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Developer planning $25 million upgrade of Dearborn shopping center that’s mostly abandoned

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Developer planning million upgrade of Dearborn shopping center that’s mostly abandoned

Aging shopping center to get new life, tenants in $25 million development deal.

Three days after the Detroit Free Press asked the City of Dearborn about blighted conditions at a mostly abandoned shopping center, the spot on Michigan Avenue had been somewhat cleaned up, a check for the back taxes was in the mail, and the owner was planning a $25 million redevelopment of Garrison Place.

A Free Press reader sent photos of the shopping center, which once housed a Kroger and CVS, to the Free Press showing a broken window, graffiti, litter and weeds around the building on Monday. But some of that was gone by Wednesday afternoon, including the graffiti, while a second-story window remained broken and there was still litter on site.

According to the property owner, the city contacted the business on Tuesday and it dispatched workers to the shopping center on Wednesday.

A company called Dearborn Retail Management III, a limited liability company affiliated with a development company, Alrig USA of Bingham Farms, bought the shopping plaza in 2022 for $8 million. By then, just three tenants remained — a restaurant, dentist office and nail salon.

Mike Schuchman, who works with Dearborn Retail Management III, said the company is planning to spend $25 million to revitalize the center.

He said plans would be submitted to the city next week, and declined to name any retailers that have agreed to be tenants.

Records from the Wayne County treasurer’s office show that just over $151,000 in back taxes, interest and fees were owed for 2022 as of Thursday, putting the property in danger of foreclosure, and another just over $311,000 in 2023 taxes were delinquent.

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Schuchman said Thursday that tax payments were “en route” to the county. As for the blighted conditions that were at least partly remedied this week, he said: “We want our property to look as great as possible.”

He said the existing tenants will be welcome in the revitalized center.

“We want them to be with us in the future,” Schuchman said.

Contact Jennifer Dixon: jbdixon@freepress.com

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