Chesterfield Towne Centre

Macomb County is set to welcome a new conference center!  The much-anticipated Chesterfield Towne Centre is currently under construction on a 177-acre parcel adjacent to I-94 between Hall and 21 Mile roads.  When complete, it will offer more than 930,000 square foot for a variety of commercial uses in Chesterfield Township.

Anchored by a convention center and entertainment village, additional tenants may include banks, a fitness center, restaurants, retailers and possibly space for office and medical.  Planned amenities include a one-mile walking path and pocket parks.  According to a study conducted by HVS Convention, Sports and Entertainment of Chicago Illinois, in order to attract statewide trade shows and meetings that might necessitate on overnight stay, at least one headquarters hotel is also needed on site. 

The project is being co-developed by Aragona Properties LLC, GRT Builders and Trinity Development (a subsidiary of John Carlo, Inc.).  The entire project is estimated to cost between $100 and $150 million. 

The official groundbreaking was held in November of 2007.  According to Richard Ives, Vice President for Trinity Development, “Now that the water and sewer lines are in, we are working to finish the pavement.  As of today, we have lined up one tenant that will be submitting a site plan approval to Chesterfield Township in the very near future.”

That tenant is Value Place, an extended-stay hotel that currently is has locations in 23 states including two in Michigan (Holland and Kalamazoo).

The convention center itself will offer 100,000 square feet of meeting space for hosting consumer expositions, trade shows, conventions and other events.  When complete, it will fall somewhere in the range of the fifth largest meeting space in the region following Cobo Center in downtown Detroit (875,000 square feet), The Masonic of Detroit (550,000 sf), The Henry Ford in Dearborn (544,020 sf) and Rock Financial Showplace in Novi (320,000 sf).  Others with approximately the same amount of space include the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center and Macomb Community College.

The economic impact of the new facility is significant.  The HVS study projects that direct, indirect and induced spending related to the facility could be as high as $119 million annually with an additional $5.9 million generated in tax revenues.  Approximately 1,752 jobs would be created as a direct result of events at the center with an additional 1,700 jobs created to support new spending induced by activity at CTC.

This is based on a projection that when fully stabilized, the CTC will be host approximately 105 for up to 375,000 visitors.  

According to Ives, the process of securing a team to manage or partner with the developers to manage the facility is also underway.  Approximately 30 requests for proposals were sent to likely candidates.  Five responded and have all been interviewed. 

“Our next step,” says Ives “is to work with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, the Macomb County delegation to Lansing and our local partners to determine a taxing structure for the development.” 

If all goes well, the Convention Centre at Chesterfield Towne Center should be open for business by the Fall of 2009.