Maybe it was the strong finish in his recent re-election, but if you haven’t noticed, Dearborn Councilman Robert Abraham these days is clearly being more visible and communicating more with residents. We like the new energized Abraham. It is refreshing to see a council member take a position on a matter, regardless of how popular or unpopular it might be.

In his latest column, sent here and to the local papers, Abraham takes a look at the preferred developer agreement Dearborn has with developer Hakim Fakhoury, which is now up for renewal. Abraham raises some very valid points in his column; chief among them is that there isn’t a list of developers banging on Dearborn’s door to rebuild downtown West Dearborn.

Fakhoury is requesting a one-year extension that his Dearborn Village Partners (DVP) corporation has with Dearborn. (See our earlier story by clicking Here.)

As Abraham rightly points out, there is no cost to the city of Dearborn for granting the extension.

Yes, Fakhoury has corporations that own property along Michigan Avenue with unpaid taxes that he is the principal owner. But Abraham tells us that those unpaid taxes shouldn’t come into play since the preferred developer agreement only gives DVP the exclusive right to market and plan the development of the property.

Abraham tells us that if and when an actual development is reached to build on the property, he would recommend that all property controlled by Fakhoury, through direct or indirect ownership and control, “would have all City taxes paid and current.”  This, by the way, is a requirement of the Dearborn City Charter.

Abraham says DVP’s proposal includes a three story building with first floor retail, bowling alley and movie theater. We aren’t sure in this economic environment how quickly something like this could materialize but with nothing else on the table, granting a one year extension seems like a smart option now.

Finally, the city also has to consider what not granting the extension means. In 2007, we wrote here about the State of Michigan granting Fakhoury’s DVP a state brownfield tax credit valued at $9.1 million and state and local tax capture worth $46 million. Not granting the extension could mean the loss of millions in tax credits to get such a project off the ground.

The tax credits back then were to support a multi-phased mixed-use development across 12 sites along Michigan Ave. between Howard and Military. According to the state of Michigan, the DVP project “will completely renovate one city block in the city’s downtown and involve the construction of mixed-use retail and housing, including two 10-story mid-rise condos and a tri-level 881-space parking deck. The project is expected to generate $125 million in capital investment and create 350 new jobs. The West Dearborn Downtown Development Authority is assisting the project with $42.5 million in tax capture for public infrastructure activities.”

Councilman Abraham’s column begins below:  

Dearborn has been seriously affected by the American auto industry collapse, home foreclosures and the terrible recession, which has resulted in us losing 60,000 white collar auto jobs further hurting our business districts, especially downtown west Dearborn. Meanwhile no new developers are approaching us to develop in downtown west Dearborn and projects approved during better times, now require going back to the drawing board. 

One developer is requesting a one-year extension of the preferred developer agreement with the City of Dearborn; that is Hakim Fakhoury’s – Dearborn Village Partners (DVP). The DVP project is proposed on the north side of Michigan Avenue between Military and Howard. DVP is planning a three story building with first floor retail and a bowling alley, a second and third floor movie theater offering food and alcohol, along with other amenities. In cooperation with HFCC and U of M – Dearborn, plans also include 2 – 4 bedroom college dorm housing, which could have a very positive impact.

In order to satisfy proposed DVP tenants and loan companies, a one year extension of the preferred developer agreement is necessary so that DVM can submit revised plans for this project. The agreement would guarantee that for one year the City of Dearborn would not market that lot to anyone and allow DVP to market and develop the property and lots. There is no cost to the City of Dearborn or the taxpayers to extend this agreement.

Mr. Fakhoury and his companies have invested multi-millions into downtown west Dearborn, he is the one of the largest developers and property owner and this is an attractive opportunity at a time when there simply are not any other options; expect to do nothing. No developers returned proposals on the Quality Inn property controlled by the Dearborn Historic Museum.

Without this one year extension of DVM’s preferred developer agreement, this project would collapse at a time we cannot afford to allow this to happen.

Therefore, I am planning to support the extension to DVP based on the proposed project, current economic conditions and facts presented to the Council by DVP, the Mayor and the Administration; as well as the important point that we have no other viable alternatives at this time.

 Councilman Robert A. Abraham

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 17th, 2009 at 11:58 pm and is filed under Around Town, Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.