A decades-old Farmington Hills campus that once sheltered children is on track to become a low-rise condominium community, closing the book on years of vacancy while keeping the site’s chapel intact. The 31.5-acre parcel at 12 Mile and Inkster roads has been mostly unused since the center moved in the mid-2000s, and the new plan focuses on ranch-style, detached units aimed at buyers looking to downsize without leaving the city.
What’s planned
Robertson Brothers Homes is proposing the Villas at Pebble Creek, a community of roughly 76 detached ranch condominiums plus four single-story homes on the 31.5-acre Sarah Fisher site, according to the City of Farmington Hills. City council adopted a Brownfield plan last November that identifies about $3.9 million in eligible cleanup activities and outlines a roughly $46.8 million private investment that officials say would boost the site’s taxable value by more than $23 million.
Site history
The property was long home to the St. Vincent and Sarah Fisher Center, which operated cottages and a chapel for children for much of the 20th century. The organization moved operations back to Detroit in the mid-2000s, and the Farmington Hills campus has stood largely vacant since about 2006, as reported by The Detroit News.
Contamination and cleanup
City planning documents show the site will need substantial environmental work before any new homes rise. Roughly 115,000 square feet of buildings and underground tunnels are slated for demolition, and asbestos abatement, soil removal and groundwater treatment are listed as eligible Brownfield activities. Regulatory reviews and the developer’s consultant identified petroleum from historic underground tanks, volatile organic compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and lead in parts of the property, according to the City of Farmington Hills.
Neighbors and next steps
At council meetings, the developer pledged to preserve the historic chapel for community use and to leave substantial green space while adding walkways and public art, and the public hearing drew little substantive opposition, local reporting shows. Access was pared down to a single boulevard entrance off Inkster with a gated emergency exit on 12 Mile, and the plan calls for a new lift station to support utilities as part of onsite infrastructure work, according to C&G News.
Work now shifts to remediation, permitting and demolition steps coordinated with state regulators, and the developer and city say a firm construction start date has not yet been set. Officials say the cleanup and rebuild will create temporary construction jobs and add housing options aimed at residents who want to downsize but remain in Farmington Hills, The Detroit News reports.
