Community agreement approved as Ambassador Bridge plaza plan moves forward

Detroit — A community agreement signed Tuesday to expand the Ambassador Bridge plaza gave land for redevelopment to a residents’ association and prohibited the Detroit International Bridge Company, which owns the international bridge, from purchasing more property in the neighborhood.

The Detroit City Council approved a deal Tuesday between the bridge company and the Hubbard Richard Resident Association. The council also approved requests for a plaza expansion project from the bridge company, which operates the Detroit-Windsor bridge. The deal says the expansion will occur in previously agreed upon areas, with no additional land purchased for the expansion.

“I think we came to a win-win agreement,” said Kevin Kalczynski of Detroit International Bridge Company.

For several years, entities linked to the Moroun family, the billionaire owners of the Ambassador Bridge, Hubbard bought hundreds of properties in Richard neighborhoodLocated in the shadow of the international bridge. The bridge company purchased the land adjacent to the bridge in order to expand the bridge square area. Detroit Planning Commission documents.

The land purchases triggered residents’ concerns about the bridge company’s decades-long expansion goal of building more spans and expanding more squares with future land purchases. That was resolved in the community agreement, according to the neighborhood association president.

“The reason we came up with this community benefit agreement is we wanted to put to rest any questions about future bridge plaza expansion,” Butler said. “This has been a threat hanging over our heads for over 40 years, and I think we’ve mostly succeeded in doing that.”

Representatives of the bridge company, the association, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s office and the offices of city council members Gabriella Santiago-Romero and Mary Waters have been negotiating a deal since 2022, according to Planning Commission documents.

The parties signed a community agreement on Oct. 19, 2023, under which the bridge company will donate 10 lots to the residents’ association, one to the city and agree not to acquire any more property in designated areas of the neighborhood. They also agreed to demolish a former Greyhound bus building and donate the land to the residents’ association. Demolition began in February.

The bridge company plans to expand the bridge plaza area on two separate blocks of land between West Fort and Howard streets. As part of the plan, the city will close St. Anne and 15th streets and create a new 16th Street between West Lafayette and West Fort.

Sam Butler, from the residents’ association, said residents were hoping to reuse the former Greyhound property.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Santiago-Romero asked Kalczynski about the bridge company’s plans for industrial development in the neighborhood, specifically its property on 14th Street. He said one of the biggest issues residents have is industrial development in residential areas.

Kalczynski said the company has legal holdings there, including a ready-mix concrete business and a garage, and has taken “significant steps” to keep the land away from residential areas.

“That’s the current use. We’re happy with it. We don’t plan to change that at this time, but we also recognize the economic potential of this property,” Kalczynski said.

Butler said the possibility is concerning and could impact neighborhood residents’ ability to redevelop the former Greyhound site nearby.

“The community would welcome the chance to revitalize this property in a mixed-use or non-industrial activity,” Butler said. “We are currently focused on fundraising for environmental assessments and reuse of the Greyhound site, but this is something that directly impacts our ability to do that.”

The bridge company funded a first-phase environmental site assessment for the property to be given to the residents’ association, Butler said. The assessment is necessary to comply with federal requirements to assess the environmental conditions of a property before purchase, according to Environmental Protection Agency.

Butler said the association is raising money for the second phase of the environmental site assessment and is seeking grant opportunities.

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