A fixture in the Oxford area industrial community since the early 1960s was torn down last week to make way for a proposed 83-unit condominium development.
Demolition equipment methodically picked apart the vacant building that once housed Auto-Matic Press Products, located in the village at 402 N. Glaspie St.
The roughly 24,000-square-foot facility and the land it sat on were sold in fall 2005 to the Bloomfield Hills-based 143 Development Company, owned by Mark Hubbard.
‘We were (a) small and healthy (company), but I think the handwriting was on the wall for the long-term (as far as) me passing it down to my kids,? said Steve McCracken, who’s grandfather, Francis, founded the metal stamping and fabrication company in 1962.
A lifelong Oxford resident, McCracken worked in his family business for 10 years.
Michigan’s shrinking manufacturing industry coupled with his desire to open a medical spa in Rochester Hills with his wife, Lori, motivated McCracken to close the business and sell the property.
Hubbard’s 143 Development Company plans to build 83 attached condo units ? down from the 90 units that was originally proposed ? on a 20.65-acre site along the east side of N. Glaspie St./Oxford Rd., immediately north of the Polly Ann Trail.
Plans call for 15 buildings with four condo units each, seven buildings with three units and one building with two units.
What’s unique about the proposed development is two-thirds of the land is located in the unincorporated township, the other third in the village.
The municipal boundary line runs east-west and north-south through the property. The village portion encompasses the southwest portion.
A total of 35 units are proposed for construction on the 6.42 acres located in the village with the remaining 48 units on the 14.23 acres in the township.
The developer has been working simultaneously with both the village and township planning commissions at joint meetings since April.
‘Probably in the next week or two, we’re going to submit for a final PUD (Planned Unit Development plan) to both the township and the village,? said James Eppink, president of the Clarkston-based J. Eppink Partners, Inc., the land planner working on Lakeshore Village. ‘We’re finalizing the engineering now.?
‘We would hope to have construction well underway by the spring,? he noted.
Because the village and township offer different levels of service provided by different entities, the development’s snow removal and trash collection will be handled by private contractors arranged through the condo community’s homeowner’s association.
Water and sewer services would be kept separate with each municipality providing them to their portions of the development.
The development features a ‘pretty substantial? amount of open space, which includes a 1.5-acre park in the center, another ?-acre park to the east and three ‘overlook? areas for viewing Willow Lake, which borders the development on the north and east sides.
One of the overlooks would be connected to the Polly Ann Trail allowing public access.