"We're going into the next phase of land acquisition. We have to complete appraisals and get ready to make some offers," Brett Lenart, redevelopment coordinator for the city, tells GlobeSt.com. "The property was just a mixture of uses thatwere incompatible."

The Water Street project property is bounded by US 12 to the north, the Huron River on the west and south and by Michigan Avenue to the east. It's adjacent to the business district. Plans call for a 75,000-sf to 100,000-sf retail development and 25,000 sf of entertainment and restaurant space, along with about 400 units of residential housing, possibly condominiums or townhomes, Lenart says. "We're in the process of writing the preferred development agreement, and gearing up for the public design meetings," he adds.

Biltmore has assembled a design team of Looney, Ricks and Kiss of Princeton, NJ, Barton Associates, Hamilton Associates of Detroit and the Traverse Group of Ann Arbor. These firms will create plans that will be viewed by the public to decide the best use for the site, Lenart says. "The goal is to get mixed residential and commercial developments that will complement the downtown," he explains.