EMU Opens New Center In Northwest Detroit, Renews Livonia Lease
YPSILANTI -- Eastern Michigan University is investing in the city of Detroit, increasing the university's presence there by opening a new off-campus center on the city's northwest side.
The new center is at 7800 W. Outer Drive, in a third-floor suite of rooms. The new site, which is highly convenient for students and faculty and has adequate parking, is located across the street from Wayne County Community College's northwest campus.
The EMU Board of Regents approved a five-year and three-month lease agreement with College Park RCO LLC, the landlord for the facility, at the board's regular meeting Tuesday.
The new site is 10,983 square feet, and includes staff and faculty offices, classrooms, a computer lab and a student lounge area. Under the agreement, the landlord will provide and pay for approximately $118,000 in improvements for the facility before Eastern's move-in date of Feb. 1, 2013.
The EMU board also approved a five-year lease extension with Cambridge Center LLP for EMU's Livonia campus during its regular meeting. The existing agreement, which covers a 22,453 sq. ft. area, expires in June 2013.
The EMU Livonia satellite campus, located in western Wayne County, currently serves more than 900 students registered for day, evening and weekend classes. The evening and the weekend schedules are popular among working professionals. Courses at the Detroit site have included classes in nursing, social work and education. Other offices in the new facility include doctors and staff from the northwest Detroit branch of the Henry Ford Medical System.
The lease will commence Feb. 1 and end April 30. In the interim, Eastern's classrooms will be located in a different space at the new site under a month-to-month rental arrangement with the landlord.
The lease rate at the new facility is $15.36 per square foot, compared to the $16.60 square foot Eastern is currently paying at the Northwest Activities Center. Although the rate per square foot is lower, the $168,652 average annual lease cost at the new Outer Drive site represents a $65,000 annual increase in Eastern's costs that reflects the increased square footage at the new site.
The $65,000 increase in the annual lease cost of the new Detroit campus site is more than offset by the annual savings realized in the five-year extension of the lease at EMU's Livonia campus.
Classes offered at the Livonia site include business administration, construction management, curriculum and instruction, educational leadership k-12 administration, human resources management and organizational development, nursing, public administration and technology management.
EMU also has sites in Brighton, Lapeer, Monroe, Jackson and Traverse City.
The Livonia campus, which opened in 1999, is located at 38777 W. Six Mile Rd., just west of I-275.
