Developer revives $1 billion long-held dream (Detroit)

[DetroitMan]

Developer revives long-held dream
$1B plan would have waterway as linchpin
By Daniel Duggan


Developer Richard Baron could have this $15 million residential and commercial project in Midtown under construction next year at John R and Palmer.

After Richard Baron built a career out of St. Louis as a national developer of blighted urban property, he longed to come back to his hometown of Detroit to take on the city's challenges.

So he tried in the 1980s, tried in the 1990s and tried in the early 2000s, but he was never able to find a project that would work with the city's politics.

He pitched an idea for Tiger Stadium, for the former J.L. Hudson Co. building on Campus Martius and for the redevelopment of vacant homes along Woodward.

He had all but given up, focusing instead on the 16,300 units and 1.29 million square feet of commercial space he has developed in 35 cities across the country at a value of $2.45 billion. But Baron, co-founder of McCormack Baron Salazar Development Inc., is now closer than ever to his dream of building in Detroit.

If the final pieces of financing come together for a $15 million residential and commercial project in Detroit's Midtown, he could have the building under construction next year, with roughly 100 units of mixed-income residential space, able to accommodate disabled people.

The building at John R Street and Palmer Avenue, however, is the least ambitious of Baron's plans for Detroit.

He's also pushing on an almost 30-year-old plan to redevelop 3,000 acres of land from Jefferson Avenue to the General Motors Volt plant, north of I-94 near St. Aubin in an area on the border of Hamtramck and Detroit. The plan would re-create a creek that once flowed through that area and be the backbone for development.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...ong-held-dream