New building gets preliminary approval for Grace Lake Center

The first new building in 15 years will be going up on the office campus between Ecorse and Tyler and I-275 and Hannan Road since Visteon Village was built.
At the July 26 meeting of the Van Buren Township Planning Commission, preliminary site plan approval was granted to Smith Group JJR to build a four-story office/laboratory building at what is now called Grace Lake Corporate Center.
Building B will be 124,000 square feet in size on the western edge of the gravel pit that was transformed into a pristine lake.
The Grace Lake Corporate Center has a total site area of about 237.57 acres and this new building will be on four acres. It’s not a duplicate building to what’s already there, but it will fit in with what’s there, said Patrick Westerlund of Smith Group.
He said the pathway along the lake will be extended to the new building and the parking lot behind. Westerlund said they would like to put an overlook over the lake and it is considered an alternative, if they can afford it in the budget.
When asked if they had a tenant for the building, Westerlund said, they didn’t, but, “Build it and they will come.”
He said there is a need for office space in Southeastern Michigan and they wouldn’t be building it if they weren’t sure they could lease it.
In other business in the hour-long meeting, the commission approved an amendment to the Country Walk site plan for revised single-family architectural elevations by Infinity Homes.
Infinity purchased 39 lots in the subdivision’s phases 3 and 4 on five different streets in the unfinished development. It would like to break ground for the first handful of models this fall. Two other home builders are also building houses in Country Walk.