Wednesday, November 15, 2017 // The Statement
4B
Wednesday, November 15, 2017 // The Statement 
 
5B

An International Village in Ypsilanti?

The fight over gentrification in a rust belt city

by Brian Kuang & Ishi Mori, Deputy Statement Editor and Daily Staff Reporter
A

t a May meeting of the Ypsi-
lanti City Council, Amy Xue 
Foster — a Chinese-born, 
Troy-based businesswoman 
— proposed an ambitious 

project to construct a glittering high-end 
apartment complex on a patch of dilapidated 
industrial land. To be dubbed “International 
Village,” the complex would sport distinctly 
East-Asian architectural decor and target 
well-to-do Asian nationals attending Eastern 
Michigan University and the University of 
Michigan or working in automotive research.

The project was to bring at least $250 mil-

lion in investment — primarily raised through 
the controversial EB-5 visa, which grants 
green cards to wealthy foreign investors — to 
a city that had seen better days before most 
of its manufacturing jobs left, promising to 
revitalize a dilapidated 36-acre patch of land 
that was costing the city over a million dollars 
in debt per year. The “village” would contain 
high-end housing units and self-contained 
commercial spaces to serve tenants. To some 

city officials and residents — like resident Bob 
Resch — the proposal was akin to serving the 
city money on a plate.

“The property there has languished for the 

past 20 years, and this development seemed to 
be the first ray of hope that something would 
become of the 38 acres,” Resch said. “You’ve 
got to believe that anybody who’s willing to 
dump $250 to $300 million to the infrastruc-
ture … they have to be serious.”

Yet not all see the project through the same 

lens. Numerous residents — particularly those 
in the adjacent, predominantly working-class 
neighborhoods — balked at the prospect of 
creating a self-contained block that could 
increase their rents and provide them with 
little tangible benefit in return.

Public trust in the development process — 

already tenuous as opponents feel there has 
been insufficient public input — collapsed 
when allegations emerged in late Septem-
ber that city officials took a weeklong trip to 
China that was allegedly funded by a compa-
ny represented by Xue Foster — a clear con-

flict of interest. Less than five months after 
the project was initially proposed, the four 
officials found themselves sitting in the same 
City Council chambers facing an investigation 
initiated by the City Attorney.

In many ways, the disagreement that 

evolved over International Village in Ypsi-
lanti echoes those over gentrification taking 
place in cities from San Francisco to Detroit. 
All of these stories carry common threads: 
new residential developments are proposed to 
serve growing housing demand from higher-
income workers moving into the local econ-
omy, raising economic and social anxieties 
among pre-existing residents.

Washtenaw County itself is no stranger to 

such public polarization over gentrification. 
In Ann Arbor city politics — where Democrats 
hold all but one local office — the fault lines 
lie not along party identification, but rather 
where one stands on the issue of building lux-
ury high-rises downtown. Yet the debate over 
International Village in Ypsilanti is unique 
and carries major implications for the future 

of the post-industrial rust belt town.

*****
As originally proposed to the city, Interna-

tional Village was to contain 1,750 units, each 
listed at least $1,100 per month. The complex 
would also contain commercial units target-
ing its residents. The presentation explicitly 
notes the proximity of the proposed site to 
Eastern Michigan University, the University 
of Michigan and several high-tech research 
hubs such as the American Center for Mobil-
ity in Ypsilanti and Mcity in Ann Arbor.

But placing a luxury housing complex and 

3,000 wealthy foreign nationals in a city with 
a population of 21,000 did not sit well with 
some residents concerned with the potential 
displacement of working-class residents. Par-
ticularly troubling to some were concerns that 
the “village” would displace its predominant-
ly African-American neighbors.

Longtime Ypsilanti resident Bryan Foley, 

who lives near the proposed project, said the 
International Village was introduced with 
little consideration for the needs or history of 
the surrounding community, adding that he 
would prefer a business that would add jobs 
to the local economy to take the place of the 
proposed high-rise.

