Hazel Park Development – An Era Of New Beginnings

Jun 8, 2019 | Construction News

Near the metro Detroit interstate highway corridors of I-75 and I-696, Hazel Park is setting the stage for a new era through a massive transformation on what was most recently a large 130-acre parcel dedicated to harness and thoroughbred horse racing. Prior to the race track which began operations in 1949, this large site had been the location of an industrial landfill. The facilities proposed for this project will revitalize this site and utilize it to its greatest potential – adding to the economic growth and stability of the local community.

In 2015, Ashley Capital acquired a 36-acre parcel which had been used by the Hazel Park Raceway as overflow guest parking. Due to the pre-existing brownfield conditions, the project team was tasked with implementing site remediation and soil stabilization activities to manage the conditions associated with its prior land use. Upon completion of these efforts, a 575,000 square foot multi-tenant industrial center was constructed by Oliver / Hatcher Construction on the parcel.

In 2018, Ashley Capital acquired the former race track’s remaining acreage and began plans for further development of this prime access site near the two major highway corridors. The future phases of this large-scale development include the construction of two additional buildings which upon completion will add over 1.5 million square feet of space to the campus. Additionally, expanded brownfield remediation strategies, and hazardous waste and asbestos removal were implemented on the newly acquired property.

The demolition of the shuttered horse track facilities began in July of 2018. By January 2019 all remnants of the clubhouse, grandstands, multiple horse stables and large asphalt parking lot were removed. Where it was possible, the buildings and barns were dismantled in a manner that preserved much of the recyclable construction materials. In total, there was 1,800 tons of steel, 26,000 tons of concrete/hard fill, as well as barn wood measuring in the tens-of-thousands of board-feet that were dismantled, sorted, stacked and bundled on-site for recycling and reuse.

Oliver / Hatcher Construction has been an integral member of this project team for this large-scale industrial complex. Our construction management team has collaborated with the owners Ashley Capital, the city of Hazel Park, the Michigan Economic Development Corp., the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and Oakland County Economic Development to remediate and stabilize this contaminated site and bring about the development of this multi-phase development.