DETROIT – The latest target of Detroit’s Strategic Neighborhood Fund (SNF) is a 3.4 square mile area around Gratiot Avenue bordered by Houston Whittier Street, Kelly, Eight Mile and Schoenherr roads.
Dubbed “G7,” it’s the last of the SNF projects to be undertaken. After a year and a half of meetings with neighborhood groups and planners, the final plan was unveiled Thursday night.
Neighbors identified blight as their No. 1 priority, and the plan calls for 139 unsalvageable structures to come down.
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“We know there is a lot of work to be done,” said Mohican Regent Neighborhood Association’s George Preston.
Preston, along with members of other neighborhood groups like Mapleridge, Franklin and Regent Park, have been active in discussing how to maximize the money for G7. It also includes a street redesign for Gratiot Avenue from McNichols Road to Eight Mile Road, repaving Kelly Road and helping re-establish retail utilizing micro districts.
The money comes from the SNF along with a $5 million gift from Fifth Third Bank.
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