LANSING, MI – November 23, 2009 – (RealEstateRama) — The Michigan Economic Growth Authority (MEGA) Board this week approved a $7.2 million tax credit for the NSO Bell project expected to invest $50 million in Detroit, State Senator Martha G. Scott (D-Highland Park) announced.
The Brownfield Michigan Business Tax credit is valued at up to $7,240,229. The project is an innovative mixed-use renovation of the Bell Building at 14300 Woodrow Wilson St and 850 Oakman Blvd by the Neighborhood Service Organization (NSO), a human service agency. Part of the building will be renovated to house NSO’s administrative and service headquarters, and part will provide permanent housing solutions for the homeless.
“This project is a great example of how an abandoned, dangerous eyesore can be redeveloped into a community jewel,” Senator Scott said. “I commend the Michigan Economic Growth Authority for its part in this important redevelopment project.”
NSO (www.nso-mi.org) is a human service agency that provides a wide variety of services including a program to serve older adults with mental illness; a 24-hour crisis and suicide intervention hotline; a gambling treatment helpline; and a training department which provides financial literacy, addiction treatment, and computer software.
The first floor and half of the second floor of the Bell Building will be renovated into NSO’s administrative and service headquarters. Services will be housed at the new location, bringing with them about 200 employees. NSO has outgrown its current location and the new building will provide 124,824 square feet of office and service space, allowing ample room for future expansion. The tower may or may not be utilized at a later date for conference and board rooms. The NSO Bell Building is located within a Cool Cities Neighborhood around the Focus: HOPE campus, allowing synergy in programming efforts between the two service agencies.
The remaining portions of floor two and floors three through six will provide permanent housing solutions for the homeless. The goal is to provide 155 housing units ranging in size from 600 to 800 square feet for the homeless. The services offered by NSO will be made available to tenants within the units, but attendance is not a condition of residing within the units. The total investment within the project is approximately $50 million.
In February 2007, the MEGA approved $4.95 million in state and local capture for tax increment financing for larger neighborhood development, the Oakman Woodrow Wilson Redevelopment, of which the NSO Bell Building is included. It is estimated that $1 million are eligible activity costs specific to the NSO Bell Building.
The commercial portion of the project will seek an Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Act (OPRA) tax abatement and the residential portions will secure a payment in lieu of taxes.
For more information, please visit www.themedc.org.
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Senator Scott represents the 2nd Senate District, which includes areas of Detroit and the cities of Hamtramck, Harper Woods, Highland Park and all of the Grosse Pointes. She serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Contact: Sen Martha G. Scott
2009-11-20 (517) 373-7748
