One city’s answer to redevelopment

We have so much land in Oshkosh that needs to be redeveloped, in particular along the river, but despite plans coming forward over the course of the last several years, not much seems to be happening. Sure, there is said to be activity behind the scenes, but to those of us on the outside looking in, and I suspect to some council members, as well, it’s not much more than a-wishin’ and a-hopin.’ Here’s an example of what one city is doing – working in concert with the state and private developers.

The city of Allen Park, Michigan had a huge area of land that needed to be redeveloped and Hollywood has come to the rescue. According to this piece from WXYZ-TV in Detroit a $146 million movie, television and new media production studio will be built along Southfield road near I-94. The studio is expected to employ up to 3,000 skilled workers while at full capacity, with most of them in unionized trades. Residents of Allen Park and laid off union workers will get first shot at the jobs at the facility. Also unique about this project is the fact that it will implement one of the largest retraining programs ever enacted in Michigan. Out of work skilled and unskilled labor will receive on-the-set training and production experience, giving students production credits. In addition, the project will include a village where people can live, shop and find entertainment options.

The city’s mayor commented on the project, saying it represents a creative and progressive approach to community-based economic development and redevelopment and that under the agreement with Jimmy Lifton (the Hollywood executive and native Detroiter whose concept this is), the city will own equity in the studios. In addition, the studios are being developed on brown field property currently occupied by various buildings and open fields, so it does not increase sprawl nor does it require the city and its taxpayers to shoulder significant new infrastructure costs.

Obviously this project took the collaborative efforts of city officials, state lawmakers, various state agencies and private parties. It also was made possible through film tax credits/incentives for the film industry - something, sadly, Wisconsin's Gov. Doyle wants to eliminate. But it just goes to show what can be done when people come together to work on a project and have an open mind to the possibilities. We’ve had success – and there was certainly a lot of excitement – with the partial filming of “Public Enemies” in Oshkosh. As I read the press release and news articles about this story from Michigan I thought to myself, yes, the situations are different, but wouldn’t it be nice to have such a project here and experience filmmaking year-round, while providing excellent jobs and tourist opportunities at the same time? More importantly, wouldn’t it just be nice to do something special and unique with some of our undeveloped property instead of sticking with the same old, boring concept of a hotel and office building? Let’s get creative and develop some real mixed use along our riverfront. And let’s make technology a part of it because that’s a field that continues to grow (and there are tech zone tax credits available in Wisconsin for many technology-related projects). This story is proof positive that when you think outside of the box, amazing things can happen.