• The final holdouts in a 90-home Genesee County subdivision sold to economic developers building a 1,300-plus acre megasite
• The deal gets the property closer to shovel-ready for a big jobs creator, organizers say
• Community members still criticize the secrecy of the deals, saying the neighborhood demolition is ‘unbelievable.’

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MUNDY TOWNSHIP — Excavators are rumbling at Maple Creek Preserve, flattening the first round of 90-some homes as the neighborhood becomes part of Michigan’s first speculative megasite..

Now the remaining holdouts just signed to sell their houses, clearing the way for demolition of all of the subdivision as the remaining residents move out in coming months. 

The final Maple Creek Preserve acquisitions were announced in early May by the Flint and Genesee Economic Alliance, which is managing the project to assemble the 1,300-plus acre property, funded by $261 million from the state. 

As of last year, more than $150 million in taxpayer money has been spent for the project near Flint’s Bishop Airport. Advocates hope to lure a tenant that will bring some $2 billion in investment.

Related:

• Neighborhood demolition to begin at $261M Michigan megasite despite holdouts
• Michigan’s secret $261M plan to raze homes for megafactory that never came
• Homeowners ‘hijacked’ by Michigan megasite: Sell or live next to factory

“We are creating a world-class site and working with nearly 200 property owners to ensure they have a positive experience throughout this process,” Tyler Rossmaessler, executive director of the economic alliance, said in a statement. 

“Our team takes pride in the positive relationships we have built with those property owners to create a smooth transition.”

A handful of properties remain holdouts, including Morrish Elementary in the Swartz Creek Schools. 

Resident Michelle Groesser calls the last few years “unbelievable,” leaving her angry that the megasite organizers plowed ahead “even though there was great community pushback.”

Watching demolitions — including her longtime family home on Linden Road — makes it worse, she told Bridge. 

“You don’t think something like this is going to happen in your area,” she said. 

Michigan began the project in spring 2022, with township officials signing non-disclosure agreements a few months later. By last summer, the state announced a preliminary deal fell through with semiconductor maker Sandisk for a $63 billion factory. In addition to the land, Michigan promised $27 billion in state subsidies.

The demolitions are “sad to see,” Rep. Steve Carra, R-Three Rivers.

The work includes chopping down front-yard ornamental trees and closing portions of the roads after the homes are erased from their lots. 

Carra said that without a deal for the land, the state should have paused on using taxpayer funding to destroy homes. A Bridge review of documents shows that several homes in Maple Creek Preserve were purchased for about 80% above their estimated values; documents also show property tax value increases.

“I am impressed by how courageous some people were in standing up against the clear, blatant, and abhorrent corruption,” Carra said of using taxpayer funding to pay over-value for the homes and then demolish them. Resisting offers to sell, he said, was a “selfless action.”

Yet living In Maple Creek Preserve was difficult this year, residents told Bridge. More and more neighbors sold to the economic alliance, which had taken over the association board. 

“I will be glad to not have to deal with this again,” Rhonda Miller, one of the final holdouts in the neighborhood, told Bridge Michigan in May just after she signed a deal to sell.

Miller told Bridge early this year that she watched as neighbor after neighbor — bound by non-disclosure agreements — contracted with the economic alliance to sell and move. She resisted, saying she loved her home and was resistant to finding a new one. 

People’s lives are “stagnant,” Miller said earlier this year. “It’s like you’re not really living your life like you should be in your own home that you paid for.”

Maple Creek Preserve houses were listed in 2022 state documents as possible acquisitions for the megasite, but in spring 2024 the MEDC offered different options for the neighborhood as negotiations with Sandisk parent Western Digital intensified.

One option, the state said in documents obtained by Bridge, was for it to “systematically purchase the homes.” Alternatives were to “section off the neighborhood, including building a new road to differentiate the neighborhood from the site or utilizing a site plan that incorporates water features and berms to separate the development.”

However, the semiconductor company site selectors rejected the options, telling the state the housing was an incompatible use. Deals for the property started in late 2024, just as residents of the neighborhood were learning that the megasite had widened to include their homes.

The township sought demolition due to potential vandalism and other concerns as occupancy in Maple Creek Preserve dwindles. The economic alliance is compliant with township rules, Township Manager Chad Young said, as it monitors rules to prevent “potential negative impact to remaining residents and nearby property owners.”

Meanwhile, efforts to find a company to commit to the property continue. 

Rossmaessler said the economic alliance is “regularly fielding inquiries from companies interested” in the property, which includes nearly 1,300 of contiguous acres and nearby land near a railway in Flint Township. 

He said earlier this year that the economic alliance is not considering a data center, since the goal of the site is to bring at least 2,000 jobs to Genesee County. 

Miller, speaking to Bridge, was cautious about what she said about the experience of having her home bought with state funds for a massive development. Like Groesser, she’d been among those who said the community should have had a say in the development plans. 

Miller is preparing to shop for a new home, but says: “It will not be in Mundy Township.”

The township “let myself and the rest of the community down by not being transparent and by … not doing what the people asked them. “

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