The Detroit News
Two years ago, Richard Heilstedt received a handwritten note from a broker interested in buying his home, located a block away from where Henry Ford Heath System is planning a $500 million expansion.
At the time, Heilstedt had heard rumors about the health system's intent to expand, but he wasn't sure the offer was part of the plan. The one thing he did know: He wasn't selling his home, which has a rental unit, especially when the broker was offering him $68,000, a few thousand more than what he owes on his mortgage.
"Are they crazy?" Heilstedt, 44, asked Monday.
"If they gave me the right price, I'd sell. But I need money to pay off my mortgage and put $40,000-$50,000 down on a new house. That's just being realistic."
Reaction is mixed to Henry Ford's plans, which include expanding across West Grand Boulevard with a campus expected to include housing, retail, doctors' offices and research facilities. The health system has bought 85 percent of the land needed for the project. But unless it can get the rest, the project will stall, or the system will have to modify the plan, said William Schramm, senior vice president of business development.
"It sounds like a good thing, as long as it creates jobs," said Robert Knowles, an Allen Park resident who lost his job last week.
"The whole area could probably use it ... as long as they don't put anybody out of homes."
But others worried it would be a boost for the hospital and professionals associated with it, but not for the neighborhood.
"They're gluttons," said Al Ellis, a retired welder at General Motors who lives nearby.
"What good is it going to do for the people who live around here? Retail shops? Nobody has got any money around here. What kind of jobs will it give to the people who live around here?"
Some are concerned about how the plan might affect nearby businesses. Henry Ford already owns the building where Boulevard Cafe is located, so owner Joe Lulgjuraj hopes he is not relocated.
"I've got a lot of customers who really want us here," Lulgjuraj said.
Others are leery about the effort to get homeowners to sell homes located on the proposed new campus. David Wenberg, 47, lives in one of two homes on Trumbull owned by his grandmother. She doesn't want to sell because she can't find a home nearby that doesn't require a lot of work and prefers to live near the hospital since she recently survived cancer.
Wenberg said his 86-year-old grandmother has received offers for less than $80,000 for each of the homes. But after hearing rumors for decades about the Detroit hospital wanting to buy properties in the neighborhood, they are resigned that it may become reality.
"I've heard about this since I was a little boy," David Wenberg said.
"It seems inevitable. It's going to happen."
At the time, Heilstedt had heard rumors about the health system's intent to expand, but he wasn't sure the offer was part of the plan. The one thing he did know: He wasn't selling his home, which has a rental unit, especially when the broker was offering him $68,000, a few thousand more than what he owes on his mortgage.
"Are they crazy?" Heilstedt, 44, asked Monday.
"If they gave me the right price, I'd sell. But I need money to pay off my mortgage and put $40,000-$50,000 down on a new house. That's just being realistic."
Reaction is mixed to Henry Ford's plans, which include expanding across West Grand Boulevard with a campus expected to include housing, retail, doctors' offices and research facilities. The health system has bought 85 percent of the land needed for the project. But unless it can get the rest, the project will stall, or the system will have to modify the plan, said William Schramm, senior vice president of business development.
"It sounds like a good thing, as long as it creates jobs," said Robert Knowles, an Allen Park resident who lost his job last week.
"The whole area could probably use it ... as long as they don't put anybody out of homes."
But others worried it would be a boost for the hospital and professionals associated with it, but not for the neighborhood.
"They're gluttons," said Al Ellis, a retired welder at General Motors who lives nearby.
"What good is it going to do for the people who live around here? Retail shops? Nobody has got any money around here. What kind of jobs will it give to the people who live around here?"
Some are concerned about how the plan might affect nearby businesses. Henry Ford already owns the building where Boulevard Cafe is located, so owner Joe Lulgjuraj hopes he is not relocated.
"I've got a lot of customers who really want us here," Lulgjuraj said.
Others are leery about the effort to get homeowners to sell homes located on the proposed new campus. David Wenberg, 47, lives in one of two homes on Trumbull owned by his grandmother. She doesn't want to sell because she can't find a home nearby that doesn't require a lot of work and prefers to live near the hospital since she recently survived cancer.
Wenberg said his 86-year-old grandmother has received offers for less than $80,000 for each of the homes. But after hearing rumors for decades about the Detroit hospital wanting to buy properties in the neighborhood, they are resigned that it may become reality.
"I've heard about this since I was a little boy," David Wenberg said.
"It seems inevitable. It's going to happen."
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