Leonard N. Fleming / The Detroit News

Detroit — Mayor Dave Bing today announced an unprecedented program to entice police officers to move back into the city by offering ownership of 200 tax-foreclosed homes in two of the city’s most stable neighborhoods.

Flanked by top police brass and administration officials, Bing helped detail the program called “Project 14″ in which foreclosed homes will be available in the East English Village and Boston-Edison neighborhoods. The program name alludes to police code for “back to normal.”

Officers will pay up to $1,000 for the houses and receive up to $150,000 in federal grants to rehab them. City officials said the homes are in good shape for abandoned properties but need some work.

The mayor said that police officers “living in their neighborhoods have the potential to deter crime, increase public safety and improve relations between the community and our sworn officers.”

“Detroiters want to live in safe, stable neighborhoods and they deserve no less,” Bing said. “This is just step one of many things that we think we’re going to have to involve ourselves in as we bring our city back. We hope it’s a model for the nation.”

As more homes have become vacant and crime has been a nagging problem in the city for decades, Bing said this incentive program is critical to bringing people back. The city has lost half its population since it reached a peak of about 1.8 million in 1950. More left after the state Legislature banned municipal residency ordinances in 1999 requiring workers to live in cities that employ them.

The program is centered on the two neighborhoods, but the city also could offer houses in other ones, depending on officers’ needs, city officials said.

The mayor said the program would eventually be opened up to include firefighters and then provide some financial relief to officers who chose to never leave the city once more federal dollars are secured.

The city is partnering with the Detroit Land Bank Authority, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Michigan State Housing and Urban Development Authority, the Michigan Housing Trust and other private interests.

City officials did not reveal more specifics as to how many officers are interested or what other neighborhoods are being considered as part of the program.

Police Chief Ralph Godbee predicted the program would be a success.

“Our residents have told us loud and clear about the challenges that their neighborhoods face as more homes have become vacant and abandoned, threatening the stability and safety of our community,” Godbee said. “What we’re looking for is moving back to some normalcy in police-community relations.”

At least 53 percent of the city’s 3,000 police officers in Detroit live in the suburbs and the numbers are even higher for firefighters, the mayor said.

One of those is police officer William Booker-Riggs, 37, who lives in Southfield but is now eying a move back to the city as part of the program. He’s a single father of an 11-year-old girl who, in part, left 9 months ago for better opportunities for her.

Councilman Kenneth Cockrel Jr. said he “applauds the mayor’s vision” and believes the incentive program is a “step in the right direction” to turning around Detroit.

“I support anything that can be used as a way to get people to come back to the city,” Cockrel said. “I do think that we can’t lose sight of the fact that the ultimate incentive to get people to come to Detroit and to stay in Detroit is to fix a lot of the issues that are wrong with the city. It’s to improve public safety, it’s to have streetlights which work and are on, it’s to have streets which are clean and safe.”

The city is using $30 million in federal Neighborhood Stabilization Funds to pay for the program. It includes safeguards that would require police to repay money for the house if they sell it to someone other than a police officer.

lfleming@detnews.com

(313) 222-2072

When 700 employees of Quicken Loans arrived for work Monday at the Compuware building, they each found a gift bag stuffed with discount coupons from nearby downtown restaurants and shops very eager to make their acquaintance.

Long-suffering businesses downtown have been eagerly awaiting Quicken’s move from suburban Livonia, seeing it as a sign of better days ahead. Downtown has been suffering a king-sized hangover from the prolonged recession.

Among the restaurant owners contributing discount cards to the gift bags was Jon Grabowski, owner of the Spa 19 24 Grille at the Westin Book Cadillac.

“Any exposure we can give to new businesses coming downtown only helps this idea of a greater Detroit,” Grabowski said Monday.

Employees of Quicken, an Internet-based mortgage lending company, also got a discount coupon from CK Mediterranean Grille & Catering, which by coincidence opened for business Monday in the Compuware complex at 119 Monroe. Owner Ouse Gulli said that when he learned that Quicken was moving downtown, he increased the size of his restaurant space from 2,000 square feet to 2,400 square feet.

“We felt that there was a possibility that the city was turning around and there was some synergy of investment and companies coming downtown, and we wanted to be a part of that,” he said.

