Romulus has spent recent years landing warehouses, factories and jobs near Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, with industrial and commercial development shaping the city's growth.
Industrial and Commercial Development
According to MLive.com, Romulus has built out its industrial and commercial base.
Romulus is also marketing city-owned property to developers as it works to fill in commercial and industrial gaps.
An Airport-Sized Advantage
Romulus is near Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. The city also has access to Interstate 94.
Transportation access is part of Romulus' pitch to prospective residents and businesses.
Filling the Dining Gap
Despite the jobs and development growth, Romulus has a lack of dining options, the report states. The city currently has roughly 4,000 hotel rooms, and hotel investment is part of the broader push. Cooper Hotels purchased the site of a former hotel in the city and plans to develop two new hotels there, according to the same account.
Romulus is also stepping up hotel code enforcement and holds quarterly meetings with hotel owners as part of that effort. Meanwhile, the city expects several speculative industrial buildings to come online over the next several years, representing a few million additional square feet of development, per the report.
A Regional Partnership and a New Safety Hub
Romulus has partnered with Taylor and Van Buren Township, and the three communities established a local development finance authority together, the outlet reports. The collaboration comes as the region works to recover from the roughly 2,000 jobs lost when the Kelsey-Hayes and Lear facilities closed, according to the same source.
Romulus also plans to build a roughly $45 million public safety headquarters that will combine police and fire operations under one roof. McCraight said the building will be financed through tax increment financing and will require no additional taxes from residents, the report states.
Romulus established its own Tax Increment Finance Authority decades earlier, on Oct. 22, 1984, under Resolution 84-537, according to the City of Romulus. The authority’s development plan is intended to encourage private investment that supports economic development, and it was set up to promote commercial, residential and industrial development within the TIFA development area. The TIFA district today spans 980 parcels covering 9,070.87 acres, per the city.
Romulus’ Department of Building and Safety, staffed by five full-time inspectors and four clerical employees, performs occupancy and re-occupancy inspections on residential, commercial and industrial buildings to ensure safety and code compliance, according to the City of Romulus.
