Redevelopment

About the Program

Redevelopment is a key to survival for older, built-out communities. In many cases, it enables cities to transition into a new business climate or adapt to changing ideals and expectations. For example, Michigan's Golden Spike, our newest project, will help cities make a smooth transformation into the "economy of the future" by helping municipalities along the proposed Ann Arbor-Detroit mass transit line plan pedestrian-friendly, mixed-used development around the stops.

Redevelopment also helps level the playing field for built-out suburbs. Greenfield communities, typically located on the outskirts of our metropolis, have large amounts of undeveloped land, which is less complicated and often less expensive to develop than already built properties. As cities in our nationally recognized Redevelopment Ready Communities ^SM program have found, the ability to move redevelopment projects quickly and efficiently and market these capabilities to developers gives inner suburbs an edge in the competition for limited development dollars.

Finally, we pursue redevelopment to curb the dangerously high level of urban sprawl in metro Detroit. We as a region are developing land much more quickly than our population is growing, and this has detrimental effects on both our natural environment and the quality of life in our urban centers. Keeping development in already built areas preserves our green spaces and helps to maintain the vitality of our core cities, making our region a healthy and attractive one in which to live, work and play.