Some claim it's akin to putting lipstick on a pig, but Ypsilanti officials hope that dressing up Water Street might just convince a developer to bring home the bacon.

 

City officials plan to aggressively market the Water Street project at the upcoming Brownfields 2008 conference in Detroit. The idea is to spark interest in developers who specialize in building on brownfield sites, which are normally polluted or obsolete.

 

Water Street is a collection of 42 residential and old commercial parcels in need of pollution remediation. The city acquired the 38 acres on the Huron River near downtown and bundled it together in hopes of attracting a developer that would turn it into new residential housing and commercial space that stressed a dense, urban ethic. However, city officials are now open to splitting the parcel to develop parts of it.

 

Like so many other plans with the best intentions, the idea of using new taxes from the development to pay off the bonds used to buy the property didn't quite work out as planned when the chosen developer, Joseph Freed & Associates, pulled out. The city has since spent more than a year searching for a new developer before the first bond payments come due.

 

City officials see the Brownfield conference, which attracts experts from across the country, as a prime opportunity to get the project going again. They plan to put together pamphlets and packets on the project, along with providing shuttles to the site for any interested parties.

 

City leaders are also looking for video of the site so they can post it on YouTube. They made similar efforts last year at the conference with encouraging results. The hope is that the proximity to the site this year and the ramped up efforts will spark more interest.

 

"We got several leads from that last year," says Brian Vosburg, director of the Ypsilanti and Depot Town downtown development authorities. "None of them worked out but it did generate interest."

 

Source: Brian Vosburg, director of the Ypsilanti and Depot Town downtown development authorities
Writer: Jon Zemke