RenCen project: Neighborhood Advisory Council approves community benefits agreement

Detroits sprawling, proposed multi-billion-dollar Renaissance Center redevelopment project took a major step forward Thursday.

The committee tasked with determining what benefits the community would like to see as part of the project signed off on an agreement, following roughly 11 weeks of discussions with project developer Bedrock.

Eight out of nine members of the Neighborhood Advisory Council (NAC) signed a letter of support for the community benefits agreement (CBA). It took place at Bedrock's East Riverfront Community Hub next to the towers.

Steve Ogden, Bedrock's senior vice president of government affairs, told the audience, Were talking over a $133 million that will flow to Detroiters and Detroit programs over the next 30 years."

Mayor Mary Sheffield said, This is the peoples riverfront, and we want people to make sure that when they come down, they feel a part of this and that they see some of the things that they want on the riverfront as well. So, the community aspect and community engagement was a part of this entire process.

Ogden told 7 News Detroit over 70 meetings have been held to hear from Detroiters, both within impacted areas and around the city.

He explained, "Weve addressed housing. Weve addressed small businesses. Weve addressed parking, workforce, so Im really happy and pleased with categories of funding that weve targeted for our commitments.

Teron Haynes Jr. is the lone voice on the advisory council who voted no on the agreement.

There are so many issues with this process when you talk about those excluded from the impact area and the fact that this is going to truly impact all of Michigan," Haynes told 7 News Detroit.

7 News Detroit also spoke with lifelong Detroiter and community advocate Nicole Small.

She said, There are some things that have been missed with this process that the community has requested that has fallen on deaf ears. We dont have any revenue sharing."

"This project is going to require more than $500 million in tax incentives from Detroiters, and we dont own this land. Yet and still, you only wanna make impact for the area when this is a project that have shared revenue throughout each and every district," Small continued.

Ogden said the community benefits agreement now heads to the citys planning and development committee for consideration.