Troy Doesn't Own Transit Center Land, Says Appeals Court

The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a developer who claims that the city of Troy does not own the land where its regional transit center is currently being built.

Real estate developers Grand/Sakwa Properties originally donated the 77 acres, south of Maple and Coolidge roads in Troy, back in 2000, with an agreement to get the transit center funded within 10 years.

The court ruled that the Troy City Council's approved plan to fund the center, contentiously agreed upon in January 2012, was too late to meet the June 2, 2010 deadline. 

"The City of Troy has built this Transit Center on a parcel of land it does not own now and has never owned," Grand/Sakwa spokesperson Mort Meisner said Friday. "Next steps are unclear."

A consent judgment dated June 2, 2000, allowed Grand/Sakwa to construct a "mixed use development" which included 300 condominiums and 600,000 square feet of leasable retail space at the site.

In exchange, Grand/Sakwa agreed to deed 2.7 acres of the parcel to Troy on the condition that it be developed for what became the Troy Transit Center.

As the city was awarded a federal grant to cover the cost of the project on the donated land, the transit center became a key issue as then-Mayor Janice Daniels led the charge against using the grant.

Incumbent Mayor Dane Slater, a supporter of the scaled-down version of the transit center which was approved in January 2012, said that the ruling came unexpected in a Detroit Free Press report. A Click on Detroit report indicated that the city may appeal the state's ruling.

When construction started, Grand/Sakwa sued to stop the project in the Oakland County Circuit Court and lost. An appeal was then filed in the Michigan Court of Appeals and the unpublished opinion dated May 2 ruled in favor of Grand/Sakwa.