  Eric Member Username: Eric Post Number: 1032 Registered: 11-2004 |
Detroit RiverWalk gets help with cleanup December 11, 2007 By JOHN GALLAGHER FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER Plans to complete the east riverfront portion of the new Detroit RiverWalk got a boost Tuesday. The city’s Economic Development Corp. approved a measure to extend the area covered by an existing project district to include the waterfront strip fronting the Uniroyal site near the MacArthur Bridge to Belle Isle. The action allows federal grant money to be used to improve that area. The Uniroyal parcel, south of Jefferson Avenue just west of the bridge, is a former industrial site that has stood vacant for more than 20 years. During that time, various parties have argued about who would pay for an environmental cleanup of the site that must precede any redevelopment. Those discussions are inching forward. In the meantime, though, Tuesday’s action by the EDC means the city and the nonprofit Detroit Riverfront Conservancy can now use federal transportation grants to clean up the waterside strip and construct the RiverWalk in advance of the general cleanup of the entire Uniroyal site. Will Tamminga, project director for the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., said engineering and design is likely to take most of 2008, with construction of the RiverWalk along the Uniroyal site completed by about 2010. Contact JOHN GALLAGHER at 313-222-5173 or gallagher@freepress.com. http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs .dll/article?AID=/20071211/NEW S01/71211047 | ||
Dougw Member Username: Dougw Post Number: 2010 Registered: 11-2003 |
Good news! Who knows how long it will take to clean up the entire Uniroyal site, so it's good that they will be able to clean up just the waterfront strip in order to complete the Riverwalk. |
