Troy Planning Commission OKs Former Kmart Corp. HQ Site Redevelopment

On Tuesday, May 13, the Troy Planning Commission recommended approval for preliminary plans for a multi-use development at the site of the former Kmart Corp. headquarters in Troy.

The commission's unanimous decision now heads to Troy City Council. 

In April, the commission voted 7-1 to hold off on the project. That decision angered Nate Forbes, managing partner of Forbes Co., which had proposed the site's redevelopment in collaboration with Stuart Frankel Development Co.

The former Kmart headquarters on Big Beaver Road at Coolidge Highway was torn down in late 2023 and early 2024 after sitting abandoned on the site for nearly two decades.

According to an Oakland Press report, the Forbes Frankel partnership had recommended up to 750 residential units, 500,000 square feet of office space, 300,000 square feet of retail space, and a 250-room hotel on the site. The redeveloped site was also slated to include a 1.1-acre park.

The Forbes Co. purchased the former Kmart site in 2009 for $17.5 million. Since then, the firm has been paying taxes on the property, maintaining the land, and providing security for the site. Nate Forbes said at the April planning commission meeting that the company wanted to move forward on redeveloping the site.

Forbes explained during last Tuesday's meeting that construction on the University of Michigan's portion of the project was expected to begin in mid-June. U of M purchased approximately 11 acres of the 40-acre site to construct a health facility offering diagnostic and therapeutic services and ambulatory surgery.

The Oakland Press noted that the U of M's regents approved the facility's schematic design. According to a release from Michigan Medicine shared with The Oakland Press, the 224,000-square-foot building is expected to open in spring 2027.