Development of the Gateway Plaza in downtown Royal Oak may be stalled but a triangular lot directly northwest of it is getting ready to become the city's newest urban development.
The Royal Oak Downtown Development Authority now owns and has cleared most of the parcels on the block bordered by Woodward, Kenilworth and Washington avenues. The plans call for a mixed-use development up to 10 stories tall.
"We have a developer who is doing due diligence there right now," says Kevin Kalczynski, chair of the Royal Oak DDA.
The development would consist of both office and retail space in a largely triangular building, Kalczynski adds. The developer already has some office and retail space commitments in hand and is working to fill the rest. Kalczynski expects due diligence and commitments to be wrapped up by end of the fall.
An adjacent line of storefronts (currently on Woodward) is not part of the property owned by the DDA. Kalczynski says the owner of those stores could work them into the broader development or the developer could build around them.
Source: Kevin Kalczynski, chair of the Royal Oak Downtown Development Authority
Writer: Jon Zemke
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