An entity controlled by Dan Gilbert’s Rock Ventures and Quicken Loans Inc. was granted more time by the state of Michigan on Wednesday to complete development plans on the old Hudson’s site downtown.
Documents for the extension provided by the state show the entity, 1208 Woodward LLC, intends to invest up to $75 million for a mixed-used development of residential, retail and parking.
The Michigan Strategic Fund, a quasi-public agency that handles economic development, approved changing the deadline for the project to June 30, 2016, from the original December 2015 deadline.
The extension was granted because Gilbert’s real estate unit launched “an international design competition” for the site that delayed plans, according to the document.
The city-controlled property has been vacant since the city demolished the flagship store for the J.L. Hudson Co. in 1998.
The vacant Woodward block sits atop an underground parking structure, with infrastructure already in place to have a building constructed on top of it.
In 2011, Gilbert’s unit received a 15-year extension on a Renaissance Zone designation on the site to make it easier to redevelop.
Businesses within Renaissance Zones don’t have to pay city income and utility user taxes, most city property taxes, county property taxes, and state income tax or business taxes, according to the city of Detroit’s website.
Louis Aguilar, The Detroit News.
