The city of Warren, Michigan has been wresting with population declines for several decades and with that comes the common problems many industrial cities face - how to deal with vacant property.
Last week, Mayor Jim Fouts announced a plan to relieve the city of caring for some of these empty lots.
If you live next to one, you can buy it from the city for $1.
More from the Associated Press:
Fouts says the buyers will be responsible for closing costs that won't exceed $700 per lot. Additional property taxes will be around $150 annually. The mayor calls it a "win-win" deal for Warren and the nearby property owners. He says the price is hard to beat, plus the city will no longer have to cut weeds or grass and shovel snow at the sites.
And now the city is hoping to convert some of its empty parcels into a bustling downtown around its city center.
Christina Hall writes for the Detroit Free Press:
In the next few months, Mayor Jim Fouts would like to reveal specific plans for some of those parcels in the city’s downtown — details he hopes will describe a five-star hotel, fashionable movie theater, high-class restaurant, nightclub and grocery store... After roughly a decade of failed attempts, Fouts believes plans finally are falling into place to develop a bustling downtown in Michigan’s third-largest city.
The mayor says the city's Downtown Development Authority has "received many 'strong feelers from businesses wanting to develop' more than 16 acres around the civic center."
Going from "strong feelers" to actual construction can be a long process.
