A Community Benefits agreement for the $2.2 billion Renaissance Center redevelopment on Detroit's riverfront is at least one more week away.
The agreement between the project's developers — Bedrock and General Motors — and a nine-member Neighborhood Advisory Council, or NAC, was once expected to be finalized at an Oct. 20 public meeting, but negotiations on the complex deal of various developer commitments, concessions and community gifts are not yet finished.
The NAC presented its initial listof about 100 items to the developers in early October. Last week, Bedrock and GM responded with their yeas and nays to the requests. And shortly before the Tuesday, Oct. 20, meeting, the NAC gave the developers its counter-response.
NAC Chair Jamaine Dickens
told the Detroit Free Press that a finalized benefits agreement might be ready for a vote by the NAC's members at their next meeting public meeting Oct. 27. The group's vote is a recommendation; final approval of the deal must ultimately come from Detroit City Council.
“We just gave them our response and we expect to get a document from them sooner than later, so we can review it and decide where we align," Dickens said. "Hopefully we align on the majority or all of the issues, therefore we have a clearer path to a vote next week.”
Bedrock representative Jake Chidester said during Tuesday evening's meeting that he expects that the final deal will be an extraordinary one.
“It’s on track to be the largest community benefits agreement on record in our city’s history," he said.
Parking at the future RenCen is one item on the list that has gone through several rounds of back-and-forth negotiation at the weekly public meetings.
The NAC initially requested that parking be free to Detroiters for the first three hours. Bedrock officials went on to say no, but offered that Detroiters get 30% off whatever the market rate parking will be.
NAC members then countered with a request that Detroiters get 50% off. Now, Bedrock says it is willing to give Detroiters the first 90 minutes of parking free.
"We believe that is clean, concise and achieves the benefit that this body is looking for on behalf of the community," Chidester said at Tuesday evening's meeting.
Tuesday's meeting was the first since the Oct. 19 announcement that Bedrock's previously planned $1 billion equity contribution toward the $2.2 billion redevelopment would in fact be a philanthropic donation from Dan Gilbert, and that a new nonprofit organization will be created to develop, own and operate the future RenCen site and its nearby riverfront.
The nonprofit would be a 501(c)4 social welfare organization that would still legally owe property taxes, but would not be eligible for tax-deductible contributions, according to Bedrock. (Its members would include the Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit Branch NAACP, and Bill Emerson, a former CEO of Gilbert's Rocket Companies.)
In total, Bedrock and GM are seeking tax breaks and incentives for the RenCen redevelopment project worth an estimated $548 million over three decades.
They are aiming to have all of the project's city and state-levels approvals in hand by year end, before Michigan's next governor takes office and possibly revamps the approval process for the project's largest incentive, a future tax capture called a Transformational Brownfield, which would be worth an estimated $300 million over numerous years.
Specifically, the developers want Detroit City Council's Planning and Economic Development Committee to take up their incentives request on Oct. 29 and then for the full council to vote on the incentives as soon as Nov. 10.
The $2.2 billion redevelopment would happen in phases over a decade and have two general components: the $1.6 billion redevelopment of the five original Renaissance Center towers and the $624 million buildout of the 30-acre east riverfront next to the RenCen as public space and an amenity-filled attraction.
The redevelopment would demolish two of the five original RenCen towers plus the multistory concrete podium, and transform the remaining towers into a mix of 934-units of housing, 858 hotel rooms and modern office space.
General Motors is to contribute $250 million in equity to the overall project alongside Gilbert's $1 billion.
Contact JC Reindl: 313-378-5460 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on X @jcreindl
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Community Benefits deal for RenCen is close, free parking possible