Amid the excitement, it helps to remember that the Quicken move reflects a transfer of jobs within metro Detroit, rather than new jobs or growth from outside the region. And it also may bear remembering that when Quicken founder and Chairman Dan Gilbert first announced he would move his headquarters downtown from Livonia, in November 2007, he was projecting bringing 4,000 workers downtown and building his own headquarters skyscraper.

The recession trimmed the size and scope of that dream. Quicken opted to lease space in Compuware’s headquarters and bring about 1,700 workers downtown this month in shifts, with another 900 or so coming next Monday.

But even downsized from the initial dream, the Quicken move is exciting for metro Detroit’s core business district. And it is designed not as an isolated event, but as an example for other firms to follow.

“It can’t be just us. We can be a catalyst,” Quicken CEO Bill Emerson said Monday. “The vision that Dan and we all share is that Web-based business corridor that we think we can build down here.”

He added, “When you really think of an urban setting and getting tech-savvy folks sitting together, talking together, creating together, we think we can really create something special down here, and that’s what the focus is going to be.”

Even Monday, the benefits of Quicken’s move downtown were being felt quickly in the central city. At Canine To Five, a dog day-care operation on Cass Avenue north of downtown, owner Liz Blondy already was caring for three dogs from Quicken employees and had six more dogs scheduled within the next week.

“It is thrilling to see so many people from the suburbs, not only working downtown, but starting to utilize the area’s services,” Blondy said Monday.

After decades of losing people, downtown Detroit had made a comeback of sorts between the mid-’90s and 2006, when Detroit hosted Super Bowl XL. But then the economy crashed in 2007. Condo projects collapsed. Restaurants closed. Downtown’s office vacancy rate soared to more than 30%.

This summer, things seem to be turning around, at least tentatively. Quicken’s move brings 1,700 workers downtown. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan recently announced it would transfer 3,000 workers from its Southfield offices to the 500 and 600 towers of the Renaissance Center. A handful of new shops and restaurants, like Gulli’s CK Mediterranean Grille, are opening.

“There’s some great momentum right now,” Emerson said. “What we want to see is that momentum to continue, businesses really thinking about relocating to downtown Detroit.”

Mayor Dave Bing was among those welcoming Quicken’s employees during a ceremony in Compuware’s lobby Monday morning.

“We are excited to welcome Quicken to Detroit,” Bing said. “We look forward to them working, dining, shopping and living in the city.”

If nothing else, Quicken’s arrival brings a more youthful group of workers downtown than the traditional government, law and bank employees, said Robert Gregory, president of the Detroit 300 Conservancy, which runs Campus Martius Park. “It’ll be a more active and more fun demographic for downtown,” he said.

For Quicken’s workers, there was were the usual moving-day confusion. Painters still had drop cloths spread around some of the hallways, and everybody was learning which way to turn when they got off the elevators. But everyone seemed upbeat.

“The space is incredible,” Emerson said of the new digs in Compuware, where Quicken occupies the ninth through 12th floors of the 15-story office building. “Feedback from everybody so far has been tremendous. They love the way it looks — the colors, the openness, the views.”

Quicken’s move increases the number of people working downtown by 2% to 3%. With the results of the 2010 Census not expected until next year, nobody knows for sure how many people work downtown today, but a 2008 Census estimate suggested about 74,000 workers came downtown every day, although data analysts from the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments suggest that the number is closer to 55,000. Others estimates place the true figure in between those two.

More importantly, Quicken’s move increases the number of downtown workers who eventually might invite friends and family to come downtown for dining, strolling, sporting events and other forms of entertainment and recreation.

“We can go to a game right after work,” marveled a Quicken marketing manager, Mark Smith. “It’s so nice without having to plan and say, ‘Let’s leave early.’ ”

Contact JOHN GALLAGHER: 313-222-5173 or gallagher@freepress.com

By GRETA GUEST
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

Berry Gordy’s former residence in Detroit’s Boston-Edison neighborhood will go up for sale on Monday.

The asking price: $1.395 million.

The house features nine bedrooms, five full bathrooms and four half-baths plus a five-car garage and a 4,000-square-foot pool house, said Kenan Bakirci, the listing agent who works for Coldwell Banker Weir Manuel in the Birmingham/Bloomfield South office.

The main house is 8,500 square feet.

The Motown mansion was built in 1917 by lumber magnate Nels Michelson. It features Italian renaissance design and old world craftsmanship including a black walnut paneled living room and a marble-columned ballroom.

