By ANDREA POTEET
Sunday Times Newspapers
ALLEN PARK – A planned retail development in the city’s former movie studio property on Southfield Road will not go forward after the developer failed to close on the sale.
A 180-day period the city gave Birmingham-based Elia Group LLC to close on a 2.75 acre lot of the property ended Monday, and Mayor William Matakas Tuesday said the company chose not to go forward with the project.
He said the city is looking into other options for the development of the property.
The sale would have netted the financially struggling city $600,000 for the portion of the 104-acre property, where they planned to build a combination restaurant and retail space.
The studio property had been controversial since its main tenants, Lifton Institute for Media Skills and Unity Studios, left the complex in 2010 after a year. The city now pays $2 million a year to subsidize the property.