Macomb-OU INCubator lands a Sterling Heights building

Look up in the air. Is it a bird? A plane? Nope, it's a free building coming out of nowhere and falling in the lap of the Macomb-OU INCubator.

Troy-based A.J. Damman Co. donated a $3.5 million building and the 12 acres it's on in Sterling Heights to the city's Local Development Finance Authority. The idea is to turn it into the future home of the Macomb-OU INCubator.

"It just kind of fell out of the sky," says Luke Bonner, economic development manager for the city of Sterling Heights. "The city has had a long relationship with Mike Damman of A.J. Damman. He has developed some really high-quality buildings here."

The building is in the Plumbrook Technology Park just off of 18 Mile Road between Mound and Van Dyke roads. It was originally built as a daycare center for Ford in 2001 and is now vacant. Damman looked at several options, including demolition and keeping the land, before deciding to give it to the city.

"It's clearly too nice to be demolished," Bonner says.

The Macomb-OU INCubator is a joint business start-up venture between Oakland University, Macomb County and the City of Sterling Heights. It plans to create up to 12 new companies and 130 jobs by the end of 2010, and up to 55 new companies and 600 jobs by 2015.

The city plans to study how best to use the building over the next 18-24 months before occupying it. That timeline could be moved up if an anchor tenant expresses interest in the property.

Source: Luke Bonner, economic development manager for the city of Sterling Heights
Writer: Jon Zemke

Macomb-OU INCubator lands a Sterling Heights building

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