NorthPoint Development is lining up a roughly 860,000-square-foot light-industrial complex in Romulus with a reported price tag near $105 million, just east of Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. The pitch: a major boost for a regional industrial market that has been slowly inching back toward speculative big-box construction.
As reported by Crain's Detroit Business, the project would drop a sizable block of speculative warehouse space into Metro Detroit's logistics pipeline, with the outlet detailing the estimated size and cost.
NorthPoint Development highlights plans for community amenities, wetlands protection, and buffer landscaping, and projects roughly 300 permanent jobs along with about $41 million in new tax revenue over 20 years. City of Romulus planning minutes show the developer applied to rezone roughly 108.48 acres to allow two large industrial buildings and a 4.5-acre commercial parcel as part of the Romulus Trade Center.
Where It Fits In The Market
Third-party market data suggest the Romulus effort is part of a broader rebound in speculative industrial building across the region. Newmark's 1Q26 Detroit industrial report notes roughly 1.1 million square feet of speculative product recently starting construction in Romulus and points to several pre-leased deliveries that helped soak up new inventory.
Developers cite adjacency to DTW and quick highway access as core selling points, and county records back up how much buildable land is still on the table. Wayne County's fiscal report lists the Romulus Trade Center as having site-plan approval for roughly 2 million buildable industrial square feet and notes another 900,000-square-foot distribution site in the pipeline nearby.
Next Steps And Community Questions
Because the proposal hinges on conditional rezoning and final engineering sign-offs, a firm construction timetable has not been made public. The developer held a community open house on April 20 as part of its outreach to neighbors, and the planning commission has forwarded the rezoning request to the city council after addressing engineering and stormwater conditions.
The project still needs final municipal approvals and infrastructure commitments before permits and site work can begin, and upcoming council hearings are expected to focus heavily on traffic, drainage, and buffers.
If approved and built, NorthPoint's Romulus complex would extend the area's logistics footprint and bring hundreds of jobs and new tax revenue while giving speculative construction in the region a notable jolt in a market that has been cautious about big-box projects. City officials and neighbors will be watching closely to see whether the developer's mitigation pledges, including road work, stormwater upgrades, and conservation easements, are locked in as enforceable conditions during council deliberations and the permitting process.
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