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STERLING HEIGHTS — Sterling Heights is seeing a wave of major investments — from new retail and restaurants on Mound Road to a $13 million medical facility and a new trade school campus — as city officials look to fill long-vacant buildings and boost economic growth across key corridors.
“We’re just excited,” said Jake Parcell, Sterling Heights’ city planner. “We have so many projects going on right now that are good for our industrial corridor and filling these vacant retail spaces and looking to keep it up.”
The Forum at Gateways shopping plaza, located on Mound Road, is looking at several new tenants — including a McDonald’s, retailers and another restaurant in a newly-constructed, 7500-square foot expansion, Parcell said.
That shopping center is zoned C-4, which, according to the city charter, is designed to support a range of compatible uses — such as residential, retail, office, and recreational — aimed at creating pedestrian-friendly areas.
“That’s a really big plaza, so a large expansion to the anchor tenant, plus the new McDonald’s, plus the 7500-square foot retail plaza, it’s going to be close to a $50 million investment between the three sites,” Parcell said.
Besides the new businesses, the plaza is also seeing the installation of a decorative plaza for residents that will also be connected to public sidewalks.
An amended project development plan for the shopping center was approved by the Sterling Heights Planning Commission in early 2024.
Earlier this month, the commission approved plans from Corewell Health for a new one-story, 13,700-square foot medical facility that will be constructed on Dequindre Road, south of Dobry Drive.
The new building —which is expanding on the existing Sterling Heights campus — will utilize a parking lot that a study found to be “underutilized.”
The new outpatient facility is also expected to create between 25 and 30 jobs, according to the plans that went before the Planning Commission. It will house offices that will be staffed by physicians, nurses, therapists and technicians.
“That’s 13,700-square feet and some parking spaces,” Parcell said. “So the Corewell expansion will be relatively large, so that’s something to definitely keep an eye on.”
The project is expected to cost about $13 million. Construction is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2025 and will be completed by the end of 2026.
On Van Dyke Avenue, the former Comcast building is being converted into the main campus for the Southeast Michigan Construction Academy.
It will be a 100,000-square foot SEMCA facility and about a $10 million investment, Parcell said.
“It’s going to be a trade school for different types of construction trades, with classrooms. Administrative staff and offices will be there as well … It’s a huge, huge vacancy that we’re getting filled,” he said.
The new facility will house state-of-the-art labs, dedicated classrooms and modern equipment tailored for hands-on instruction in high-demand trades like electrical, carpentry, HVAC, welding and heavy construction, according to a press release from the city.
In a statement, Keith Ledbetter, CEO of SEMCA, said their current campus was over capacity.
“Our main campus in Madison Heights was over capacity and this new building will allow us to better serve apprentices in southeast Michigan,” he said. “The new location not only allows us to meet the industry’s growing training needs, but also gives us the chance to expand our programs and hands-on learning opportunities.”
Parcel said besides the investment from the academy moving its headquarters to Sterling Heights, it also fills a vacancy that had been hard to fill.
“The Comcast building has been vacant for about four years,” he said. “So that’s a huge win for us to bring people to Sterling Heights. The more people we bring here, the more meals they have at our restaurants, more shopping trips they take, the more likely they are to fall in love with the community and look to relocate here.”
