2023-10-29 22:30:00
Owners of the Ambassador Bridge are seeking to expand the footprint of the international span a few yards from the basilica of St. Anne de Detroita Catholic church built in 1886, according to two people familiar with a deal announced Sunday by the city and the bridge owners.
The bridge company seeks to expand its footprint along Fort Street to the south, West Lafayette Boulevard to the north, Ste. Anne St. to the west and 18th Street to the east, according to Sam Butler, president of the Hubbard Richard Resident Association. The expansion would be used for the plaza portion of the bridge, according to a city press release.
The proposed agreement will need various approvals from the city, including the City Council. And expanding the footprint of the Ambassador Bridge, an international span that connects the United States and Canada, may need approval from other government entities beyond the city.
Matthew Moroun, chairman of the Ambassador Bridge, said in the news release Sunday: “Earlier this year, I promised to the City Council that we would make a beneficial and positive agreement with the community. It was important that we kept that promise. This agreement is the result of a lot of hard work, will provide a win-win-win for the HRRA, city and our company.” HRRA refers to Hubbard Richard Resident Association.
Under the proposed agreement, owners of the Ambassador Bridge agreed to:• Donate 10 properties it owns in and around Hubbard Richard to the neighborhood, along with $20,000 per property to assist in redevelopment.
• Contribute property to the city with the intent it be incorporated into the Roberto Clemente Recreation Center on Bagley Avenue.
• Demolish the former Greyhound bus station at 2300 W. Fort Street, split the property into two parcels, and donate the larger parcel to the neighborhood for non-industrial redevelopment. An entity linked to the bridge company owns the former Greyhound building.
• Construct a berm along 16th Street that buffers the neighborhood from industrial uses to the east.
• Build a new 16th Street between West Lafayette and West Fort Street to improve ingress and egress to the neighborhood.
Mayor Mike Duggan said the agreement is “a major turning point for the Hubbard-Richard community and the Bridge Company,” Sunday in a release. “Their willingness to work together resulted in an agreement to build a badly needed plaza expansion in a way that respects the residential character of the community and provides it some real benefits,” Duggan said.
The potential expansion of the bridge would be on land long owned by entities linked to the bridge company, according to property records. The properties along Fort and Lafayette are not currently connected to bridge operations. The planned expansion area is next to the walled off section of the bridge. On the other side of the wall is the bridge area currently used partly by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Many Hubbard Richard residents have long feared the bridge company would seek to eventually close a huge swath of Ste. Anne and nearby residential streets, dislocating dozens of families. Entities linked to the bridge company have been buying up homes on the streets for decades, public property records show, and many are those properties are now vacant lots.
But the agreement includes assurances the bridge company would not seek to expand further on Ste. Anne Street and in a residential area of Hubbard Richard covering about 10 blocks, said Butler, the head of the Hubbard Richard neighborhood group.
“We wanted to be able to get as much assurance as possible that this is the last time they are going to expand the customs plaza,” into the neighborhood, Butler said.
Ste. Anne Street resident Andres Ruiz said he was aware of the negotiations and the potential deal. Two other residents on the street said they knew of the plans too but didn’t want to be named in the story.
“I think we got the message across that we aren’t going anywhere and most of us aren’t interested in selling to them,” Ruiz said, referring to the bridge company. He has lived on Ste. Anne Street for several years. ‘”We’ll see how it plays out. You never know what they are going to do,” he said referring to the bridge company.
Council Member Gabriela Santiago-Romero has been involved in the months of discussions with the bridge company, the neighborhood group and other city officials. She hopes the proposed agreement marks “a new beginning,” she said in the release Sunday.
“After countless deliberations and late nights, what resulted was this community driven community benefits agreement with protections and assurances,” Santiago-Romero said. “It’s my hope that we build on this momentum and ensure that we put the voices and wellbeing of impacted residents front and center in all development moving forward.”
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