$8M Packard showroom redevelopment may start soon

The redevelopment of a Packard Automotive Showroom in the North End might get underway soon.

Crain’s Detroit Business reports that developer RainCheck Development, owned by Neal Check, secured around $2 million in loans and incentives for the two-story building at 40 Hague Street.

On September 24, the Michigan Strategic Fund approved a $1.4 million loan through its Michigan Community Revitalization Program. And the project recently got around $562,000 in brownfield financing. Capital Impact Partners has already loaned RainCheck $5.15 million.

In documents submitted to the city’s Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, plans call for 38 lofts of mostly one-bedroom units totaling 26,900 square feet. Eight units (20 percent), including three two-bedroom units, would be reserved as affordable for those making 60 percent of the area median income ($32,100).

There will also be a rooftop garden and a fenced private park in the lot facing Woodward Avenue.

Construction is expected to start in the fall and take 18 months to complete.

Check bought the building and adjoining parking lot in April 2018 for $1.27 million. At the time, redevelopment was expected to cost $3.2 million. That number was revised in the brownfield application to just over $8 million.