Dexter’s latest effort to redevelop 3045 Broad Street has ended without a new plan for the site. At the Sept. 28 City Council meeting, Community Development Manager Michelle Aniol said the Ferlito Group asked to end its purchase agreement, according to The Sun Times News. The DDA had approved the $1.39 million agreement in April, with a 365-day due-diligence period and an option for the developer to withdraw if it found the project unworkable.
Ferlito’s proposal envisioned 139 homes across mixed-use buildings and townhomes, along with commercial space and public amenities, The Sun Times News reported. The developer cited utility poles crossing the property as a concern for the project’s design and appeal. That concern helps explain this developer’s decision, but does not establish whether a future proposal could work around the poles or what relocation might require.
Funding tools have limits
The site’s redevelopment questions include more than a proposed building layout: earlier coverage has described environmental conditions, easements and utility conflicts as challenges, while MLive reported estimated infrastructure construction costs of about $9 million. That estimate provides context for the scale of the site’s reported infrastructure burden, not a confirmed cost for a future project. MLive’s earlier reporting also documented that the property’s redevelopment history includes proposals that ended at different stages.
A Dexter DDA packet identifies environmental evaluations and baseline environmental assessments as activities that EGLE brownfield grants and loans can support. Those are eligible funding uses, not evidence that the 3045 Broad Street property received an award. The distinction matters: eligibility for environmental assistance does not, by itself, resolve the project’s broader infrastructure and financing questions. The DDA packet sets out the types of work the program may fund.
Dexter has used brownfield assistance on another former industrial property: the city’s FY 2018-19 budget says the Dexter Wellness Center opened in 2013 on such a site with assistance from the DDA and Washtenaw County Brownfield Authority. That is a separate project and does not establish that the same assistance is available for 3045 Broad Street. The city budget documents the precedent.
The DDA says its strategic planning included economic, retail and residential market analyses, as well as input from residents, visitors, business owners and local leaders. That broad planning work offers context for downtown decisions, but is not a site-specific land-use plan for 3045 Broad Street, according to the City of Dexter DDA.
The Ferlito proposal is described as the fifth development attempt since the city bought the former industrial property in 2012, but not every approach reached the same stage: for example, the DDA rejected a 2024 purchase offer from Trowbridge Companies, while Ferlito had an approved purchase agreement, according to MLive. Aniol told council that other developers have expressed interest, The Sun Times News reported. Whether another interested party can address the site’s constraints remains unresolved.
