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Wayne County discusses ARPA subrecipient amendments and Fisher 21 Lofts rehab; county to contribute $2.5 million
Summary
Commissioners reviewed amendments to ARPA-funded subrecipient agreements including a continuation of Land Bank demolition work and a proposed rehabilitation of the former Fisher Body Plant (Fisher 21 Lofts). County staff said the county would contribute $2,500,000; no formal votes were taken on these items at the meeting.
Wayne County commissioners discussed two ARPA-related items: an amendment to a subrecipient agreement with the Wayne County Land Bank Corporation to continue a blighted property demolition program, and a proposed subrecipient agreement with Fisher 21 Lofts LLC to rehabilitate the former Fisher Body Plant in Detroit.
Darcel Brown, chief assistant to the deputy CEO, said five ARPA contracts required approval before Dec. 31; three reached committee and two remained outstanding "because of a miscommunication" about priority. Brown handed technical discussion to Hassan (staff) and said the administration planned to return the items for approval.
Hassan and project representatives described the two proposed changes. The Land Bank item would shift the funding source for an already-approved demolition program from the county’s revenue-replacement ARPA bucket to the SLFRF (American Rescue Plan) SLURF/SLFRF project bucket to ensure compliance and timely spend-down ahead of 2026 deadlines.
The Fisher 21 Lofts presentation said the rehabilitation would add about 433 residential units and roughly 44,000 square feet of commercial space. Project representatives said the overall development cost was described in the meeting as approximately $155 million; the county’s contribution was stated as $2,500,000. A community contribution of $27,650,000 and other partner funding were also referenced; portions of the transcript contain inconsistent or garbled figures for some partner amounts, which are not presented here as exact figures.
Doreen Holmes, economic vitality division director, described other public financing: she cited state contributions through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) programs (Commercial Revitalization Program and RAP) and said MEDC funding was significant though the transcript includes inconsistent amounts for those programs. Holmes explained the City of Detroit’s contribution is structured as an ARPA loan with an affordability agreement that results in forgiveness after the affordability period.
Project representative Richard Hosey described the community benefits agreement and the affordable set-aside: 63 units would be reserved with a mix of 50% and 80% area median income (AMI) set-asides. Hosey said a two-bedroom unit at 50% AMI would be about $900 after the utility allowance and estimated an average market-rate rent (excluding the deepest affordability units) near $1,300. He also said the development layers neighborhood enterprise zone abatements, the Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Act abatement, and Brownfield tax increment financing to make the project feasible.
Commissioners asked about ownership (representatives said it would be privately owned after completion), community benefits, contractor participation and the project’s timing near a visible interchange and an employer relocation that the developers said motivated early cleanup. Brown said administration staff intended to bring the outstanding ARPA amendments back for approval; no formal votes were recorded on the Land Bank or Fisher 21 Lofts items at this meeting.
