Storage Facility Seen As Boost For Border Suburb

It's one of the first redevelopment projects in Ferndale in decades, and the city hopes the project spurs similar ventures.

"This will help the tax base of the city and hopefully spur some redevelopment," says Marsha Scheer, Ferndale's community development director.

Ferndale has seen a resurgence in popularity for new businesses since the city has turned its small Downtown into an eclectic nightspot to draw visitors.

The Nolan Brothers of Texas Inc. are building the new indoor self-storage facility, which will include a 44,000-sf basement.

The company spent $527,000 to clean up pollution on the site. Scheer tells GlobeSt.com that the building originally on the site had started out as Excelda Corp., an automotive and marine finish producer, and later was used as a warehouse for carnival toys.

The building was torn down last month and the property was cleaned, Sheer notes. Nolan will be repaid its cleanup investment through tax increment financing, using brownfield redevelopment laws.

The cost of the new facility is $3.5 million. It had to pass special land use approval through the city planning commission and city council, as it isadjacent to a residential neighborhood.

The city is one of the first in Oakland County to successfully use the brownfield options provided by the state to turn a contaminated site around into a successful project. Similar projects are planned in Royal Oak, Pontiac and Walled Lake.

The Ferndale site is also one of the first new developments near the Woodward Avenue/Eight Mile Road Bridge, which the city has deemed an eyesore and an unnecessary blockade to Detroit.

To break down stereotypes and animosity that's made famous in the recent movie "8 Mile," Ferndale and Detroit have met to try to have the three-tiered bridge removed so that a welcoming gateway can be built between the two cities, along with new developments over the some of the dilapidated commercial buildings there.