PONTIAC, Mich. – Oakland County is re-investing in downtown Pontiac.
On Thursday (Aug. 17), the county held a press conference to announce they closed on the sale of two office buildings in downtown Pontiac.
“We have an opportunity to reimagine this really important office space in downtown Pontiac,” said County Executive Dave Coulter. “The building that we are eventually going to move up to 600 people in (county employees) has been vacant since 2014.
Bringing more foot traffic to downtown Pontiac is just part of the project.
“It’s also about eliminating and finally demolishing this ugly eye sore of a parking structure that has divided our downtown into two halves, blocked our main street, Saginaw Street, so it’s about reconnecting our main street through our downtown,” said Mayor of Pontiac Tim Greimel.
Oakland County will build a parking deck off Saginaw Street in its place. A Memorandum of Agreement between the city and county outlines those plans and the creation of green space where Pontiac can have outdoor events and concerts.
The project will cost more than $120 million. The state is contributing $50 million.
“This project is the biggest allocation for a district project in our entire state budget,” said Michigan Senator Jeremy Moss (D).
Oakland County intends to invest $10 million from the American Rescue Plan. The remaining money comes from grants and credits, including transformational brownfield redevelopment credits.
“The city of Pontiac has been neglected for many, many decades, and of course, our residents deserve better than that,” Greimel said. “We now have partners in the county who recognize that Pontiac is our county seat, that it is the heart of the county.”
Community leaders like Pastor Douglas Jones of Welcome Baptist Church and Pontiac Collective Impact Partnership said conversations regarding the project go back two years.
“To see this come to fruition is one of the most exciting times for us,” said Jones.
Jones believes this is precisely what the city needs to springboard its future.
“We wanted to have a Starbucks but guess what, we didn’t have the foot traffic,” Jones said. “Now we’ll have 500 new sets of feet and a lot of opportunity, and it’s going to be good for the residents. I’ll take it the next step and for housing development for here in the city.”
Coulter said while the project is just starting, they expect county employees to begin moving in by the start of 2025.