City of Detroit issues RFPs for four sites in Brush Park

With parts of City Modern in Brush Park close to completion, hundreds of new units of housing will soon come online. In some of the buildings, the first tenants have already moved in.

But there’s still plenty of vacant lots in Brush Park. And with four request for proposals (RFPs) issued for new construction projects, it’s clear the city would like to see even more housing in the historic neighborhood.

There were two RFPs issued for four lots, all on Watson Street between John R and Brush streets, that are seeking “new mixed-income housing” with a variety of unit types and sizes.

One address, 205 Watson, has its own RFP. The site is 10,805 square feet (0.25 acres) and has an asking price of $380,000.

The other three addresses—287, 295, and 301 Watson—are adjacent and come packaged as a single RFP. The total combined square footage is 14,985 (0.34 acres) with an asking price of $525,000.

The units can be either for-sale or rental. Ground floor commercial is preferred, but not required. As the buildings will be in a historic district, they must receive design approval from the Historic District Commission.

The RFPs also note that the city is undertaking a major update to its zoning ordinance and included form-based schematics for developers to conform to that includes concealed rear parking accessible from the alley and requirements like setbacks and floor height for different types of high-rises.

All developer proposals must be submitted by Friday, July 12th at 5 p.m.