A butcher shop, Iraqi restaurant and youth center are among the few remaining signs of the once-thriving Chaldean Town neighborhood in northwest Detroit.

If the city passes a plan for a new solar project here, those remnants will fade further.

The area is one of nine under consideration for large solar arrays that would power 127 city buildings, including the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, police and fire stations and recreation centers. The plan would assemble 250 acres across six areas of mostly vacant former neighborhoods like this one.

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Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan has pitched the program as a way to fight climate change and cut down on illegal dumping by fencing off abandoned areas. But some residents are concerned that the projects will drive disinvestment and hamper population growth. 

Adhid Miri, a historian and special projects director for the Chaldean Community Foundation, is against the plan. He would rather see commercial development or a “major attraction” in Chaldean Town, such as a museum, water park or amusement park. 

“But a solar farm in the middle of town…I think it’s insane,” he said.

Investment in Chaldean Town could help boost the struggling neighborhood, Miri said, where few Chaldeans remain, several storefronts are boarded up and residential areas are full of vacant land. 

In its heyday in the 1960s and 1970s, Chaldean Town was the first stop for thousands of Chaldeans immigrating to the United States. They raised families and opened up grocery stores, restaurants and doctor’s offices.

But by the 1980s, the crack epidemic swept through Detroit, as did crime, causing Chaldeans to move to suburban communities in Oakland and Macomb counties. 

“Families, especially the second generation, wanted to provide better opportunities for their kids, so they went to Southfield and Oak Park,” Miri said. 

Chaldean Town now joins other former ethnic enclaves like Black Bottom, Chinatown and Poletown, where history has been all but erased except in the minds of those who used to live and work there. 

A haven for the Chaldean community 

Nestled between the State Fair, Nolan and affluent Palmer Woods neighborhoods,  Chaldean Town is roughly bounded by Woodward Avenue, Seven Mile Road, John R and Lantz streets. 

In 1947, only 80 Chaldean families lived in Detroit. By 1967, that number soared to about 3,400, according to the Chaldean News.

The population spiked when Congress passed the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, abolishing a 1920s policy where each nationality was assigned a quota based on its representation in past U.S. census figures. 

“That made the community grow exponentially,” Miri said. “And so, in the late 60s, early 70s, you saw a huge influx of immigrants from the Middle East, specifically from Iraq. When these people came, most of them decided to come to Michigan because their family was here. Seven Mile was choice one.” 

While Chaldean Town was a thriving neighborhood in the 1960s and 1970s, things began to change in the 1980s once drugs and crime entered the picture. 

Once things began to decline, “police just were not able to keep up with the crime,” said Sally Howell, director of Arab American studies at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

“They (Chaldeans) didn’t want to leave; it had been such an important home to so many people when they first came here,” said Howell, noting by the 90s people were moving further north. 

In 1999, city officials worked with the Chaldean Federation in an attempt to revive the neighborhood. Plans called for an entertainment district along the strip between Woodward and John R, similar to Greektown, according to the Detroit Free Press. That’s when the city gave the neighborhood its official name of Chaldean Town. But the comeback attempt fell through and residents continued to leave.

Unlike Miri, neighborhood newcomers Tyree Williams and his wife, Randi, are more optimistic about what the project could bring to the community and its businesses. 

The couple opened the health and wellness store Pillar and Pride at Seven Mile and Woodward in 2020. 

Williams said he was unaware of the community meetings on solar held after the city announced the plan last summer and wants to know more. He’d like to see residents and business owners in the area receive benefits from the project. 

“There has to be some type of tangible benefit for those of us that live, work and invest in Chaldean Town,” Williams told BridgeDetroit.

However, only residents within city-defined zones would receive any kind of benefits from the project. Outcomes for residents in areas selected by the city will depend on how houses are valued in a future buy-out, the amount of community benefits proposed for each homeowner and the effect of solar fields on neighboring property values.

Homeowners in the proposed solar field footprint stand to receive twice the fair market value of their homes or $90,000, whichever is higher, while renters will get 18 months of rent to relocate. Homeowners within community benefits areas surrounding the projects will receive $15,000 to $25,000 each for energy efficiency upgrades. 

Williams said he is concerned about the disruption of construction on the community as well as the lifespan of the solar panels. Most panels’ lifespans are 25 to 30 years. He’s also worried about removing land from residential use, which could reduce supply and drive up costs.

“I’m concerned about the impact it could have on my children and their ability to reside in the city that we love without skyrocketing costs,” he said.

A tug of war

The city solicited feedback from neighbors in the prospective communities through January. Officials said the projects will be targeted in areas that received the most resident support. City officials said they will announce the six areas in March.

Romona Jones has lived in a house on Charleston Street for five years and is curious about the proposal. While drugs and crime have left Chaldean Town, Jones said she would rather see development come in.

“I thought they were going to build up the neighborhood, “ she said. “I want them to clean it up.” 

Meanwhile, Arlee Eslick, another resident on Charleston Street, is for installing a solar field in the neighborhood. He said there are some dilapidated homes that could be torn down to make way for the project. 

“Any source of renewable energy is great,” he said. “I’m all in for it.” 

Whatever ends up happening here, the once-thriving Chaldean Town neighborhood isn’t coming back.

Today, more than 187,000 Chaldeans reside in southeast Michigan – mostly in Macomb and Oakland counties. That’s the biggest population outside of Iraq, according to the Chaldean Community Foundation. 

“Life is like a river, it only goes in one direction–it doesn’t go backward,” Miri said. “When people live in a neighborhood, they enjoy some time there and then they leave it. Unless they know someone there, they have no reason to go back.”