Environmental and Economic Development services for the rehabilitation of a historic structure into a mixed-use hotel, residential and commercial building in the District Detroit.
The 640 Temple Redevelopment Project will rehabilitate the former Standard Accident Insurance Co. building located at 640 Temple Street across from Cass Park in Detroit. The 190,000 square foot Albert Kahn designed building opened in 1920 and is located in the Cass Park Historic District. An estimated investment of $70 million will construct a 100-room boutique hotel, 70 apartments, a restaurant and meeting space and a roof-top pool.
The 640 Temple project posed significant financing challenges. Historic rehabilitation projects are always costly, but this project was further hindered by brownfield challenges as well. The redevelopment of this 190,000 square foot building containing hundreds of historic windows, antiquated mechanical, plumbing and electrical systems, and all on an environmentally contaminated site required creative solutions implemented by a team of experts.
AKT Peerless performed environmental due diligence for the client by completing a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA), Phase II ESA and Baseline Environmental Assessment. AKT Peerless completed an asbestos and hazardous material survey and provided oversight for asbestos abatement. Further, AKT Peerless provided economic development services to secure incentives to assist with redevelopment activities.
AKT Peerless leveraged several sources of economic development incentives which included: 1) a Brownfield Plan and Act 381 Work Plan; 2) tax abatement; 3) Community Revitalization Program (CRP ) loan; 4) Federal Historic Tax Credit; and 5) mezzanine financing from Invest Detroit. These incentives were utilized to support redevelopment activities.
AKT Peerless worked closely with the City of Detroit, Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (DBRA), Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), the Michigan Department of Environmental, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) and the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC) to layer and secure these various incentives.
