YPSILANTI, Mich. (WXYZ) — Metro Detroit's industrial legacy has left the region with approximately 900 brownfield sites, creating both environmental challenges and opportunities for development.
As the need for affordable housing continues to grow, Ypsilanti has found an innovative solution by transforming a contaminated site into 46 brand new homes at Dorsey Estates.
Watch Mike Duffy's video report:
The development represents a significant achievement in brownfield remediation and affordable housing, though it has raised questions about the safety of building homes on previously contaminated land.
Shannon Morgan, president of Renovare Development, emphasized the importance of transparency throughout the project.
"I mean, we wanted the community to know everything up front. Everything that makes this community unique and different," Morgan said.
The company conducted public sessions before residents signed purchase agreements to educate them about the site's history. Over multiple years, Renovare Development remediated and tested every single lot, achieving what's called a "no further action" status — the highest residential criteria for environmental safety.
Morgan acknowledged the challenges of the project but found motivation in the impact on new homeowners.
"It's a whole lot of work and there's days I ask myself if it's worth it. But I can tell you when you sit in a closing and you've got people in tears and you look at the people that make up this community, and make up this neighborhood, you realize that this is why, for me in particular, this is why I do what I do," Morgan said.
Tom Senrud is among the new homeowners at Dorsey Estates. Through a lottery system, he was able to purchase his home at 40% of the area's median income. Half of the homes in the development are designated for affordable housing rates.
"There's a real need for housing, affordable housing. Especially something like this, that you can hold your head high and be proud of. I mean, I'm a little overwhelmed," Senrud said.
His girlfriend, Jill Anderson, praised the quality of the construction.
"It's quality," Anderson said.
Senrud, who describes himself as having always been low-income, had assumed inflation made homeownership impossible for him.
"It makes me a little bit humble, quite a bit humble," Senrud said about his community's investment in affordable housing. "But I think there's a lot of people that helped make this happen that maybe I have never met."
The project represents a true public-private partnership. Katie Jones, manager of strategic communications and economic development for the City of Ypsilanti, explained that the city wanted the land developed specifically for affordable housing for essential city workers and ultimately sold the land to developers for $1.
The demand for such housing is substantial. According to Jones, the development has a waiting list of 400 people, reflecting a broader trend across Washtenaw County where similar affordable housing projects face extensive waiting lists.
"There was a huge demand," Jones said. "There's just huge, long waiting lists."
The success of Dorsey Estates has city officials considering replication in other communities.
"Absolutely. Yeah. I think that it's a formula that we need to figure out how to replicate throughout different communities," Jones said.
———————————————————
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
