Hamtramck Star

Sooooo, does the old building on Denton become obsolete, abandoned and set for vandals? great another abandoned building.

Or will it be listed for lease or rent?

I heard somewhere that the owner did not weant to renew the lease and The State wanted to keep the Hamtramck location.

I honestly think the new location will be better because of easier access, parking and security. So the building was there before the state decided to use it?

From what I read in old copies of The Citizen at the library, 20 or 30 years ago, the State of Michigan decided that regional centers were a bad model for DHS offices, or whatever they were called in those days, and closed the regional offices. The building on Denton was built to the state's requirements by a developer who continues to own the building today. When the State's lease was up, someone made the decision to go back to regional offices, and the lease on Denton was not renewed. (The developer/building owner is now responsible for finding a new tenant.)

The state was planning to build the regional DHS office somewhere in Detroit, marginally accessible by public transit. People in Hamtramck lobbied the State to locate the regional office here. A building is now built by a developer to the state's anti-urban requirements, and the state has a lease on the building for 20 or 30 years. When the lease is up, the state will probably decide that regional offices were a bad idea and hire a developer.

sounds like a vicious cycle

The old location can be a nice Aldi supermarket.

much as i love aldi prices the truth is all the money you spend there goes away to a foreign land never to be seen again.

mind you if you want to go to aldis there's one 2 miles from us on woodward. personally i'd like to see our supermarkets continue to streamline their selections to keep prices low. i'd also like to boot whoever spreads krown foods fliers out of town because nobody cares about them, afterall theyre not in our city anyway.

no, aldis is not the answer, but we could use it as a satellite classroom for any of the colleges, like a tech center. Or, it may become part of a new rail line station that the newspapers were mentioning several months back.

It's only a vicious cycle if you're not state developer or a politician getting campaign donations from a state developer.

Taxpayer funded development churn. Constantly tearing ticky-tack buildings down and building new ones at the taxpayer's expense.

Had to come back to this thread to say that in addition to Aldi draining resources from communities, the products they sell are barely food. Completely disagree about Krown and local groceries though. Krown is our "supermarket", and the best thing about the local stores is the amazing selection. I can put ANYTHING on my grocery list and know that a store within walking distance will have it. Hamtramck is heaven for cooks.

Cleaning out e-mail this morning and noticed that I didn't post this second press release:

Boji Group opens Woody Plaza
New building to spur downtown Hamtramck redevelopment, house new Department of Human Services district office

HAMTRAMCK, Mich. — Boji Group injected new life into downtown Hamtramck
today, opening a new 30,000-square-foot building that is expected to
become a hub of activity.

Boji Group Chairman Louie Boji and President Ron Boji were joined by
city, Wayne County and State of Michigan officials at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Woody Plaza, 12140 Jos. Campau. The building soon will become home to a new district service center for the state Department of Human Services.

“We’re proud to be a part of the resurgence of downtown Hamtramck,” Ron
Boji said. “Woody Plaza brings new life to this part of Jos. Campau. It will house more than 125 employees and serve several hundred people each day.”

The site is the former home of the Woody Pontiac automotive dealership,
which drew customers to downtown Hamtramck for 60 years until it closed in 2000. In recent years, however, the vacant dealership had become a barrier to growth in Hamtramck’s downtown district.

In 2006, Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm included Hamtramck in her Cities of
Promise initiative, which links state agencies with local officials to
collaborate on projects to improve eight urban cities. Through Cities of Promise, the Michigan State Housing Development Authority awarded a Blight Elimination Program grant to demolish the auto dealership. The site also was designated a brownfield, enabling Boji Group to qualify for Michigan Business Tax credits for its redevelopment.

“Even before it opened, Woody Plaza had a positive impact on our city,”
Hamtramck Mayor Karen Majewski said. “The north end of our downtown is getting new interest from developers and business owners thanks to this project.”

Woody Plaza was designed and constructed to comply with Energy Star
commercial building standards, maximizing use of natural light and other
energy-saving features to reduce its environmental impact and make it more efficient to operate. The building will replace two older Department of Human Services facilities, which the state department has
outgrown.

“This facility reinforces Governor Granholm’s commitment to invest in
Hamtramck, a City of Promise,” said Ismael Ahmed, director of the Michigan Department of Human Services. “It also meets the departmental need to serve Michigan’s vulnerable children, adults and families.”

Boji went on to thank Governor Granholm, the Michigan Department of
Human Services, Wayne County, the City of Hamtramck, and the Michigan Economic Development Corp. for their support of the project.

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ABOUT BOJI GROUP

With offices in Lansing and Southfield, Boji Group is a diversified,
family-owned and - operated company with interests in real estate development and property management, distribution and wholesale services, convenience stores, retail and the hospitality industry.