Hundreds Turn Out For First Detroit 'Side Lot Sale' To Purchase Vacant Spaces For $100
DETROIT (WWJ) -- Southwest Detroit saw a different kind of holiday shopping on Saturday.
Hundreds of people turned out as more than 7,000 pieces of land were up for sale in Districts 6 and 7 -- parts of downtown, midtown and Corktown, as well as Warrendale and Russell Woods -- as a part of the city's first ever Side Lot Sales Fair.
Craig Fahle with the city's Land Bank said that hundreds of people took advantage of the $100 price tag on each plot of land.
"We're working on plans for the rest of the vacant lots in the city -- we'll have those plans sometime soon," Fahle said. "As soon as you put a fence on a lot, it eliminates the problem of illegal dumping, it makes the neighborhoods look better. It improves the quality of life, not just for the next door neighbor, but for everyone on the block because it's one less vacant property that's not being maintained."
Those who participated in buying a vacant side-lot were able to go home with the deed in-hand.
"The process has been taking about a half an hour per person, but this is a process that used to take a year and a half," Fahle said.
After 30 years of maintaining the lot next to his house, Levi Sharp said that his purchase was a no-brainer.
"I think it will help the city out," Sharp said. "If people buy the land, they take care of the land the city doesn't have to pay somebody to take care of the land. I've been taking care of it for the last 30 years, I might as well buy it if I've been taking care of it."
The Detroit Land Bank will evaluate how the event was handled then -- depending on its success -- schedule more sales for other parts of the city.
