Finally!
It’s been a long time coming, but at long last there seems to be serious movement toward what could be Michigan’s largest single economic development opportunity in the coming decade: the Airport City (“aerotropolis”) between Detroit Metro and Willow Run Airports.
Troy-based real estate expert Stuart Frankel has announced an agreement to develop 150 acres of land in the Pinnacle Aeropark, an office and warehouse project south of Detroit Metro and east of the I-275/Sibley interchange. That should be just the beginning.
The Airport City project, Frankel told me recently, is “potentially the most transformative project for Southeastern Michigan ever attempted. We want to make it such.”
Emphasize the “we.” A joint memo supporting the Airport City project has been signed by Wayne and Washtenaw Counties, the various local government units around both airports and the Wayne County Airport Authority. This week, it will be delivered to Jim Epolito, the CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, or MEDC. (Full disclosure: I am the outfit’s unpaid vice-chair.)
With that goes a cover letter to Governor Jennifer Granholm, suggesting “the state of Michigan needs to be an active participant and partner in this exciting economic development undertaking.”
There is plenty of evidence to show that the potential is vast. A University of Michigan- Dearborn study shows that Detroit Metro Airport has a $7.6 billion impact on the Michigan economy, including $4 billion in airline tickets, hotel rooms and parking, plus some $2 billion in sales to Michigan companies.
The Airport City project has long been a gleam in the eyes of those visionaries who can see past next Tuesday. Now, at last, it might actually be getting some traction.
For years, experts have known that the area’s combination of assets make the site potentially one of the world’s best. Those riches include what is now a first-class passenger facility (Detroit Metro), a good freight airport (Willow Run), easy access to road, rail and international water transport, and 25,000 acres of largely undeveloped land in between.
Similar airport developments in Amsterdam, Hong Kong and Bangkok are producing hundreds of thousands of jobs. Here, this agreement to develop the Pinnacle site may finally be what breaks up the logjam of inertia. That Frankel, one of Michigan’s most respected –and shrewdest — developers, is prepared to ante up millions of his own funds suggests the dreams aren’t pie in the sky.
That’s important, because the Pinnacle project has been dragging on since the late Ed McNamara, then Wayne County Executive, launched the idea back in 1999. Now this developer intends to cut the ribbon by building 50,000 square feet of offices and 200,000 square feet of warehouse space.
That should jump-start a project that has been the victim of endless Wayne County politics and the lack of an economically realistic development plan. And getting Pinnacle off the ground is important evidence the larger Airport City vision has the wings to fly.
The agreement between the various local governmental units is equally encouraging, if only because it demonstrates that the local powers are united at last in support of the project. Signing on are the cities of Taylor, Belleville, Romulus and Ypsilanti, together with Ypsilanti, Van Buren and Huron townships.
Cobbling together something that appealed to their various interests, combined with those of Wayne and Washtenaw Counties and the Airport Authority has not been easy. Wayne County Economic Development Director Mulu Birru deserves credit for patience and persistence.
Meanwhile, the new man at the MEDC, Jim Epolito, has succeeded in regaining momentum and morale at the state’s main arm dedicated to economic development. He has a terrific opportunity to take the Airport City project to a new level by putting planning and marketing muscle behind the project.
Nobody in state government (including the MEDC) has much money these days, but what is needed at this point is coordinated planning and evidence of firm state support.
That’s relatively cheap, and Governor Granholm would be wise to jump on board as evidence she’s serious about adding jobs to the hard-pressed Southeastern Michigan economy.
Frankel’s right. The Airport City project could transform the area. And now that the local governmental units potentially involved have their act together, it is time for the state to jump in with both feet.
Phil Power is a longtime observer of politics, economics and education issues in Michigan. He would be pleased to hear from readers at ppower@hcnnet.com. These opinions and others expressed in Phil Power’s columns are individual opinions and do not in any way represent official policy positions of the Center For Michigan.
