By ANDREA POTEET
Sunday Times Newspapers
ALLEN PARK – A new tenant may be making their home in the city’s controversial studio property.
The city council Tuesday approved a lease with fitness company Crossfit Downriver for a 2,000-square-foot room in the building. The company will pay $4 a square foot for the property, not including $2.50 per square foot in common area maintenance charges, netting about $1,083 a month in income for the city.
The lease terms, originally $3 a square foot, came under fire at recent meetings and the business owners renegotiated the terms to expire in one year, at which point Crossfit may expand its facilities.
At recent city council meetings, councilors expressed concern that the original $3 per square foot was on par with what occupants of much larger spaces pay and much less than the minimum of $8 per square foot many downtown Allen Park businesses pay.
Resident Donna Daniel, who rents two units in a building she owns on Ecorse Road, said the greatly reduced rent price may harm other business owners.
“If your’re going to try to let these people rent for this low of an amount, all the landlords around here are going to go broke,” she said.