Federated home is finally delivered to Ren Zone development

After a half a decade of waiting, a house is in place in the Lakeview Renaissance Zone lot in Rogers City. Two semi trucks carrying the oversized loads arrived in town Monday after 8 p.m. The trucks traveled through downtown to their final destination, near the intersection of State Street and Lakeview Avenue. The first home, which is being placed in the development by Federated Properties LLC, at long last had arrived. Developer Michael Uzelac of Federated Properties was hoping the three-bedroom home, which will eventually have a porch and an attached garage, would have been delivered early last month. Because of the relatively mild winter, Federated was able to get started with the foundation work. That put the project ahead of schedule, but post winter road restrictions brought yet another delay, and another reason for people to doubt the project would ever happen.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Authority chairman Dick Long watched as a crew from Curtis Excavating placed the roof on the building early Tuesday. The project is still on schedule with completion of the first home planned for May 1. ?By noon most of this will be done,? said Long. ?Of course there will be some landscaping and that will make it appear so much more valuable.? On Tuesday, Bill Hanson of Real Estate One, who was coordinating the project on the local level, said the entire house would be covered and weather-proofed by mid-afternoon. The lots are 82- to 86-feet deep with about 6,000 to 8,000 square feet of space available. The first home was placed in lot #3. ?I read something in the Detroit Free Press on Sunday, they?re 19 foot lots they are building houses on,? said Hanson, who serves as a member of the CDA. There has been interest expressed by potential buyers, but nobody had signed a purchase order yet. The price tag on the homes was $180,000, but company officials insist that because the homes are located in a tax-free area the final cost will be less.

UZELAC SAID a couple with a combined taxable income of $50,000, who buy and occupy the home

as their homestead at the asking price would realize the following savings: property tax savings, $4,590 per year; income tax savings, $1,950. The combined tax savings would be about $6,540 per year. This is based on 51-mills. The 22-site condominium home will be BOCA approved modular homes ranging in size from 1,260 to 2,100 square feet. Federated Properties is based in Farming Hills has been involved in larger-scale projects in Petoskey and Traverse City. Federated Development specializes in the acquisition and development of mixed use, residential communities, commercial, and Brownfield Redevelopment properties.

Uzelac said it was the first of two model homes to go up before an open house tentatively scheduled for May 20.