Long-delayed Meijer development in Detroit to move ahead without apartments

A mixed-use Meijer grocery store development that was expected to open on East Jefferson Avenue this year is being reconfigured. Crain’s Detroit Business reports that developers plan to go forward on the long-delayed project with just the grocery store component.

When it was first announced in 2017, plans for the $60 million development included 213 apartment units, a 43,000-square foot “small-scale” Meijer, and over 300 parking spaces (both above and underground). Now, the apartments are no longer part of the project due to rising construction costs that don’t meet average rental prices.

“We saw pricing go up 30-plus percent and unfortunately the numbers didn’t pencil with that increase,” Dennis Archer Jr., one of the project’s developers, told Crain’s.

Neumann Smith Architecture

No work has been done on the 2.5-acre site at 1475 E. Jefferson Avenue. Archer added that construction should begin spring 2020 and be completed in June 2021.

If completed, this would be the third Meijer to open in Detroit, with the other two larger locations at Woodward and Grand River avenues.

Rising costs of construction have delayed a number of development in Detroit, which is still a relatively “weak” market unable to support projects without subsidies.