City’s new Civic Center recognized for its impact
City manager: ‘We’re very honored to receive this Impact Award’
Royal Oak’s multi-million dollar Civic Center project has been recognized for its positive impact and use of a public-private partnership to change the city complex center and attract a new Henry Ford Health System outpatient building.
The award was given last week by the Detroit chapter of the international Commercial Real Estate Women Network (CREW).
The nomination was submitted by women working with Plante Moran Cresa, the consulting firm that oversaw the many moving parts of the development, which took several years.
“We’re very honored to receive this Impact Award from CREW,” said City Manager Paul Brake. “Despite the obstacles we had to go through, this is a very successful project.”
Royal Oak spent about $63 million relocating and building a new City Hall and police station, creating the Centennial Commons park, and building a 580car parking deck on 11 Mile Road.
Private developer Ron Boji spent $40 million in construction and related costs erecting the Henry Ford outpatient build
ing and the health system spent another $70 million outfitting the interior.
All the city components of the project have opened over the past couple of years. The 2.2-acre Centennial Commons was the final piece of the project and was completed in December 2021. A key part of the city’s goal in creating the park and having a new office building was to have a green space and amenities in the middle of the downtown, and bring more office workers to the district to patronize businesses.
“We get inquiries all the time,” about the Civic Center, Brake said. “We have become a model in southeast Michigan where municipalities are looking to aggregate these public developments that can be impactful.”
Centennial Commons has drawn positive comments from residents and visitors, he added.
“You don’t see many spaces in an urban area where a parking lot became a park,” Brake said.
Among the challenges the project faced were setbacks caused by the pandemic and an ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit filed against the city by a handful of business owners in the city.