In The News

The debt problems with The Mall at Partridge Creek in Clinton Township and Fairlane Town Center in Dearborn are putting the fate of both properties up in the air.

“Partridge Creek will be fine long-term, but it will need to shed a lot of its debt and bring someone in who can manage it at an easier number,” said Luke Bonner, senior economic development adviser for Sterling Heights and CEO of Ann Arbor-based economic incentive, real estate and economic development consulting company Bonner Advisory Group LLC.

State and local governments are responding, too. The Michigan Strategic Fund recently started a $100 million fund to give grants up to $20,000 to small businesses. 

Municipalities are trying to build on the public’s willingness to support outdoor dining, said Luke Bonner, an economic development consultant based in Ann Arbor. That one sector particularly affected by the creation of “social zones” in blocked-off streets. 

“Municipalities have taken a definite interest in helping the local business owner more,” Bonner said. “I’m seeing that a lot.”

“The reality is all the different facilities around town, they all serve different purposes,” said Luke Bonner, senior economic development adviser for Sterling Heights and CEO of Ann Arbor-based economic incentive, real estate and economic development consulting company Bonner Advisory Group LLC. “This is a pretty large facility. If you think about the size of the facility vs. the amount of employees, this will be a highly roboticized plant, which leads me to believe it will be a sorting type of facility.”

Liberty Park Commerce Center on Mound Road is part of a Brownfield redevelopment project that will require environmental cleanup. The new station is in the Innovate Mound corridor, which has created an $8 billion annual economic impact on the regional economy, officials told The Detroit News. “A development project like this is significant to Sterling Heights,” Sterling Heights senior economic development advisor Luke Bonner said in a statement. “Not only does it bring in an important tax base to the City, it also brings in jobs.”

Amazon Logistics will open a Michigan delivery station in Sterling Heights to support its last-mile delivery capabilities in metro Detroit. “A development project like this is significant to Sterling Heights,” said Sterling Heights Senior Economic Development Advisor Luke Bonner in a news release. “Not only does it bring in the important tax base to the city, but it also brings in jobs. Amazon plans to start recruiting next month for hundreds of full-time positions including full benefits from the first day. That’s welcome news for our residents and our local economy.”

Hall Road offers shoppers of a wide swath of incomes big-box stores like Walmart and Target and Meijer Inc., mom-and-pop businesses, national and international clothiers, local grocers and Krogers, and a pair of regional shopping centers — all of which are attempting to navigate the new retail reality the COVID-19 outbreak hath wrought.

Some have had plenty of fun at the expense of Macomb County’s newest art installation in the Hall Road/M-59 median, an orange, 35-foot-tall ring recently dubbed The Halo.

Some have had plenty of fun at the expense of Macomb County’s newest art installation in the Hall Road/M-59 median, an orange, 35-foot-tall ring recently dubbed The Halo.

Luke Bonner, the city’s senior economic development adviser, gave an economic update presentation and said Sterling Heights has benefited from about $2.1 billion in residential, commercial and industrial investments over the past five years.

Silverdome Development Seals Deal: 2019 Is A Big Year for Big Properties

Since Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and a Michigan FCA US LLC supplier unveiled plans for a $55 million parts plant last summer to be built on more than 30 acres, the endeavor has shrunk by at least 200 jobs.

Lakeside Mall in Sterling Heights has been sold, with the new owner sharing city officials’ vision of a revamped area that includes new uses of the sprawling mall property other than retail.