Thirty-three years after the iconic Hudson's department store closed, the vacant site on Woodward Avenue is ready for re-development.
Donna Charron worked as a customer service representative at Hudson's before the store closed in 1983.
"Beautiful store, beautiful people to work for," Charron told 7 Action News as she walked past the site Wednesday afternoon. "I hated to see 'em go."
After standing vacant for 15 years, the building finally came down in 1998.
Wednesday's vote by the Detroit Downtown Development Authority (DDA) moves re-development of the site forward in a big way.
"It's been a painful thing to watch that site have no activity for 33 years and today we took an historic step forward," said Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.
Rosko Development, an affiliate of Dan GIlbert's Bedrock Detroit, agreed to purchase the underground parking garage on the site from the city of Detroit for $15 million, clearing the way for an amended development agreement.
"We'll have drawings by the end of the year, break ground a year from now on a high-rise apartment building with a minimum of 250 residential units, 225,000 square feet of commercial space," Duggan said.
The high-rise will meet the city's requirements with an affordable housing component.
Detroit contractors and residents will also be hired to work on the project, similar to the massive District Detroit development the Ilitch family is building further north on Woodward Avenue.
