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Council sends Exchange Detroit NEZ extension to formal with recommendation to approve
Summary
Developers asked the council for a one-time fifth-year NEZ extension for two unsold Exchange Detroit condominiums; the council moved the request to formal with a recommendation to approve after developers pledged to sell the units within the extra year.
Representatives for Exchange Detroit asked the City Council Committee of the Whole to approve a one-time, fifth-year extension of Neighborhood Enterprise Zone certificates for two remaining for-sale condominium units in the Exchange building (Greektown).
Attorney Richard Barr, representing the applicant, said the developer had sold 10 of the 12 condominiums but two remained unsold despite marketing efforts and recent price reductions. He said the NEZ certificates provide a meaningful tax-rate benefit to a buyer and asked the council to exercise authority under section 11.2 of the Neighborhood Enterprise Zone Act to grant the final available extension.
Developer counsel Katie Long said the team had invested in improvements (roughly $38,000 in one unit and similar sums in the other), cut prices and will continue marketing efforts; the developers said they expect to sell both units before next November and do not intend to seek further extensions.
Housing & Revitalization staff said HRD would not market the units unless an affordability addendum existed; the committee noted the state tax commission had confirmed this one-time extension is available under state rules. The committee voted to send the item to formal with a recommendation to approve.
The action does not finalize a council vote on the extension; moving an item to formal with a recommendation to approve signals support in committee and places the item on a formal agenda for final action.
