Coleman A. Young International Airport gets nod for new look
(CBS DETROIT) - The first aircraft that landed on it was nearly 95 years ago. Almost a century later, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan announced Coleman A. Young International Airport has received the nod for a new layout.
"We are going to build a first-class corporate and general aviation airport here at the Coleman Young Airport.
The city's first FAA-approved layout plan in 30 years opens up eligibility for more than $100 million in federal grants over the next decade.
It will include new aircraft hangars, the return of Benjamin O. Davis Aerospace Technical High School, a new air traffic control tower and improved safety zones, ones that Duggan says cannot be established without buying out the remaining property behind the airport.
"There's 17 occupied houses left in that neighborhood between Grinnell and French. There's a number of private vacant lots and vacant houses as well," Duggan said.
Offers for those remaining properties have already been made, according to Duggan.
Duggan says the goal is not only to make much needed developments in a century old space, but to rebuild the neighborhood and help the local economy take off.
"Because of this agreement, we got 80 acres of what will be the prime site of the city to bring hundreds of jobs to the east side of Detroit at the same time we build a first class airport," Duggan says.
City airport director Jason Watt says new improvements to the airport are already underway and will carry on over the next 10 years.