Plans Become Clearer For Big Boy Site By Belle Isle

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When you look across the Detroit River from Belle Isle, you’re going to see a new building that may be as many as ten stories tall come the summer of 2020. That’s the plan according to The Platform, a development group that’s behind some iconic projects as of late, including a renovation of the Fisher Building.

Earlier this year we brought you word that the Big Boy at Grand Boulevard and Jefferson at the foot of the Belle Isle (properly called MacArthur) Bridge was purchased and closed. That’s where this new project is going.

The $50 million plan calls for:

  • A multi-family residential development
  • 11,000 square feet of ground-floor retail with on-site parking
  • 240 apartments, with 20% of them set aside for affordable housing

“Our vision for this major residential development is one that is both transformational and contextually sensitive,” said Dietrich Knoer, president and CEO of The Platform. “We look forward to engaging with our neighbors and community stakeholders about future programming and what they’d like to see come to Islandview.”

The location has some of the best potential in the city. Across Jefferson is Gabriel Richard Park, and the plan is to connect the Belle Isle Bridge to the Riverwalk so you could bike downtown very easily. There are also protected bike lanes going in on Jefferson. Not to mention, Belle Isle is just across the bridge and there are various improvements going on there.

Ground is expected to be broken on the Islandview project in the fourth quarter of 2018 with opening set for mid-2020.

As we’ve previously shared, that same development company The Platform also controls five contiguous parcels just north of the site on East Grand Boulevard and plans to use some of the buildings mixed-income residential properties.

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