Motown greats including Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Billy Dee Williams, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, The Jackson 5, The Four Tops, The Temptations and others were visitors to the house.

Determining a sales price in today’s housing slump wasn’t easy, Bakirci said.

“Wow, that is the toughest thing on earth,” he said. “It is 10 cents on the dollar for what it would cost to replicate this house today. It has a crazy pool house that is 4,000 square feet with bowling lanes and a billiard room. So how do you price it?”

Bakirci said the house might have been able to sell for closer to $2 million during the market peak.

The current owner, Cynthia Reaves, president and CEO of Jackson Gates Associates Inc., restored the home over the past five years, Bakirci said.

Article From:

http://www.freep.com/article/20100708/ENT04/100708034/1017/Business04/Berry-Gordys-former-residence-goes-on-sale-for-1.395M

Michigan’s plan to spend $154.5 million in federal funds to help those hardest hit by the economy has gained federal approval and will be available starting July 12.

The funds – targeted at helping borrowers facing pay cuts or job losses keep their homes – are expected to aid more than 17,000 Michigan households.

Until then, Michigan State Housing Development Authority officials will educate banks and credit unions about the process of evaluating borrowers for the program. Borrowers must apply with their lenders to take advantage of the lifeline, which will be awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis.

• FAQs: Answers about the new homeowner help.

State officials say they’ll tell borrowers within 48 hours if they qualify for one of the program’s three options:

• Mortgage payment assistance for homeowners now receiving unemployment compensation. The state would provide half of the monthly mortgage payment up to $750 a month for a maximum of 12 months.

• Rescue funds for homeowners who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments because of a temporary layoff or medical emergency and have overcome this obstacle. The state will provide up to $5,000 to families in this situation.

• Federal matching funds for principal reductions for homeowners who can no longer afford their mortgage payments as a result of reduced income. This will allow up to a $10,000 principal reduction from the state that will be matched by the lender.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the Michigan State Housing Development Authority announced a plan to spend the money in April – two months after President Barack Obama announced that the five states hardest hit by the housing crisis would share $1.5 billion in funding.

Michigan will be the first of those five states – ahead of Nevada, California, Florida and Arizona — to implement its program.

“We will invest the resources provided by the Obama administration as quickly and efficiently as possible to help Michigan homeowners avoid the devastation of foreclosure,” Granholm said in a statement.

The program does not make participation mandatory.

Michigan’s unemployment rate of 13.6% is one of the highest in the nation. The state has had a 35% decrease in average home sale prices since 2005.

Previous government programs designed to help distressed homeowners required that they had income. So many were left out.

While 17,000 represents a small percentage of Michigan homeowners in need, the plan will still help shrink the problem, according to GreenPath Debt Solutions, a Farmington Hills-based counseling firm.

Last year, GreenPath counseled 76,645 homeowners who were delinquent on their mortgages because of job loss or reduced pay, adjusted mortgages and other unforeseen changes.
Article from:

http://www.freep.com/article/20100623/NEWS06/100623004/1017/Business04/Michigan-to-offer-154M-in-aid-to-homeowners

Azar said the owners originally got into the business “to flip houses just for the money.”

But they named the company Detroit Progess “because the city’s so messed up and we want to try and help it.”

Azar said the properties are structurally sound but often need work, like a new roof, new furnace or wiring.

Sometimes this is a result of the house having been partly stripped by vandals as it sat empty between owners, even though Detroit Progress does “our best to secure” them.

Azar said his company can help the city by having people buy equity in where they live and therefore rebuild neighbourhoods.

“We try and make it affordable for anybody,” he said, noting there are government programs to help poor people buy homes.

“With prices that are so low there’s really no reason anybody should be homeless.”

Since the company purchases the properties they can extend financing without a bank being the middle man.

“We own the properties free and clear so we can do whatever we want with them,” Azar said.

He said a buyer can pay cash.

Or, “if they want to do the financing and they have the funds to put up a down payment then, yeah, we can do that too.”

For a link to the original article click here

Extra: Are Mortgage Walkaways Going Viral?

