Development moving again for long-stalled Perfecting Church in Detroit

Development of a highly visible and long-stalled megachurch on Woodward Avenue and Seven Mile in Detroit is moving again — on paper and slowly.

The city is expected to set a public hearing on the latest proposal from pastor Marvin Winans' Perfecting Church to rezone a portion of the property at 19150 Woodward Ave. to make way for several improvements to the three-story church that has been under construction for 20 years.

The proposal includes:

• 4,236 seats.

• A coffee shop, bookstore and nursery.

• A new school academy with a high school.

• An outdoor amphitheater at the front of the church.

• Community gardens for church members and the neighborhood.

• Structural improvements using brick, stone and metal panels.

Last year, the city sued Winans and the church over the stalled development, alleging the property was a public nuisance that resulted in blight. The lawsuit alleged that Perfecting Church has not held a building permit since July 2015. It said that a building inspection turned up dilapidated fencing, overgrown vegetation and burrows indicating rodents or other animals.

Winans and the city settled months later, giving the developer extended deadlines to respond to several requests, including providing a building status report by June 30, obtaining various approvals by July and submitting relevant documentation and evidence of financing.

Church representatives told city planning commissioners in December that total costs would rise to $56 million once the project is entirely done.

Next: Setting a hearing on the latest plan

The developer has not met its latest deadlines, according to city Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallett, who is keeping an eye on the project. But the city extended them anyway.

City Council on Tuesday is expected to set a hearing at its meeting. At the hearing, the city Planning Commission will provide an overview of the project and its recommendation to the council committee, which will then make a recommendation to City Council as a whole. Council members will then vote on the rezoning requests and amendments, according to city planner Chris Gulock.

But that could be months from now.

City Council approved a planned development zoning in 2004 for 12 acres of property. The project begun then "had to be mothballed due to financing," Gulock told council members in Thursday's planning and economic development committee meeting. But the church petitioned the planning commission to rezone adjacent land on the property.

"The basic request for the hearing for council to consider is to change the site plan. The church would pretty much be the same footprint, but they proposed a parking deck next to the church and that would be eliminated," Gulock said. "There's 4 acres of land just northeast of the church that's zoned R2. They had proposed, back in 2004, that that could be housing, but because they're eliminating the parking deck, they do need more land for parking. So the request is to expand the PD onto that R2 land land to finish the church project."

A separate administration building and a four-story parking deck were part of the previous plan, but developers eliminated those elements and now instead propose surface parking for 659 vehicles and consolidating the office space into the main building, records show. The project is now projected to be completed by 2025, and the latest proposal calls for rezoning a parcel on Carmel and Bauman avenues from two-family residential, known as R2, to planned development.

The church also does not own four vacant parcels on the 16 acre-site: three that are privately owned and one that is a Detroit Land Bank Authority property, city records show. Representatives for Perfecting Church could not be immediately reached, but records indicate the church is “currently in negotiations with the (Land Bank) and with a Realtor regarding the privately owned lots.”

"It is in our discretion however to return to the court for enforcement. We are encouraged by the slow forward progress. We have chosen to informally extend required deadlines in the hopes that Perfecting can find its way,” Mallett said in a statement.

Mallett did not specify new deadlines, adding that there are multiple timelines and the dates have not yet been set. However, if the developer does not comply, the city can sue again and potentially ask for demolition by the owner or appointment of a receiver to advise the court on whether to sell, complete or demolish the property.

Dana Afana is the Detroit city hall reporter for the Free Press. Contact: dafana@freepress.com. Follow her: @DanaAfana.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Pastor Marvin Winans seeks rezoning for Detroit megachurch project