Wayne County revives abandoned properties with new land bank

If there is an Island of Misfit Toys, then the Wayne County Land Bank is the Island of Misfit Properties.The land bank has taken property after property that people have discarded, lost or given up on and turned them into functioning, tax-paying land in private hands. The land bank has helped leverage more than $300 million in investment and 2,500 jobs in its first two years.Helping make this happen is the land bank’s Transforming Underdeveloped Residential & Business Opportunities, or TURBO, program. TURBO provides incentives for new developments and improvements on some of the land bank’s properties. For instance, a developer could receive a one year tax exemption during construction and a 50 percent reimbursement of an amount equal to the real property taxes for the next five years. Among some of the successful projects that have come from the land bank are The Shops at Woodward Place in Highland Park (120 new jobs), Parts Galore in Detroit (50 new jobs) and Sysco Foods in Canton (650 jobs retained, 130 new jobs).Source: Wayne CountyWriter: Jon Zemke