary School. The building, abandoned and empty for nearly 10 years, will see new life with the renovation, which will also include walking paths, parks and other public open space in the 5.5-acre footprint of the school. A development team comprised of DDC Group & Anchor Team was selected by the City of Detroit to redevelop the school and adjoining vacant land after requesting proposals late last year. After a community engagement process to choose a proposal, the city went with the DDC Group and Anchor Team. Holcomb is the first of the 77 vacant Detroit Public Schools buildings to be put back to use since the city acquired them from DPSCD in 2015. “The redevelopment plan for the old Holcomb Elementary School is exactly the type of
two-bedroom units. All 32 units will be affordable for seniors making 80 percent of the area median income. The area median income at 80 percent, set by federal housing rules, is about $39,760 a year for a single person household. St. Matthew Cooperative will serve to reintroduce the cooperative form of homeownership and acquaint the public with the unique advantages that cooperative housing offers.
A rendering of the planned $6 million development for the vacant Holcomb Elementary School on Detroit’s west side. development that we encourage as our neighborhoods grow,” said Donald Rencher, director of Housing and Revitalization. “This school has been an eyesore to everyone living in this neighborhood for nearly a decade. Now it will see new life, provide affordable housing for our senior citizens, and build new public spaces for the entire community.” The school is located at 18100 Bentler Street, in the middle of the Grand River Northwest planning area and within walking dis-
tance of the vibrant commercial core of Old Redford near the intersection of Grand River Avenue and Lahser Road. Businesses like Motor City Java House, Sweet Potato Sensations and more line the streets bordering the neighborhood. The neighborhood is also within walking distance of the new Meijer grocery store along Grand River. The development team plans to renovate the school into 32 cooperative units for senior citizens aged 62 and older, with 29 one-bedroom units and 3
The redevelopment of the school will also include a community room, salon, fitness center, community kitchen, two courtyards, indoor reading alcoves, a café lounge, and outdoor patio for the members of this unique cooperative facility. The redevelopment of the school will also provide community access in the school’s former auditorium with access to the community kitchen. On the nearly 4 acres of vacant land surrounding the school, the developers plan to build a new park and open space for the neighborhood, including recreational space, a walking and biking trail and other park amenities. The open space and parking areas will also include improved storm water management
See INVESTMENT page A2