A trade of parcels of land between the city of Detroit and Wayne County may pave the way for a new soccer stadium in downtown Detroit. That’s the path which is laid out after the administrations of Mayor Duggan and County Executive Warren Evans agreed to swap a city-owned site, earmarked for a new jail and criminal justice complex to be built by the Rock Ventures Company, for a county-owned site which used to be the headquarters of American Motors, and before that, a Kelvinator Refrigerator factory.
Businessman Dan Gilbert has offered to build the new jail complex, in exchange for the site of the unfinished jail near Greektown.
That’s where Gilbert and businessman Tom Gores want to put a new soccer stadium for a soccer franchise. The development would also include high-rise buildings. A condition for the project is that the county has to acquire the site for the new jail east of I-75 near East Warren. The land swap accomplishes that.
These projects still need the approval of county and city officials, and finalized financial details.
The site on Plymouth Road will be available for yet another new development. It could have been purchased for 500-dollars 2 years ago. The county had the old American Motors site on it’s tax foreclosure list, and was up for auction. But the winning auction bidder didn’t pay the 500-dollar bid.