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A vacant former Catholic school building in the Banglatown neighborhood of Detroit, which borders Hamtramck, could experience a reincarnation.
The city of Detroit is working with the Archdiocese of Detroit to transform the former Transfiguration School into apartments. The school, established in 1925, closed in 2005.
The city is soliciting developers and posts this:
The City of Detroit, in partnership with the Archdiocese of Detroit, is seeking proposals from qualified entities for the purpose of developing multi-family housing in the former Transfiguration School located at 13300 Syracuse St..
The approximately 21,500-square-foot former school building is located on the East side of the Banglatown neighborhood, which will soon undergo a neighborhood planning study. This Request for Proposals is intended to retain an experienced and qualified developer who will submit a contextually appropriate and financially feasible plan for a mixed-income development project that contains 15-25 multi-family residential units and required parking spaces.
“Banglatown is such an important piece of our city’s fabric and a neighborhood that has struggled with a high rate of poverty and abandonment,” Mayor Mike Duggan says in a statement. “Whenever we can, we are going to find ways to bring new investment into this neighborhood and others like it. This new partnership with the Archdiocese is a great first step for those efforts in Banglatown.”
The Banglatown neighborhood is home to one of the nation’s densest clusters of Bangladeshi-Americans and the only place in America where one can get a voting ballot in Bengali, the city noted in a press release. The neighborhood also has many African-American, Yemeni, Polish and Bosnian residents.
Nearly two-thirds of Banglatown residents live at or below the poverty level.
