After a tipster reported seeing a Notice of Hearing taped to the former Agave restaurant's exterior, we did some nosing around to figure out exactly what the scoop was. What did we learn? After six years of vacancy, there are big things in store for this particular spot. When Midtown Detroit, Inc. is behind a development, you can be sure it's one worth keeping an eye on. Although there's no word on possible tenants, the bottom floor will remain a 3000 sq/ft restaurant, which should provide an excellant counterpoint to the McDonald's next door. During its heyday, the Agave allegedly boasted over 100 different types of tequila. Whatever takes its place has got some big shoes to fill. Here's something interesting, though: according to this PFD of the "Woodward Corridor Initiative" from Data Driven Detroit, the area above the restaurant will be converted to four studio apartments. It's been a while since we've seen new studios anywhere-- even the Auburn only had two of them.
If there's one thing the Midtown Detroit, Inc. crew is good at, it's acquiring tax credits. This project is no exception. They managed to secure $102,031 in Brownfield Redevelopment Credits about a year ago. On top of that, they succeeded in having the building classified as an Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Zone, meaning their taxes are kept from rising for up to twelve years.
Midtown Detroit, Inc. generally moves along with things pretty quickly. The Data Driven Detroit PDF also mentions that the project is meant to be completed by the end of 2012. Hopefully that's still true--a new restaurant on Woodward sounds like an excellent Christmas present for Midtown.
· Woodward Corridor Initiative [Data Driven Detroit]
· 2011 Approved Brownfield Tax Credits [Michigan Advantage]
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