A Community Benefits package for the $2.2 billion Renaissance Center redevelopment in Detroit received a preliminary approval on Oct. 27 and was heralded as the largest in the city’s history.
Members of the Neighborhood Advisory Council or NAC, a nine-member group of resident volunteers, voted 8 to 1 at the evening meeting to recommend the $133.3 million package for final approval next month by Detroit City Council.
The package was the culmination of weeks of negotiations between the NAC and the RenCen project’s developers, Bedrock and General Motors, as well as over 500 public comments since August about the project and what residents wanted to see in the benefits package.
The package includes $43.5 million in direct spending by the developers for the community, plus nearly $90 million in voluntarily “PILOT” payments from the developers to the city, or “Payments in Lieu of Taxes.”
“It’s not perfect, I will agree,” said NAC member Catherine Cheung. “But at the end of the day, we’re really proud with what we have put forward.”
Items in the benefits package include:
- $10 million to support affordable housing in neighborhoods across the city.
- $5 million for Detroit’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
- A commitment that 20% of the development’s 934 planned units of housing will be set aside as “affordable” for those earning no more than 60% of the area median income, currently $44,040 a year for one person or $56,640 for a family of three.
- 90 minutes of free parking at the finished development for Detroit residents.
- $6 million to establish year-round small business pavilions at the new RenCen for about 12 to 18 vendors, with priority given to Detroit small businesses.
- $3 million for small businesses in Detroit’s neighborhoods.
- A commitment from Bedrock to develop a movie theater on the east riverfront portion of the project.
NAC member Teron Haynes Jr. was the sole member of the group to oppose the package.
He gave several reasons for his “no” vote, including the absence of any direct public ownership of the project or a revenue-sharing arrangement with the city. Some residents and community activists had been pushing for both items.
Haynes also voiced his dissatisfaction with the project in general, which calls for demolishing two of the five original RenCen towers and the multistory podium, then transforming the remaining towers into a mix of housing, hotel rooms and modernized office space.
Bedrock and GM are seeking tax breaks and development incentives worth $548 million and have said the project can’t be done without them.
“Make no mistake, Detroiters were threatened: You either give me half a billion dollars, or I will make your city a monument to blight,” Haynes said.
“Lastly, I will not support a deal that doesn’t at its core desire to address gentrification of Detroit’s downtown,” he added. “It is not healthy for one person or corporation to own this much property downtown. It is not healthy when that man, or his organizations, at their core, do not speak to the displacement of Black and brown Detroiters. This agreement could have corrected those issues in abundance, but it didn’t.”
The final part of the late-night meeting, held in the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, was interrupted at times by outbursts of criticism from audience members who were displeased with the benefits package.
The outbursts prompted NAC members to defend their work.
“I feel very insulted by the fact that people are always telling us that we did not do, what we do, in good faith,” NAC member Deirdre Jackson said. “We did the best that we could do for the citizens of this city as a whole. Not just one area — it’s for the city.”
NAC Chair Jamaine Dickens went on to defend himself and the group, emphasizing how they ultimately emerged with the largest Community Benefits package to date.
“We are Detroiters, too,” he said. “And the same way that you think you’re doing what’s best for the city through this process, we do, too. We just have differences of opinion — and that’s OK. That’s what the democratic process is built upon.”
He added, “We sat down with the developer and we had a lot of items that we asked. And in the process of negotiation, you don’t get everything that you ask for.”
The Community Benefits agreement is to next go before City Council’s Planning and Economic Development Committee on Nov. 12, with a final vote expected later from the full council.
The $2.2 billion Renaissance Center redevelopment is to happen in phases over a decade and have two general components: the $1.6 billion redevelopment of the five original Renaissance Center towers and the $624 million buildout of the 30-acre east riverfront next to the RenCen as public space and an amenity-filled attraction.
The project is to be developed, owned and operated by a new nonprofit organization, with Dan Gilbert personally contributing $1 billion in equity and GM putting down $250 million.
Contact JC Reindl: 313-378-5460 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on X @jcreindl