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Ypsilanti City Council will be meeting on Monday night to discuss the Water Street Project, including two interested developers.
City Planner Richard Murphy said Ypsilanti currently has two offers to develop land on the site and will be presenting those to Council to approve negotiations. He said there have been discussions with two other developers, but nothing has been formally submitted yet.
“It’s the dry contract stuff,” Murphy said. “There are no site plans or pretty pictures.”
Ypsilanti resident Steve Pierce reported on his blog, YpsiNews.com, yesterday that German-based grocery chain ALDI Foods was one of the interested parties. The story sited unnamed county officials and stated the Burger King on Michigan Avenue, east of Ecorse Road in Ypsilanti Township, was planning to relocate to the spot.
The story also stated a 1-story strip mall was in the works, but said no specific tenants had been discussed.
Murphy said one of offers is from a developer that tends to contract with the discount grocery chain, but was not able to offer any more specific information.
A representative from Magellan Properties, the development firm currently building an ADLI in Ann Arbor, could not be reached for comment, as well as representatives from U.S. ALDI headquarters in Illinois.
No one able to speak to the media was available at the franchise-run Burger King.
If a deal were to be hashed out, Murphy said it would take about six months to close on a deal after negotiations. He said he would like to see a proposed use and site plan for the property during that time. He said he wouldn’t necessarily require formal architectural designs.
The offers were brokered through city-contracted firm C.B. Richard Ellis. After approval in September, the firm has been recruiting developers for several separated plots of land on the 38-acre site.
Since starting the project in 1999, the city has spent more then $25 million on property acquisition, building demolition soil remediation and other legal and financial costs. Much of that money has come from issuing municipal bonds and the city will have to begin paying back that debt next year.