“We had an automotive plant … that closed 

in the late ’80s or ’90s, and just outside of the 
township you had a General Motors plant and 
a Bosch plant. All those closed,” Foley said. 
“Immediately after those businesses clos-
ing, we had an epidemic of crack cocaine, 
and we’re just now getting stabilized. So now 
you’ve got an influx of new people coming in 
and rents will go up … basically we’re getting 
displaced again, in our own communities.”

Amber Fellows, a local activist and member 

of Ypsilanti’s Human Relations Commission, 
argued the development adds insult to injury 
to the African-American community, which 
is facing pressure from socio-economic forces 
outside of their control.

“This development is fundamentally not 

serving African-American communities, and 
it would actually likely put pressures on that 
community, which is already being turned 
over,” Fellows said. 

Ypsilanti City Councilmember Brian Robb, 

D-Ward 3, argued there is little empirical evi-
dence that International Village will contrib-
ute to or speed up gentrification, though he 
conceded gentrification is a real phenomenon 
in Ypsilanti.

“They’ve never actually been able to 

explain why this would drive African Ameri-
cans out of South Side and the whole concept 
is: If you own your home, this development’s 

not going to impact you,” Robb said. “I think 
it’s a leap to say that this would gentrify people 
out of the community.”

What underlied all these concerns was an 

anxiety that the residents of the International 
Village — predominantly international stu-
dents from Asia — would be largely self-con-
tained in an insular community. At a coffee 
shop meeting of community activists opposed 
to International Village, a sign with pseudo-
Chinese writing hung on the wall calling the 
EB-5 visa “Donald Trump’s vision for immi-
gration.”

However, 
community 
members 
like 

Nathanael Romero denied any suggestion of a 
soft xenophobia toward Asians as a driver of 
their opposition.

“There was a sense that if you were against 

International Village, you were against inter-
national students, against Chinese people, 
against the sort of diversity that would come 
from that,” Romero said. “A lot of the oppo-
sition that we’re seeing to International Vil-
lage is coming from millennial renters and 
the Black community on the South side, and 
some of the conversation was: ‘Is there anti-
Asian sentiment in the Black community?’ 
‘Is there anti-Black sentiment in the Asian-
American community?’ ”

Foley was more blunt in his assessment.
“I wouldn’t care if they’re from Nigeria or 

Toledo, Ohio or whatever,” Foley said. “But 
you’re purposely bringing a group of people 
and isolating them — and this land is going to 
be exclusively for their benefit, and exclude 
the rest of the community.”

*****
Those opposed to the development plan 

were further frustrated by a lack of trans-
parency in Ypsilanti City Council, which 
held only two community meetings this past 
summer to discuss the matter — one the day 
before the body approved the sale of the 
property.

Adding a further layer of mistrust to the 

project were the allegations that a trip to 
China taken by city officials was improperly 
funded by the developer.

According to emails released to the public 

as part of an investigation by the Ypsilanti 
City Attorney’s office, City Attorney John 
Barr explicitly warned city officials in May 
that it would be an ethical violation to accept 
any trips to China paid for by the developer.

“A trip to China would be worth thou-

sands of dollars and cannot in any way be 
considered minimal,” Barr wrote in the May 
memo. “Even though a China trip would be 
educational, the benefit conferred, consider-
ing that the developer is requesting action by 
the city, would, in my opinion, make accept-
ing the trip unethical and illegal under the 
city ordinance.”

Yet in late September, Mayor Amanda 

Edmonds, Mayor Pro-Tem Nicole Brown, 
Police Chief Tony DeGiusti and City Man-
ager Darwin McClary took a trip to China, 
ostensibly to meet potential investors. 
Released emails showed the officials sought 
alternative funding for the trip, and received 
a “scholarship” offer from the Wayne State 
University Chinese Students and Scholars 
association to fund the trip for the purpose 
of promoting “cultural exchanges between 
China and the United States.”

However, an investigation by the Detroit 

Metro Times and a subsequent probe by the 
Ypsilanti City Attorney found evidence the 
city officials were aware their $16,800 grant 
had been indirectly funded by Xue Foster’s 
development company — a clear conflict of 
interest.

