Ground breaks for Dearborn Town Center development

Thursday, December 17, 2009 | Source: metromode

--This article originally appeared on April 30, 2009

A big development project is starting to come down the final stretch of long road, now that ground has broken for the Dearborn Town Center.

City officials have been working on this development at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Schaefer Road since the economy was roaring and everyone's house was worth more than their mortgage. Construction workers are expected to begin work on the 162,000-square-foot, mixed-use building next week and finish up by the end of 2010.

"We are very excited, especially with everything that has gone on with the credit markets and banks," says Barry Murrary, economic and community development director for the city of Dearborn.

The Dearborn Town Center will mainly serve as the home for Oakwood Healthcare System and Midwest Health Services. That will maintain the 300 jobs they have in Dearborn's east downtown and add another 200 positions. Those people will occupy 154,000 square feet of office space in the 3-story building. There will also be 8,000 square feet of ground floor retail space.

A 530-car public parking garage will also be constructed behind the building. Redico, the developer, is also looking at building 22,000 square feet of retail space in front of the Schafer side of the garage if it can get it leased before construction is done. Plans for senior housing behind the parking garage are still being considered for a future phase of the project.

"We'd like to see more of this mixed-use, walkable development in downtown," Murrary says.

The Dearborn Town Center replaces the old Montgomery Ward department store that was recently demolished. Montgomery Ward opened the store in 1937, expanding it into 93,000 square feet. It went belly-up in 2001 and has been vacant ever since.

Southfield-based Redico, the developer, originally planned to reuse much of the building in the redevelopment but decided against it after complications were discovered, such as a lack of space between floors and small windows. Redico also planned to move the historic clock from the Montgomery Ward building into the new building. However, the clock fell apart during demolition. Redico is now looking at putting in a replica clock in the Dearborn Town Center.

"It's really is a new chapter in development of downtown," Murrary says.

Source: Barry Murrary, economic and community development director for the city of Dearborn
Writer: Jon Zemke