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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Uptown Reinvestment Corp. secures $6.5 million in grants, loans for Genesee Towers demo, other downtown Flint projects
Jeremy Allen | jallen42@mlive.com By Jeremy Allen | jallen42@mlive.com
on June 26, 2013 at 8:30 PM
FLINT, MI – Uptown Reinvestment Corporation can now proceed with it’s redevelopment efforts in downtown Flint thanks to a $5.65 million combination loan and grant from the state of Michigan.
The group was awarded the funding by the Michigan Community Revitalization Program for the demolition of Genesee Towers, the redevelopment of the former Flint Journal headquarters and the relocation of the Flint Farmers’ Market.
Tim Herman, president of Uptown Reinvestment Corp., said that the development plans for the four-block downtown health and wellness district hinged on securing these funds.
old flint journal building.jpgFormer Flint Journal building in downtown Flint.FILE | MLive.com
“Pretty much, we had to have this in order to make the project work. We’re very fortunate that we received this award today,” Herman said.
Overall, the project will consist of three main projects: the renovation of the former Flint Journal headquarters to make way for Michigan State University’s Flint Public Health & Medical Campus project; the relocation of the 70-plus vendor Flint Farmers’ Market to the vacant Flint Journal printing facility; and the demolition of the Genesee Towers property to make way for an urban plaza.
The former Flint Journal headquarters renovation will include 16 loft-style apartments and office space, and the Farmers Market will include a commercial community kitchen.
Herman said that the next steps in the process will be to get abatement done on the Genesee Towers building and secure contractors for the demolition, but those things are still in the works.
“Right now we don’t want to start any construction until we secure all of the contracts for demolition and abatement of Genesee Towers. That should start soon and the demolition should be sometime after the August (Crim and Back to the Bricks) events, but I can’t tell you if that’ll be September or October,” he said.
“Once the towers is down then we can start letting bids and doing more architectural work on the Farmers’ Market and the MSU medical building as well, and that’ll start sometime after the demolition.”
The $5.65 million total will be in the form of a $1 million grant and a $4.65 million 30-year loan with a one percent interest rate.
Additionally, Uptown will receive an $880,000 community development block grant from the city of Flint, and a $1.5 million donation from an anonymous source.
The project is expected to generate a total capital investment of $29.8 million and create 75 full-time jobs.
“I’m very excited about creating this new economy for downtown and to bring 75-plus new jobs to downtown and bringing a health and wellness district downtown is really great for Flint & Genesee County,” Herman said.
Ownership of Genesee Towers was transferred from the city of Flint to Uptown on March 22, nearly seven months after former emergency financial manager Mike Brown approved the $1 sale of Genesee Towers to Uptown.
Herman said in a June interview with MLive-Flint Journal that the entire redevelopment project would come at a total cost of $32 million. |
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Wed Jun 26, 2013 8:25 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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The Flint Journal just posted a story about the Court of Appeals allowing a sidewalk injury case to go forward. The City alleged they were not notified of the defective sidewalk, which was disproven.
All over the City there are utility cuts, some huge, that have only had temporary patches in them. These temporary fixes have in most instances washed out and are just left. the new mini station at University has a huge hole that has been filled in multiple times and now does not even have any warning barricade. This is a deep hole that would disable a vehicle. And many streets have these "City repairs" that if hit would cause serious damage to one's car.
At meetings people bring up water system leaks that are undermining the roads and causing sinkholes and manholes falling below the street. The infrastructure in most part of the city could be repaired using these CDBG funds.
And yet the city continues to ignore infrastructure needs and continues to focus on Smith Village and downtown. They obviously have a plan the rest of Flint doesn't see or want. |
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Sat Jun 29, 2013 10:42 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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| In the past Flint could not use federal money for commercial demolition. Joshua Freeman is chair of the Finance Committee, but these announcements seem to catch him off guard. Hopefully mike kilbreath can interview him on his show. |
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Sat Jun 29, 2013 10:45 am |
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