All four accused city officials have claimed 

to be unaware of the source of funding for 
their trip, and the matter is currently under 
investigation by a special counsel appoint-
ed by the City Attorney. In an email to The 
Daily, Xue Foster declined to discuss the alle-
gations of impropriety. Edmonds and Brown 
did not respond to requests for comment for 

this story. DeGiusti redirected all inquiries to 
the Department of Economic Development.

Even supporters of the International Vil-

lage development acknowledged that public 
trust in the issue had been compromised, 
making the future approval of the project 
unclear.

“It’s almost laughable — it’s a little frus-

trating that you’re looking at this kind of a 
development and your guys can’t even get 
out of the huddle without fumbling and bum-
bling,” Resch said. “I’m glad that they’ve 
decided to do this internal investigation with 
this outside law firm. … I think personally it’s 
a jumble of miscommunications.”

For those like Foley, who already held a 

dim view of their city’s handling of the Inter-
national Village project, the scandal only 
serves to validate their impression that some 
city officials aren’t acting with their constit-
uents’ best interests in mind.

“I really do believe (city officials) acted out 

of bad faith,” Foley said. “I really do believe 
that they thought this was just going to be 
business as usual, and nobody was going to 
do checks and balances on them and they 
were going to just squeeze it on through.”

*****
The uncertain fate of International Vil-

lage and developments like it illustrate the 
dilemma facing Ypsilanti in the 21st century. 
Founded in 1825 by three settlers on a cross-
ing the Huron River and named after a gen-
eral from the Greek War of Independence, 
Ypsilanti grew from the automotive industry.

Like too many factory towns in the Indus-

trial Midwest, however, Ypsilanti’s fortunes 
soured with the departure of many of these 
factory jobs.

Since 2001, 13,000 manufacturing jobs 

have left the city, with the Willow Run plant 
— a famous bomber factory in World War II 
— shuttered by General Motors in 2009.

Ypsilanti’s population has hollowed out 

by roughly one-third from its peak at almost 
30,000 in the 1970s. The 2008 financial cri-
sis hit the city disproportionately hard, and 
average incomes continue to lag behind the 

national average. Following the recession, 
though, the population has grown alongside 
a revitalized Depot Town-centered down-
town. 

The knowledge-based economy, rooted 

in the presence of the University of Michi-
gan and Eastern Michigan University and 
their affiliated research complexes, offers 
to breathe new life into the city. However, 
as new, more affluent residents have pushed 
into Ypsilanti, a dilemma is increasingly 
evident in the community. How can a com-
munity grow itself economically, while still 
protecting the interests of its longtime resi-
dents?

“What we’re seeing is a process of tech 

gentrification and it’s going to change the 
character of Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Town-
ship,” Romero said. “The question of inter-
national capital is an important one, because 
the number one concern is our community 
stakeholders having a seat at the table, par-
ticularly the most vulnerable ones — and it 
doesn’t seem like it.”

According to Robb, Ypsilanti must find 

a new source of vitality as manufacturing 
declines throughout the Midwest and the 
rest of the United States, though he main-
tained the city did not specifically court the 
technology sector.

“Manufacturing in Michigan is disappear-

ing, so the logical move is into service and 
technology type of businesses,” Robb said. 
“(However) if you draw parallels between 
this and we’re moving toward a technology-
based community, I think that’s coinciden-
tal.”

The development itself is now in jeop-

ardy in light of the allegations of impropri-
ety. On Monday, Ypsilanti City Council put 
the International Village development on 
hold, after Xue Foster’s qualifications as a 
developer were called into question and the 
architectural and construction management 
firms exited the project. McClary wrote in an 
email that if no development agreement is in 
place by Dec. 31, the purchase agreement will 
likely expire and kill the project.

AARON BAKER/Daily

Local activists opposed to International Village meet in downtown Ypsilanti Monday. 
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE YPSILANTI CITY

An illustration of the International Village design concept.

AARON BAKER/Daily

A sign opposed to the construction of International Village hangs in downtown Ypsilanti. 

