WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI – John Fields grew up riding his bike on summer days to hang out at the Gault Village Shopping Center, where there was a bustling Ypsilanti-area commercial spot replete with a grocer, drug store and hardware shop.
Now nearing 70 years old, he cranes his neck over his back fence, pointing out weeds taller than his grandson and bricks peeling off the now-vacant shopping plaza’s buildings.
“It has been a disaster for the last six years,” he says, recounting mad scrambles to confront people dumping couches or old tires behind the empty buildings, or sleeping in RVs in the parking lot, crisscrossed with grass poking up from cracks in the pavement.
“If I wasn’t retired, I wouldn’t be doing that,” he said. “I’d just pack up and move.”
While Fields has fought to keep the place clean, a 2016 lawsuit — now overseen by three different judges — lurched forward between Ypsilanti Township and property owners. Since 2018 that’s been GV, LLC, run by Kentucky-based retail developer Robert Hull.
But, finally, major changes could be on the horizon for the plaza just south of I-94 along Ford Lake.
On Sept. 2, an order from a Washtenaw County judge overseeing the case confirmed the township could pursue demolition of the shopping center and required it and the owners get cost estimates for the job.
A “ballpark estimate” presented by consultants hired by the township during a Sept. 23 court hearing pegged those costs at $1.8 million, not including evaluations of potential toxic contaminants like asbestos and plans to deal with rats.
Hull, whose company purchased the property at auction in 2018 when several tenants were still hanging on, inherited the legal case and remains defiant.
Read more: New owner plans to renovate old Gault Village shopping center
He claims his engineers have found the buildings have “good bones” and says he has plans to fix more than 1,000 pages of code violations and even add second-story apartments, casting township officials as obstructionists.
“It’s a fight. They’re trying to break me down. They’re trying to steal the property from me, is what they’re trying to do,” he said.
Township Attorney Doug Winters says Hull is living in an “alternate reality.”
“We’re under a demolition order right now,” Winters said. “(Hull has) sat on his hands for all this time, and as far as we’re concerned that ship has sailed. It’s time to move forward now and do something positive for the community.”
Rehabilitation of ‘eyesore’ shopping plaza has doubters and boosters
Lesa Blackburn is one of many Gault Village residents who counts their time in the neighborhood in decades.
After nearly 30 years living next to the shopping center, she’s watched Hollywood Video, a dental office, Rite Aid and ACO Hardware all close their doors — a downturn often credited to the closure of the nearby Grove Road access to I-94 in 1971.
But after shopping in a Gault Village grocery store filled with buckets catching drips from a leaky roof, it was clear to her the buildings weren’t being maintained, issues that sparked a string of legal battles between the township and prior owners dating back more than a decade.
“At the end of the day I’d be happy if they tore it down to be honest,” Blackburn said. “Right now, it’s just an eyesore. I think it brings property values down.”
Blackburn attended a recent Zoom meeting Hull and his team hosted to discuss their plans for the property and rally support for their cause.
But she struggles to trust what he says, especially after years of deterioration next door to her home.
Meanwhile, another resident, Tony Dixon, is more optimistic about the plans.
Dixon, who works in real estate investment, said he and other residents were “absolutely ecstatic” when Hull presented renderings of his vision for a thriving shopping center during a September 2019 town hall meeting.
But just months earlier, township building inspectors had issued a 163-page condemnation notice, stating the premises is dangerous and unsanitary, and fit only for demolition. The court in 2016 had already declared the plaza a public nuisance.
Dixon, who in recent months has joined Hull as project manager at the shopping center, says the order has put a roadblock on obtaining funds to redevelop it, claiming he has investors lined up who are “very interested.”
“If this were any other property anywhere else without this history, we would have been moving right now,” he said.
Township officials ready to forge ahead after ‘promises broken’
Ypsilanti Township officials say they’d like nothing more than for the property to be rehabilitated, but that time has come and gone.
“Robert (Hull) has approached this as someone that’s flipping a house. He has no idea what it takes to restore a commercial property. And that’s not the fault of the township,” said Dave Bellers, the township’s chief building official. “We’ve given him every opportunity to be successful.”
Hull says he’s spent more than $600,000 cleaning out the shopping center, repairing lights and putting a new roof on one of the buildings, among other maintenance tasks.
He blames a court-appointed receiver installed under a previous absentee owner for failing to fix code violations, instead investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in rents in a new retaining wall along one edge of the property — a measure township officials say was necessary to prevent residents’ backyards from collapsing.
Hull also repeatedly claims township officials have denied him permits to continue rehabilitating the property, though he did not produce documentation of those denials when asked for specifics.
Township officials say he’s not telling the truth.
“The proper way for someone to approach a commercial permit would be to enlist an architect, a design professional in responsible charge for the project, which is what’s required under the Michigan building code. Robert has never done that,” Bellers said.
Repairs Hull has completed haven’t met standards, and a recent inspection showed the new roof is leaking and the buildings continue to fall apart, Bellers said.
One unit that was once the most code compliant is now “leaking tremendously,” he said. “It smells horrible. All of the tiles are curling. There’s black mold growing all over the walls.”
The time has come to pursue demolition of the property, as the township has been authorized to do in order to abate the nuisance, Winters said, echoing arguments the township has mounted in court this summer.
“When you’ve had at least five or six years of just promises made, promises broken, no proven track record of doing anything that you say you’re going to do, why would you possibly put the brakes on something now?” he asked.
Residents hopeful for answers as township dives into demolition complexities
Knocking the shopping center down won’t happen overnight.
Environmental consultants with SME, hired by the township, have recommended a hazardous materials assessment to test for asbestos, lead paints, PCBs and other toxins.
Since a dry cleaner operated there for many years, they also want another assessment for potential chlorinated solvents. Those two investigations alone could run between $30,000 and $44,000, according to a report from the consultants provided to the township.
The preliminary report didn’t put a price tag on vermin assessment and removal, as well as other potential hazard remediation, and Winters says the township is pursuing further demolition estimates as well, proceeding carefully.
The parties are scheduled for another court date on Nov. 4 to continue sharing their findings with the judge.
Hull’s side has not yet presented any estimates. The Sept. 2 court order says the township could bill GV, LLC for the costs or request a money judgement to cover them.
Meanwhile, Hull says he’s working to add barriers to keep people away from the vacant buildings and has installed cameras and hired security personnel.
“We’re trying to develop it. We’ve been trying to develop it for the longest time, and I’ve been stopped at every aspect,” he said.
Hull said he believes if he can show the building isn’t a health and safety risk, he will be able to abate the nuisances that are the basis for the demolition order and convince a judge to drop the lawsuit.
Gault Village residents have trouble following the complex legal back-and-forth.
Charles Corn, whose house abuts the back of the shopping center, said he’s only become more aware of it recently through conversations with neighbors.
“When the dry cleaners left that broke our heart. When ACO left that broke our heart,” he said.
Now, he and his wife are just hearing rumors about what might happen next.
“We can’t get an answer, we can’t get an honest answer,” said Fields, who lives up the street.
Winters acknowledged officials could do better, saying they’ve discussed sending out mailers to residents or putting information online.
“I think they have a right to know, should be involved in this and we can do better to make sure it’s communicated to them,” he said.
In the meantime, Fields will keep sharing anything he learns with his neighbors.
He spent four years cutting the grass and shoveling the walk of a house next to his that stood vacant until new owners moved in. He does the same for his 80-year-old neighbor.
“That’s the kind of neighborhood I live in, and that’s the kind of neighborhood I want,” he said. Then, gesturing toward the shopping plaza, “that’s killing us.”
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