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Council advances conditional purchase agreement for downtown mixed-use project, asks for contract clarifications
Summary
Council voted to move forward with a purchase agreement selling roughly 3.6 acres of city-owned downtown land to Wixom Rent and Partners LLC (the Fledo/Bonner partnership) for $250,000 to enable a mixed-use redevelopment with about 75 apartments and ground-floor retail, but members asked staff and applicants to clarify timelines, repurchase clauses, and financing protections before final closing.
The Wixom City Council on May 12 approved consideration of a purchase agreement to sell about 3.6 acres of city-owned property on North Wixom Road to Wixom Rent and Partners LLC for $250,000, a sale intended to support a mixed-use downtown redevelopment with retail and approximately 75 residential units.
Assistant City Manager Benson and developer representatives described the proposed deal and its conditions: the agreement requires planning-commission and council review of site plans, a multi-stage due-diligence window, and includes repurchase/reverter clauses that would allow the city to reclaim properties in certain default scenarios. Developer partners Luke Bonner (Bonner Advisory Group) and Mike Fero (Fledo Group) presented a conceptual plan showing a retail building of 10,000–15,000 square feet and a four-story, podium-style multifamily building with roughly 75 units.
Bonner said the project team is pursuing layered public incentives, including a potential Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MISHDA/MISTA) brownfield housing TIF plan, downtown development authority (DDA) participation on streetscape/infrastructure and potential future commercial-facility abatements if state law is reauthorized. Benson noted parts of the site lie in a former Ford brownfield and that brownfield tax capture will influence timing and distribution of tax revenue.
Council members focused extensive questions on several contract elements: timelines for inspection, site-plan submission and commencement of construction; how repurchase pricing would be calculated (some members asked the city’s reconveyance price to be tied to the original sale price rather than an undefined fair-market multiple); what deposit or extension-fee structure would harden a purchaser’s commitment after the nine-month inspection window; and how right-of-way, the airline trail and on-street parking would be handled with the county road commission.
Deputy Mayor Gota and several council members sought clearer, consistent milestone dates and requested the city attorney prepare clarifying language. Developers said they were comfortable with a one-month delay to allow staff and council to tidy contract language; they emphasized that the purchase agreement begins a structured negotiation and that closing will not occur until statutory and local approvals and financing are in place.
Council approved the recommendation to consider the purchase agreement while voting to postpone final contract execution until staff brings clarifications on timelines and certain repurchase/deposit provisions. Staff will return a revised agreement addressing the points council raised; if approved later, the agreement will provide an exclusive negotiation period, site-plan review, and conditions for repurchase if milestones are not met.
