The proposed University of Michigan Center for Innovation, an academic research center in downtown Detroit, received a key approval Thursday needed for the project to move forward, with the U-M Board of Regents approving the project’s construction at its penultimate meeting on the calendar this year.
The approval came at a crucial time because the $250 million center, or UMCI, must break ground before 2024, or a $100 million state earmark for the project that the Michigan Legislature approved last year would expire.
“This is a very big deal,” U-M Regent Mark Bernstein said at the meeting that was held both in-person in Flint and online via a livestream. “This is a quarter-million-dollar investment. The action we have just taken elevates our already significant commitment to Detroit.”
Bernstein noted the complexity of the transaction, which involves the Ilitch organization’s Olympia Development of Michigan, which is donating the land for the UMCI, and Stephen Ross’ New York-based Related Cos., which will construct the center, and then donate the building to the university. The UMCI would be built west of the Fox Theatre on what is now mostly surface parking lots.
As part of the deal, U-M will pay Olympia Development $9.6 million for a nearby 1.18-acre parcel in order to construct a parking structure.
“I feel strongly that because this board has worked together to probe and improve the terms of the deal and delay it for a few months to make sure we’re getting the absolute best deal that we can … I’m now going to be supportive and look forward to this amazing thing in Detroit and doing much to improve academic excellence there,” U-M Regent Sarah Hubbard said at the meeting.
At the meeting, the regents also approved the transfer of the land and Ross’ $100 million donation to the project, which comes in addition to the $100 million state earmark; and another $50 million will come from university fundraising.
“Making the most transformative projects a reality is never easy,” Ross, a Detroit native and a U-M megadonor, said in an emailed statement. “We’ve traveled a long road together to arrive at this important moment.”
With this donation, Ross has given more than $460 million to U-M, U-M said in a news release.
The 200,000-square-foot academic and research center would offer degrees and certificates awarded by the university’s main Ann Arbor campus, with areas of instruction such as robotics, electrical engineering, computer engineering and sustainability. It’s expected to take three years to build.
“The University of Michigan is coming back home,” Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said in an emailed statement. “Detroit’s future just got even brighter today because of all their efforts.”
The UMCI is closely related to the larger, $1.5 billion District Detroit development, which is being codeveloped by Olympia Development of Michigan and The Related Cos.
“As a world-class institution delivering talent to leading companies across the U.S., we believe the University of Michigan is uniquely positioned to lead a talent revolution in Michigan and we are thrilled to have the university in The District Detroit,” an emailed statement on behalf of The Related Cos. and Olympia Development of Michigan said.
More on downtown Detroit:Why Detroit this year has been a tale of 2 downtowns
More on UMCI:Clock ticking on state funding for proposed U-M Center for Innovation in Detroit
The UMCI was originally proposed in 2019 for the scrubbed Wayne County Jail project site off Gratiot at the entrance to downtown, in what was to be a joint development involving Related Cos. and Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock real estate firm.
Those plans were canceled in 2021, though, and the Gilbert-Ross collaboration dissolved. The new location — and Ilitch organization partnership with Ross — was announced in December 2021.
Free Press staff writer JC Reindl contributed with prior reporting.
Contact Adrienne Roberts: [email protected].