Extra: YouWalkAway.com

Extra: The Case For Walking Away From Your Mortgage

Extra: Walking Away From A Mortgage

Chris Hansen Goes Home To Detroit

Cleaning Up Detroit From The Bottom Up

Detroit Parent Keeps Kids On The Right Track

In Detroit, “The Best Is All Gone”

Kid Rock On Detroit The “Ghost Town”

Artists Transform Detroit Neighborhood

Detroit’s Mayor “Toughest Sell of My Life”

Starving For Something New In Detroit

A Family Scrambles To Keep It’s Home

Hansen Talks To His Mom About Changing Times

The Regrets Of A Detroit Political Insider

Closing schools creates a smaller, modernized school system

In a sweeping 5-year, $1-billion plan, 41 school buildings and 1 support building are slated for closure in June, with another 13 to be closed by 2012. DPS officials based this redesign in part on Detroit’s changing neighborhoods, comparing areas of growth to areas of abandonment. Here is a look at how those buildings fit onto a map of Detroit’s most vacant areas.

The plan: A smaller but dramatically better system under control of the mayor, with a Standards and Accountability Commission reviewing every school; 54 buildings closed by 2012, 22 new or renovated opening; 70 new schools by 2020, 35 of them charters; a 90% graduation rate by 2020 and 9 in 10 graduates going on to advanced education.

What has to happen: Education reform is critical to the city’s ability to attract and retain families. Basically, the community has to rally around its children. Parents, teachers and other school employees must be engaged to become part of the overhaul. Voter and legislative approval is needed to abolish the school board in favor of mayoral control. Beyond foundation money, Detroit voters will be asked to pass another $500-million bond issue.

Former casino may be new police headquarters

Mayor Bing hopes to move Detroit Police Department headquarters staff out of the antiquated 1300 Beaubien building that dates to 1923 and into a new or renovated structure. At this writing, the best guess among real estate professionals is that Bing will choose the former MGM Grand casino site near Third and Michigan as the new headquarters. That structure has been awaiting a new use since MGM Grand opened its new casino a block to the north in 2007.

Foundation investments

The plan: The philanthropic community is investing tens of millions of dollars in projects for the betterment of Detroit, including schools, neighborhood revitalization, cultural institutions, the riverfront and greenways.

What has to happen: The philanthropic cooperation must be maintained, old issues of distrust between city and suburbs must be erased for the good of both, and some projects have to show results fairly soon to be catalysts for further investment. The nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations willing to put time and money behind their commitments to a better Detroit also have to engage city residents in their plans at every step.

Light rail to link downtown

In an attempt to link the New Center Area with Midtown and Downtown, a light rail streetcar is proposed for Woodward Avenue.

The plan: Light rail on Woodward, from Jefferson to 13 Mile. Private interests are already lined up for a total of $120 million to build the first leg — 3.4 miles from Jefferson to the New Center. Express buses on Gratiot, Michigan and to the airport. Commuter rail from Ann Arbor to Detroit, possibly from Detroit to Pontiac and even Port Huron and Mt. Clemens. Better basic bus service, with extended routes and increased frequency.

What has to happen: The Legislature must approve a regional transit authority as the governing agency for SMART, DDOT and any rapid-line operations. Washington won’t help unless the region speaks with one voice on its transit needs. An RTA then will have to win a local financial mechanism to operate the system — most likely some kind of regional sales tax that would also require an amendment to the state Constitution.

The demolition plan to improve neighborhoods

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing highlighted his plan to demolish 3,000 dangerous residential structures by year’s end, and 10,000 total by the end of his four-year term. Bing said demolition is only part of a larger plan to strengthen city neighborhoods and improve the use of Detroit’s 140 square miles.

The plan: The city has 78,000 vacant houses, nearly one in five. With population likely to be down around 700,000 by 2020, they aren’t needed. Mayor Dave Bing hopes to have 10,000 demolished by the end of 2013.

What has to happen: Develop a realistic land-use plan that could help secure money from Washington to do even more. Otherwise, target demolition efforts to shore up eroding middle-class neighborhoods, such as Palmer Woods, North Rosedale Park, the University District and Boston Edison.

Greening the city with urban farms

The city is studying multiple proposals to expand urban agriculture in Detroit, using some of the city’s vacant land. The three areas on the map show some of the areas suggested as possible locations for larger scale food production in the city.

The plan: The city, private foundations and community activists are all studying how to expand food production within Detroit. Urban farming is one of many ideas for filling up and greening Detroit’s desolate expanses of vacant land.

What has to happen: City Council needs to create a new zoning class for urban farms. Other changes — such as taxing agricultural land at a lower rate than other property — also would boost the idea.

