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Public Dock & Terminal Project

The DWCPA, in June of 2011, dedicated their new Public Dock & Terminal project along the Detroit River. The $22 million project was funded by a variety of competitive and discretionary grant programs. Primary project partners, and funders, were the U.S. Federal Highway Department and the Michigan Department of Transportation. The DWCPA anticipates hosting cruise ships, ferries, naval frigates, dinner cruisers and several tall ships, many of which are already booked for the 2012 shipping season.

 

Grand Mariner Cruise Ship

Successfully hosted the first cruise ship at the Port Detroit, Public Dock & Terminal in 2011. The Grand Mariner cruise ship brought over 100 people into downtown Detroit for shoreside excursions to the Henry Ford museum, Detroit Institute of Arts and other cultural amenities. An additional visit, later in the year, incorporated the clearing of passengers by U.S. Customs & Border Protection, due to the re-entry from Canada into the United States as part of its itinerary.

 

U.S. EPA Brownfield Program – Phoenix Award

The DWCPA finalized spending of its third U.S. EPA Brownfield Assessment grant in 2011, completing $1.2 million of investigations on over 50 properties throughout Metro Detroit. Arguably, the most notable investment was Piquette Square, a housing and special services development for homeless veterans of Detroit (pictured). The project was awarded a Phoenix Award in 2011 for Best Community Impact. It was accepted at the U.S. EPA National Brownfield Conference by the DWCPA, in conjunction with the nonprofit developer, Southwest Housing Solutions.

 

MDEQ Brownfield Cleanup Grant – Southwest Housing Solutions

As an extension to its successful brownfield program, the DWCPA applied for, and received, $160,000 in brownfield cleanup funding to cleanup a former Detroit police station. For more than five years, Southwest Housing Solutions in collaboration with other art groups, residents and businesses expressed an interest in developing a Creative Arts Center in southwest Detroit. The proposed Creative Arts Center will allow for low cost art studios and exhibition space for emerging and practicing artists. More importantly, it will revitalize a portion of a neighborhood, adjacent to the Port of Detroit, impacted by blight and abandonment.

 

Detroit-Wayne County Brownfield Coalition

In 2011, the DWCPA formally partnered with its governing units, including the City of Detroit and Wayne County, to apply for a $1 million community coalition grant that will help fund brownfield investigations for proposed redevelopment efforts. This application, if successful, will complement a $1 million Revolving Loan Fund that the DWCPA was awarded in 2011 for implementation in 2012. The grant funds will be available to both non-profit and market-rate developers for investigations of environmentally challenged sites.

 

Port of Detroit - Sixth Full Season

2011 marked the sixth full year of operations at the Port of Detroit Marine Terminals, at the foot of Clark Street in southwest Detroit. 2011 saw 66 vessels, from more than a half-dozen countries, call on the Port of Detroit resulting in the delivery of approximately 436,000 tons of steel. The DWCPA conducted preliminary investigations in 2011 of the entire 35-acre terminal and discovered approximately $32 million of needed investment. Required updates include new paving and seawall cap, rail spur construction and demolition/retrofitting of an abandon cold-storage facility.

 

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