Before a contractor can pour a footing on an old rail yard or a former factory lot, somebody has to deal with what's in the ground. In Michigan, the state often helps pay for that part.
On Oct. 8, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy announced nearly $8 million in brownfield redevelopment funding for eight projects. According to EGLE's announcement, the projects are expected to create 687 new housing units and as many as 447 jobs. The list includes an apartment building, mixed-use buildings, a retail plaza, an industrial building and a homeless shelter.
The housing projects
Factory Yards, Grand Rapids. The biggest housing piece is a $1 million grant for Factory Yards, a 13.4-acre contaminated former industrial site off Godfrey Avenue SW. Across all phases, the $146 million project will rehabilitate several industrial buildings into as many as 450 housing units and 100,000 square feet of commercial space. At least 10% of rental units will go to tenants earning under 60% of area median income. The first mixed-use phase is scheduled to be finished in summer 2028.
20th and Michigan, Detroit. A $1 million grant will help turn a former rail yard in southwest Detroit into a mixed-use building with 104 housing units and about 11,700 square feet of commercial space, alongside the new Detroit City Football Club stadium. Sixty-eight units will be priced for households earning 60% to 80% of AMI, with availability expected by March 2029. EGLE says its money is for the housing portion of the overall $190 million project, not the 15,000-seat stadium.
Spaulding Lofts, Detroit. A $1 million grant will help rehab the former Spaulding Electric Company building on Michigan Avenue in Corktown, vacant since 2010, into 18 housing units and about 3,600 square feet of commercial space. Four units are reserved for households at or below 80% of AMI. The $11.1 million project is scheduled to wrap in late 2028.
Klein Tools, Jonesville. The largest single grant, $2 million, goes to the former Klein Tools site at 121 Water St. The $20 million project calls for 44 housing units. Part of an existing building becomes a 25,000-square-foot restaurant with apartments, and a new 14,000-square-foot building with apartments and retail is set to open in January 2029.
A closer look at the Bridge Apartments
The Corktown project with the most digging is the Bridge Apartments at 2302 Rosa Parks Blvd. EGLE put out a separate announcement on the $820,000 grant for the 1.36-acre site.
The land was built up with houses by the 1880s, and a gas station sat on the corner in the 1930s. Demolition began in 1957, and by 1981 the site had become parking for Tiger Stadium. The fill brought in after demolition was contaminated with metals, petroleum and other chemicals.
The grant pays for more environmental assessment, the excavation, hauling and disposal of 3,500 tons of contaminated soil, and a barrier to keep people away from anything left behind. The $34 million building will be four stories with 71 units, all priced for households earning up to 80% of AMI. The city of Detroit and the Michigan State Housing Development Authority are adding money, and the opening is scheduled for spring 2029.
"This development reflects our vision of a Corktown for Everyone, a neighborhood where longtime residents, working families and new Detroiters all have an opportunity to call home," Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield said.
The other three grants went to non-housing work: $1 million for the 71,500-square-foot Shops at Vernor retail plaza in southwest Detroit, $700,000 for the Kalamazoo Plating Works expansion, and $460,000 for a Hope Shelters homeless facility in Pontiac. No general contractor is named for any of the eight projects in EGLE's announcements.
Why it matters for Contractors
Brownfield money is often what makes infill housing pencil out, and every one of these grants turns into early site work: environmental testing, excavation, soil hauling and disposal, barriers to cap leftover contamination, and demolition before the vertical build ever starts. For excavators, environmental contractors and demo crews, that's the first wave. After that come the bigger packages, from Factory Yards' industrial rehabs in Grand Rapids to new four-story construction in Corktown and Jonesville. Most of these projects have 2028 or 2029 finish dates, which means bidding and buyout over the next year or so. Contractors who want in should track the developers behind each project and watch for construction managers to be named.