Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel, left, Mount Clemens Mayor Laura Kropp, housing developer Jim Geroge, state Rep. Denise Mentzer, state Sen. Kevin Hertel and state Rep. Joe Aragona stand or toss dirt for the ceremonial groundbreaking of the Manchester Mount Clemens apartment complex on Oct. 10.
By: Dean Vaglia | Mount Clemens-Clinton-Harrison Journal | Published October 24, 2025
MOUNT CLEMENS — After years of talk, deals and paperwork, a highly-anticipated housing project finally got underway on Oct. 10.
City officials were joined by state legislators and local real estate developer Jim George for the groundbreaking of the Manchester Mount Clemens, a building project that will add more than 100 market-rate apartments to the downtown core of the city.
“(The groundbreaking) felt like it was a long time coming,” Mayor Laura Kropp said. “This project was announced a couple of years ago and because of waiting for state funding to be completed, we’ve been anxiously waiting for that project to break ground. We’re really excited that the Manchester Group is able to break ground and bring 120 units to downtown Mount Clemens, because that has the potential of doubling — if not more — the population of downtown.”
The project’s life begins with its address, 1 North River Road. For years, an old and dilapidated motel sat on the site, becoming an infamous local landmark as a constant source of emergency calls, and later for being a decaying eyesore looming over both the downtown and the neighborhoods surrounding it.
“Every day when I came into work, I would see that building and then … it seemed like I responded there almost every shift for something from some sort of a crime to an overdose to things of that nature,” said Gregg Shipman, Mount Clemens city manager and the former chief of the Mount Clemens Fire Department. “Then it was finally shut down and then it sat there vacant, an eyesore, and just was a source of blight for so many years.”
George saw an opportunity in the site for something that could be transformative for the city — an opportunity shared by city leaders and state officials, who approached him with the idea of doing something with the site.
“It stemmed from discussions with Sen. (Kevin) Hertel, Mayor Laura Kropp, Rep. Denise Mentzer and Rep. Joe Aragona,” George said. “(It seemed like) an opportunity to help the city. (1 North River Road has) been a blighted and condemned building for a long time, so the city reached out with the senator and the reps to see if there was something we could do collaboratively to move that forward.”
The Manchester Mount Clemens is set up as a low-profit limited liability company, otherwise known as an L3C, which are not-for-profit organizations formed for some kind of social purpose. While not tax-exempt and unable to take deductible donations like other kinds of nonprofits, the structure of an L3C allows the city to be an 8% owner of the project. That status also gives the project access to state funds. An agreement from January stipulated that the city would provide around $20.7 million with Shipman saying George has received about $15.7 million so far through the L3C arrangement. The project is also subject to a brownfield agreement. Along with providing it with a funding pipeline, the city’s shares of the project can also be sold to Geroge or a third-party purchaser of the property.
While direct economics have played a hand in getting the project going, speculation about the property’s worth tells the story of how its stakeholders view its potential. For George, it’s an upscale apartment complex that is expected to start at $1,300 for monthly rent on one-bedroom units. For the city itself, it is the addition of a tax base in an area that is over 51% non-taxable county property. And for business, it is a natural base of customers living essentially next door.
“The goal is to bring more residents downtown,” George said. “We’re right in downtown, so we’re walkable. We want to be able to support the restaurants and the businesses that are already downtown by bringing more residents. Mount Clemens had 24,500 residents at one time. It’s now down to 15,500. They’ve lost 9,000 residents. We need to bring more people back into the city, and hopefully it spurs more development and helps with the existing businesses.”
Since the project was announced in 2023, there have been some improvements through developments in the city. Over the course of 2024, Mount Clemens saw the second-highest property value increase in Macomb County at 10.5%, and Kropp says the former Huntington Bank building at 1 North Main on the corner at Cass Avenue has been purchased by a developer with plans to bring “an event space, an Italian restaurant (and) a wine shop.”
Construction of the Manchester Mount Clemens is expected to be completed in about 18 months.