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Merrill Place II brings affordable housing to Detroit's Virginia Park neighborhood
The Merrill Place II building will provide 27 one and two bedroom apartment homes - 14 of those units are affordable housing - for families at or below 60 percent of the area median income.
DETROIT (FOX 2) - Sauda Ahmad-Green is a lawyer, wife, mother, and developer who grew up in Detroit's Virginia Park neighborhood.
"I am a proud Detroiter - I am an even prouder product of this neighborhood," she said.
Now she's breaking ground to build new apartment homes there.
"A daughter of Detroit - building new housing in Detroit for Detroiters," said Mayor Mike Duggan."This is how we're going to turn this city around when those who are from this city, and love this city, decide to put themselves in the city."
The Merrill Place II building will provide 27 one and two-bedroom apartment homes - 14 of those units are affordable housing - for families at or below 60 percent of the area's median income.
"We get calls - we get emails - people come down to public comment always talking about the need for safe, quality, affordable housing," said Mary Sheffield. "And not just the need for housing, but a lot of the sentiment is that we want to be included in the new revitalization that is taking place in this city."
Sheffield, Detroit City Council president, says the inclusionary housing ordinance they passed in 2017 ensures that new development that receives public funding offers affordable housing to a range of incomes. This $12 million project received $3 million from the City of Detroit including funding from the American Rescue Plan Act.
"This neighborhood's history has been as a thriving neighborhood," Green said. "With people from all walks of life living together. Having mixed income - in this neighborhood - is critical and key for that. It's key for the health of the neighborhood and revitalization and resurgence. So, it's really important that I contribute to that."
Ahmad-Green says Merill Place II will be the second of three housing developments from her team in the area near Henry Ford Hospital.
This is her first project - taking an abandoned building and transforming it into housing, and she says she can't wait to get started on the next phase.
"I love this neighborhood," she said. "I still have family and friends that live here - I love this neighborhood and I want to see it thrive and excel and I'm just so proud to be able to do this,"
Construction will take place over the next 18 months with plans to be ready for families in 2025.
"We hope to bring it online in March 2025 and I expect for it to lease pretty quickly," she said.