The city of Detroit is seeking developers to fix up more buildings in Banglatown as it tries to push forward ambitious revitalization plans in the fast-growing neighborhood north of Hamtramck.

The city's Housing and Revitalization Department and Planning and Development Department issued a request for qualifications for the redevelopment of a city-owned building at 12449 Conant St. due Aug. 30. The two-story building is 2,760 square feet with 250 square feet of parking space along a busy thoroughfare, according to a city document.

At the same time, another new development, the Carpenter Apartments, is being planned for the empty lot at the northeast corner of Charest Street and Carpenter Avenue. Bingham Farms-based MHT Housing Inc. plans to build a $16.8 million apartment complex with 50 affordable units, according to the document.

More information on that development was requested from MHT and the city Wednesday.

Additionally, the city plans to issue a request for qualifications to rehab the vacant Washington Trade School at Dequindre and Lawley streets. It would require the reactivation of a 100,000-square-foot site by this fall or winter 2020, the city said.

The development requests and plans come as the city targets Banglatown for streetscape improvements, fixed-up storefronts and stabilized single-family housing. A $5 million grant from American Axle & Manufacturing. is being funneled to the neighborhood, and several projects — including rehabs of a half-dozen parks — are in the works.

General Motors has sold the Marriott hotel that's neighbors with its global headquarters in Detroit to a company owned by billionaire Dan Gilbert, who has been expanding his investments in the Motor City.

The Courtyard Marriott at 333 E. Jefferson Ave. was bought by Detroit-based Bedrock for an undisclosed price from an affiliate of GM, a GM spokesperson said in an email. Bedrock, Gilbert's real estate and development firm, also confirmed the seller was GM.

The Courtyard by Marriott contains 242 rooms and was built in 1985, according to CoStar data. The Marriott is located in the Millender Center, which contains the hotel and an apartment complex. The Millender Center connects via skybridge to the GM Renaissance Center, a cluster of seven towers that comprise GM's headquarters along East Jefferson Avenue and the Detroit River in downtown.

Gilbert founded Quicken Loans, the Rock Family of Cos. and is the chairman of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, among other endeavors, and his net worth is valued at around $7 billion by Forbes. In May, Jack Entertainment, which is part of the Rock Family of Cos., sold a hotel and casino in Detroit’s Greektown district for $1 billion. At the time, Gilbert said he planned to reinvest those funds into real estate and business development opportunities in Detroit.

“Bedrock has played a tremendous role in the transformation of downtown Detroit and we’re confident they will do great things with the property,” a GM spokesperson said to CoStar News in an email.

In May 2018, Bedrock secured $618 million in public financial assistance that was expected to "clear the final hurdle" in allowing the firm to proceed with four projects valued at $2.15 billion in downtown Detroit. Those projects included a $313 million mixed-use complex renovation; a three-acre, $830 million block development that will include office and apartment developments; and a 310,000-square-foot office development.

In addition to GM’s global headquarters, the 5.5 million-square-foot Renaissance Center is home to 2.3 million square feet of office space, 165,000 square feet of retail space and a 40,000-square-foot exhibit space.

After voting last week to shut down the Spirit Plaza — reopening the foot of Woodward Avenue to traffic — the Detroit City Council revisited the topic Tuesday and voted 5-4 in favor of making the plaza a permanent park. 

Following the vote, council approved a resolution that will allocate nearly $800,000 in bond funds toward sprucing up the park with tables, chairs and planter boxes. 

The 20,000-square-foot Spirit Plaza was officially unveiled in June 2017, and even then city officials conceded that they were trying to make the space a permanent fixture. 

Maurice Cox, planning and development director, said at the time he hoped the plaza would help bring a robust downtown scene closer to the riverfront area.

Those in opposition to the permanent park voiced concerns about the plaza's effect on traffic, public safety and the ability for police or fire to respond in case of an emergency. 

Erica Hill, who manages special events and programming in Detroit, responded that prior to last year's extension of the park, the city had conversations with both public safety departments and identified a fire lane. She also said traffic congestion had decreased since the park's opening. 

"I urge my colleagues to move beyond a scarcity mindset and fear to envision a city we’d like to see," said council member Raquel Castañeda-López, who voted in favor of the permanent park along with James Tate, Gabe Leland, Andre Spivey  and Scott Benson, who had filed a motion with the City Clerk's Office last week to return the measure to the formal session agenda. Spivey was absent last week.