By Jim Newell
Review Editor
Front Street west of Broadway Street will no longer be a one-way street, opening up to traffic in both directions later this summer.
But a local apartment building will also be “reconfigured” in the process of making that stretch of Front Street a two-lane road. Front Street east of Broadway Street is open to two-way traffic.
The project also could carry a hefty price tag.
The Lake Orion Downtown Development Authority Board of Directors motioned at their May 14 meeting to recommend to the village council to proceed with opening up that section of Front Street into a two-way street, said Molly LaLone, executive director of the DDA.
In order to make the street into two lanes, the village will have to tear down the gated parking at the Verwood Apartments, 54 S. Broadway St., and remove some of the residential parking spaces.
While the Verwood would retain 10 parking spots, the village would provide, at a yet-to-be-determined location, eight spots for Verwood tenants once the gated parking is removed.
“The agreement with the property owner requires us giving notice to do that,” Young said. “We’ve already got estimates on construction to do that and I’m getting actual pricing from a couple of contractors to move forward.”
The Verwood’s gated parking lot – which has been in place since at least 1984 – uses one lane as the lane to enter the parking lot. The village technically owns the lane and had granted a long-term easement lease to the Verwood’s previous owners.
Legacy Equities LLC, a Farmington Hills-based real estate investment company, took ownership of The Verwood Apartments in March under the name Verwood Place LLC.
Once that deal was in the works, the village was able to open up the lease agreement – which had another 22 years on it if the previous owners had retained ownership – and negotiate to turn that easement back into a public roadway.
A project cost estimate from Hubbell, Roth & Clark, Inc., the village’s engineering firm, is more than $167,000, which includes removal of a portion of the Verwood’s carport, removal of the fence and sidewalk, curb, gutter and road construction.
The DDA will pay for the renovations and construction.
“The cost the engineers came up with is assuming we will have to redo the whole road. I’m hoping we can just remove the concrete wall and gates and part of the carport and fill it in with asphalt, because that lot is already paved,” Young said.
Village officials have said that converting Front Street into a two-lane street is a necessary safety issue for emergency vehicles once the apartments and retail space at 120 S. Broadway St. (commonly known the “four-story building”) opens later this year.
That space will include a restaurant, Whiskey Tom’s, and retail and office space on the ground floor. The development adjacent to the four-story building, 102 S. Broadway St., will house a yet-to-be-announced restaurant or business.