A property in Detroit will be redeveloped as a community park with help from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ). The Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority was awarded a $650,000 Brownfield Redevelopment Grant to revitalize and safely reuse a former car dealership on Grand River Avenue, where it intersects the Jeffries Freeway.
The brownfield grant will be used to remove underground storage tanks, contaminated soil and install barriers to prevent exposure to contaminated soil. The MDEQ grant will also pay for demolition of a blighted building that has been vacant since the 1990s.
Give Merit, Inc. will transform the property into a community park with organized sports, a teaching garden, a splash pad, performance space and space for vendors. Although organized sports and free play are the park’s main attractions, the park will transform an eyesore into a community meeting and learning center. The $2,350,000 redevelopment will create five new full-time jobs and five part-time jobs.
The MDEQ partners with communities to protect public health and the environment and revitalize contaminated property. MDEQ grants and loans pay for environmental investigation and cleanup on brownfields. Brownfields are vacant or abandoned properties with known or suspected environmental contamination.
Partnerships between MDEQ and communities have created $4 billion in private investment and 29,000 new jobs over the life of the Brownfield Redevelopment Program. Each grant and loan dollar invested by the MDEQ in 2017 to protect residents and the environment is expected to return an average of $32 to the state’s economy. When brownfields are redeveloped, property values increase both on the revitalized site and on other nearby properties. Learn more at www.michigan.gov/deqbrownfields.
