Cass Corridor resident Glenn Chinchilla in Detroit who is being evicted from an apartment by new owners. The area is one of the most oppressed in the city but is being targeted by developers., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
April 23, 2013 at 1:00 am
New owner kicks out residents of low-income apartments in Cass Corridor
By Louis Aguilar
The Detroit News
Low-income residents of three apartment buildings on Henry Street in Detroit's Cass Corridor were abruptly notified Friday the buildings are being sold and the unknown buyer wants everyone out by May 20.
"This is so wrong, it's just so wrong," said Cathy Griffeth, a resident of the Berwin apartment at 489 Henry, north of the Fisher Freeway service drive. "We had no clue this was going to happen," Griffeth said. "I'm on disability like a lot of other people who live here. Do they really think we can find some other place just like that?"
The three apartment buildings are on the 400 block of Henry, just west of Cass Avenue. In addition to the Berwin, the other two buildings are the Claridge at 459 Henry and the Bretton at 439 Henry. All are owned by Peter Mercier of Grosse Pointe Farms.
Cass Corridor is just north of downtown and many residents believe some of the area may become the site of a new hockey arena and entertainment district.
Around the block, two buildings near Cass Technical High School and the Masonic Temple were bought in January by entities that have created opaque paper trails. One of the buildings was a vacant nursing home on Ledyard. The other was owned by the Baptist State Convention of Michigan that was being used by Cass Park Baptist Church congregation, which has moved out. Both were sold in January, according to public records. Both purchases are linked to a limited liability company that doesn't provide a telephone number on the public document; both list a registered agent as the sole representative for the company.
The deals are similar to the nearly two dozen property deals of blighted buildings and vacant parcels that have taken place in the neighborhood since September 2008. Most sellers have signed confidentiality agreements. So far, none of the purchased properties has been renovated or put back to use.
Residents in each affected apartment building, a total of 96 units, said they received a three-sentence letter in their mailboxes Friday informing them that Mercier has signed an agreement to sell. It doesn't name the new owner. "And the new owner has requested that all of the apartments be vacated," states the letter.
Along with the letters, the residents were given a state document to vacate, the step prior to eviction.
Residents also received a copy of a hand-written note apologizing for the short notice. The note over what appears to be Mercier's signature explains he signed an option to sell the buildings a year ago. He explains he asked the new owner to extend the time for the residents to leave but that request was declined. Mercier could not be reached for comment Monday.
Tenant Glenn Chinchilla said he and many others tenants have lived in one of the buildings for more than a decade. "I am still in shock," Chinchilla said.
"Now I'm getting really worried. I don't know if I should try to fight this, or work something out with the new owner, or I should just somehow find a new place in time," said Chinchilla, who works in the housekeeping department of a nearby hospital.
Officials of the Detroit Red Wings, owned by Michael Ilitch, haven't publicly revealed where the arena may be located.
The envisioned entertainment district, announced in December by Ilitch's Olympia Development, is described as being "strategically located to serve some of the most underutilized areas in Detroit's downtown core."
In addition to a possible new hockey arena and entertainment district, a streetcar line called M-1 Rail is expected to begin construction this year for a 3.3-mile line that would run from downtown Woodward to the New Center.
The Federal Transit Administration has given the environmental clearance for the $137 million project, as the nonprofit group Monday named eight new directors and a chief financial officer.
The FTA's clearance allows the 3.3-mile, fixed-rail streetcar system to move forward to the next phases of design, right-of-way acquisition and construction.
This is the last approval step under the National Environmental Policy Act process, said M-1 Rail President and CEO Matthew Cullen.
The project is scheduled to begin operations in late 2015.
laguilar@detroitnews.com
(313) 222-2760
Twitter: LouisAguilar_DN
Staff Writer David Shepardson contributed.
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130423/BIZ/304230323#ixzz2RGXi4HOr
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