Dearborn — City Council voted 4-2 on Tuesday to approve a redevelopment plan for the old Montgomery Ward site at Michigan Avenue and Schaefer Road, giving the go-ahead for a $70 million project to replace the historic building with a major medical complex.

Retail/office space and a 95-unit senior living facility will also be included in the new development.

Councilmen Tom Tafelski and George Darany voted against the approval, saying they hoped for an entertainment complex to increase foot traffic in the area.

“I love the project, just not in that location,” said Darany.

He said he wished the city would have held out longer for something that would have had more of a ripple effect for growth.

He said that those who visit medical facilities go there to get treatment, and then go home. They don’t, he said, go out and explore the downtown area afterwards.

Darany had hoped for a multiplex theater, ice rink or soccer field for the site.

“Somewhere where the community can meet,” he said.

Mayor Jack O’Reilly has said that the city chose the proposal over three others because it was the best and had the greatest return on the investment, medical facilities being one of the only growing industries in the current economy.

“I don’t see it as a stimulus,” Darany said. “But I hope I’m wrong.”

He said now that it has passed, he will fully support the project.

“We have to live with the project now… I have to do everything I can to make it a success. And I will.”

Darany said the city is set to officially turn over the property on September 1.

The city will begin demolishing the long-vacant, deteriorating building at a cost of $600,000 in the meantime.

Real estate and investment company REDICO will pay the city $3.35 million dollars, the same the city bought the property for in 2005.

Oakwood Health System is set to be the primary tenant with Midwest Health System as a subtenant to Oakwood and American House as the senior housing partner.

With a completion goal set at late 2009, the project is expected to bring 200 new jobs and 100 new residents to East Downtown Dearborn, with 300 already existing jobs moving to the facility from within the city.

An included parking structure will be public property, offering 500-625 spaces of free parking, costing $9-12 million in public dollars, most or all of which is expected to be paid for with tax capture from the private investment, according to O’Reilly.

After the Montgomery Ward department store closed in 2001, after 70 years of business, local business owners Talal Chahine (now a fugitive believed to have fled to Lebanon after being indicted for tax evasion) and Kaid Bazzy bought the property for $1.8 million.

Under late Mayor Michael Guido, the city bought the property from Chahine for $3.35 million in 2005. 

O’Reilly has said that the city purchased the property to prevent it from being used as a restaurant equipment warehouse, which would have brought little economic stimulus to the area.