Supervisor’s Message

Welcoming new businesses to Clinton Township is one of the more enjoyable things I get to do as your Township Supervisor. Whether it’s a ribbon-cutting to celebrate a grand opening or a gathering of county and local officials recognizing a business milestone, it’s my pleasure to partake in the economic growth of local businesses.

However, you need to know that these festivities occur at the end of a long series of steps that are part of the hard work performed by our building and planning departments, Planning Commission, and Board of Trustees. Together, we work to bring jobs, build the tax base, and add new amenities for all of us to enjoy.

At the beginning of the new year, I like to update you on the projects we’ve been working on. I’m happy to say that several of these projects include new developments along Groesbeck Highway. As you know, it’s challenging to keep viable businesses along an industrial, commercial, and residential corridor like Groesbeck, but we’re up to it. With some creative input from our Planning and Community Development Department, we’re looking to add mixed-use PUDs (planned unit developments) like the one designated for north Groesbeck. This PUD will include 29 single-family homes, 106 townhouse condos, a 6,000 square foot commercial building, and a 4-story senior living facility.

Other Groesbeck developments include Mi Pueblo Mexican Restaurant. What I like best about Mi Pueblo, besides the delicious, authentic Mexican cuisine, is the repurposing of an existing building and the planned future use of the gas station that once stood next door.

Unlike the extended commercial strip centers built in the past, today, two to three-unit “power centers” are the way to design new retail space. For example, just south of Mi Pueblo, in the Meijer out lot pad site, plans are submitted to build a 7,000 square foot retail building with Starbucks and Chipotle as welcomed tenants.

With a groundbreaking late in 2020, Lavda’s Self Storage, a state-of-the-art facility with climate-controlled indoor storage, is now operating on Groesbeck, south of 15 Mile Road. With more than 100,000 square feet of storage, the facility covers the entire space once occupied by a bowling alley and comedy club.

Last year, McLaren Macomb Hospital, the long-established health care provider just off Groesbeck in Mount Clemens, announced a $25-million expansion project to build the Harrington Medical Center and Ambulatory Surgery Center. That’s good news made even better as the medical complex spreads over the Mount Clemens border into Clinton Township.

Not to be outdone, Henry Ford Hospital Macomb on 19 Mile Road has expansion plans of its own. Last summer, they announced the construction of a 225,000 square-foot five-story patient tower featuring 160 private rooms. The project will also see a redesign of the hospital’s main entrance and lobby and increase the number of ICU rooms.

If you drive near Henry Ford and pass through the Garfield and 19 Mile Road intersection, you’ll notice some extensive building activity on the 27-acre parcel of vacant property that spreads out along the southwest corner. The proposal is to develop Story Point of Clinton Township, a three-story, 177-unit assisted living and memory care facility, and Maple Ridge Condominiums. The condos are ranch-style units ranging from 1,700 to 2,100 square feet with attached garages and two parking spaces. It’s another project that I’m excited to see come our way.

I’ve always held, “if you build it, they will come,” regarding the vacancies at the Regional Shopping Center at Metro Parkway and Groesbeck. Well, the future appears bright for that space in the form of discussions to add a restaurant to that plaza. I look forward to seeing the plans.

As you can tell, despite the economic challenges we face in terms of a continuing pandemic, the business community, with our assistance, is moving onward, as we all should, to take the time and recognize good tidings.

I wish you a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year.