MEDC Rejects Grant for City Property Purchase

June 6, 2015

A $1.25 million grant request that would have allowed the city to purchase a parcel of property at 400 Eighth Street was rejected by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) this week. City commissioners had hoped to use the parcel to expand Boardman Avenue as part of the city's Corridors Master Plan. Traverse City Mayor Michael Estes, who said the city had been promised "an almost guarantee approval" from the MEDC for the grant, called the rejection "fishy."

"Sounds like someone got to the MEDC and exerted some political pressure," Estes says. "I sure would like to know who." Estes says he plans to further investigate the cause behind MEDC's rejection of the request.

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