Laura Berman in The Detroit News reports the state land bank is expected soon to transfer 157 acres of the old state fairgrounds to a development group that includes Magic Johnson LLC, Lansing developer Joel Ferguson and Southfield-based REDICO for $1 and the promise of a percentage of future revenues.
"The fairgrounds — site of pig racing, chicken pageants and corn dog memories — will become a mixed-use shopping and entertainment center if the developers live up to their word and invest $120 million, re-use some of the buildings and incorporate recreational space.
"That's a big "if" though, because once the land is transferred, the developers will do their thing. Their final plan — whatever it is — has yet to be unveiled to the public or even the land bank board of directors.
Berman reports an ad hoc state fairgrounds coalition of citizens is yelling time-out, in the wake of a Detroit Future City plan that pinpoints the fairgrounds at the apex of a potential regional transit hub.
"In 10 or 20 years, the state will be buying back the fairgrounds land to do what we should be doing right now," Ken Weikal, a landscape architect and principal in Growtown, a Detroit nonprofit, tells the columnist.