New sports arena

The plan: The Ilitch family, owners of the Red Wings and Tigers, would like to replace 30-year-old Joe Louis Arena with a new home for the Wings and maybe even attract the Detroit Pistons.

What has to happen: Find a site — suggestions include behind the Ilitch-owned Fox Theatre and across Grand River from the Ilitch-owned MotorCity Casino. Then the Ilitches and various levels of government must figure out how to pay for it.

Cobo Center

The plan: A $280-million retrofit and expansion under a five-member regional authority created last year to run the convention center.

What has to happen: Cobo has to be a better facility by the 2011 Auto Show and state of the art by 2015, when it will host an influential convention of association executives who have a lot to say about where other conventions are held.

$850 million to be used for capital improvements to DMC

Vanguard Health Systems has signed a letter of intent to buy the Detroit Medical Center, assume $639 million in debt and pension contributions and another $850 million in capital improvements. Here’s how the money would be spent.

The plan: DMC hopes to finalize by June a $1.5-billion deal with Vanguard, a for-profit system that plans to invest $850 million into upgrading and expanding DMC facilities. The investment is expected to create 5,000 jobs.

What has to happen: DMC must secure a state renaissance zone designation for 12 years free of local and state taxes. The city and Wayne County also have to sign off, and the state attorney general has to approve the sale, based on whether DMC will maintain its charitable service mission.

Second span to Windsor

At this writing, there are two proposals to build new bridges linking Detroit and Windsor. One would create a second span next to the Ambassador Bridge. The other would create a new publicly-owned bridge downriver near Zug Island.

The plan: Detroit-Windsor could, by 2020, be linked by either one or both of two new bridges over the Detroit River — a privately owned span next to the Ambassador Bridge and a publicly owned one 2 miles west. Or ongoing lawsuits and bickering could stymie both and reduce Detroit to a second-rate border crossing.

What has to happen: For the privately owned Ambassador Bridge to build its second span, the company needs permits from the U.S. Coast Guard and environmental clearance from Canada. Neither will come easily. For the Detroit River International Crossing project to become reality, the consortium of four governments involved needs to resolve several lawsuits filed by the Ambassador owners to stop the project, persuade the Legislature to authorize money for further work, and get the Canadian government to acquire land and do preconstruction work on its side of the river.

Aerotropolis

The plan: An $11-billion investment to turn the area around Metro Airport into an “airport city” hub of commerce and logistics, potentially employing 64,000 people and including a rail line from the airport into Detroit.

What has to happen: Zoning and planning are actually complete at the local level in a rare example of intergovernmental cooperation. Wayne and Oakland counties also have reached accord on using tax-free renaissance zones to help attract businesses to the aerotropolis district. The Legislature has to complete action.

RiverWalk will stretch over five miles, from bridge to bridge

The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy has mapped plans to extend the RiverWalk more than five miles from the Ambassador Bridge to beyond the MacArthur Bridge to Belle Isle. At this writing, a little over half has been completed.

Citywide paths designed for cyclists and walkers

The city plans to put up about 30 miles of bike lanes and more than 12 miles of routes designed for cyclists starting in September in southwest Detroit, near Wayne State and on the east side. The aim is a network of hundreds of miles of biking and walking paths connecting neighborhoods and attractions across the city.

RiverWalk, bike trails, green space

The plan: Completing a pedestrian walkway along the Detroit River from the Ambassador Bridge to the MacArthur Bridge at Belle Isle; connecting that to many more miles of bike and pedestrian-friendly routes throughout the city.

What has to happen: The Detroit RiverFront Conservancy will have the eastern section of the RiverWalk completed in 2012 if contamination issues at the former Uniroyal property are addressed. The west riverfront plan is on a five-year schedule; it depends on fund-raising and addressing a few remaining ownership issues. Greenway projects elsewhere are proceeding in sections — groundbreaking is set for April 15 on the Midtown loop — and would require roughly $50 million to complete in full.

New life for Fairgrounds

A repurposed State Fairgrounds would be open year-round as a Metropark.

The plan: Convert the property closed down by the state in 2009 into a year-round urban park.

What has to happen: The Huron-Clinton Metroparks board is considering the idea, which could cost from $15 million to $50 million. The state, which had hopes of selling the property to a developer, would have to agree to lease the site for $1 a year.

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