Southgate now has two approvals that make sense when you read them together. On Aug. 10, 2026, the Planning Commission adopted a new Master Plan. Nine days later, City Council approved the first phase of housing on the former Aquinas Catholic High School property at 15601 Northline Road.
Both point the same way. The new housing Southgate is planning goes on its busy corridors, and the first 100 units are apartments. If you're comparing Downriver suburbs and hoping for a supply of new for-sale homes in Southgate, that isn't what this project builds. For the next several years, buying here still means buying a home that already exists.
What Council Approved on Aug. 19
The plans call the project Rosewood Development and were prepared for Northline Property Group LLC. The site covers about 38.1 acres. Roughly 29.2 acres are set aside for multifamily housing and 6.5 acres for self-storage, as MLive reported in September. The city's July 2026 Planning Commission packet lists Bacall Development of Farmington Hills as the applicant. The property was rezoned from R-1A One Family Residential and RO-1 Restricted Office to PD, Planned Development, to make room for the project.
Phase one, as MLive described it:
- Abatement and demolition of the old high school
- Five apartment buildings with 20 units each, for 100 homes in total
- Three-story, townhouse-style buildings about 32 feet tall, with attached garages
- Two floor plans, about 1,101 and 1,323 square feet
- 260 parking spaces, against 200 required
- Walking paths, wetlands preservation and a detention pond
- Self-storage on about 6.5 acres: 11 buildings totaling 79,200 square feet, plus a 1,725-square-foot office
The city's Brownfield Plan describes the same homes as roughly 100 two-bedroom townhome-style units in "market-rate multi-family apartment buildings." That document puts the storage area slightly higher, at 81,921 square feet. It is the earlier of the two sources, dated May 4, 2026.
The townhouse look is what catches people. From Northline these will look like rows of townhomes, but they are apartments, owned and managed by one landlord.
A later phase could add 48 more units and two commercial buildings with drive-throughs along Northline, which would bring the site to 148 homes. MLive reported that those phases are not part of the current approval and must go back to the Planning Commission and City Council for their own site-plan reviews. The city's July staff report counted four more apartment buildings in that phase, while MLive's later account said two. Treat the phase-two count as open until it comes back for review.
The Calendar Already Moved Once
If you're timing a purchase near Northline and Devoe Street, this is the part to read closely. The schedule has already changed.
| Milestone | May 2026 Brownfield Plan | Sept. 2026 update via MLive |
|---|---|---|
| Asbestos abatement and demolition begin | Fall 2026 | Early spring 2027 |
| Self-storage open | Fall 2027 | Not restated |
| First-phase housing | Complete by spring 2028 | Two to three years of construction |
City Administrator Dan Marsh told MLive he spoke with the developer on Sept. 1 and heard that abatement and demolition should begin in early spring 2027. In the same MLive story he said, "From the City side though everything is a go with this project." As this post goes up in early November, the school building is still standing. The newest public estimate has crews starting after winter.
The site has been waiting a long time. The News-Herald reported that St. Thomas Aquinas High School closed in 2000. By 2006 the building was hosting university extension classes, a daycare and Mount Carmel sports. A Downriver history account says those tenants had left by 2013 and the Archdiocese sold the property to Shimsha LLC in August 2024.
Why the City Helps Pay to Take Down a School
The old building is the main reason this site needed public help. The Brownfield Plan describes tearing down a vacant school of about 201,020 square feet. Its list of eligible costs includes environmental assessments, removal of asbestos, lead and mold, demolition, grading, and infrastructure for the housing.
The plan estimates about $30 million in total investment. It estimates up to $6,523,178 in reimbursable costs, including interest and a contingency, and caps reimbursement from local taxes at $4 million unless the plan is amended. The Southgate Brownfield Redevelopment Authority's May 20 minutes record a unanimous recommendation with a local maximum of $4,020,000. MLive also reported a $4.2 million performance bond in the development agreement to make sure the residential portion gets finished.
In plain terms, the developer pays the cleanup and demolition costs first. Some of the new property taxes the finished project generates then go back to repay those costs, up to the cap. A brownfield deal tends to suit large, income-producing projects that can carry those early costs, and a 100-unit rental complex is that kind of project.
The plan also says some units will be set aside as workforce housing for households earning between $65,000 and $109,000. It doesn't say how many units, and no rents have been published. It also describes walking paths connecting to nearby amenities, including the dog park, the municipal golf course and baseball field, the arena and the library.
The Plan That Put It on Northline
The Aquinas project went through on its own approvals, but it lines up closely with the new plan. The Planning Commission minutes record a public hearing on the 2026 Master Plan on Aug. 10 with no public comments, followed by a 6–0 adoption vote.
The draft plan text in the February 2026 Planning Commission packet says plainly that the plan is not zoning. Its land-use categories offer "guidance on possible future development rather than dictating what exactly will happen," and any change to what is legally allowed still needs Planning Commission and City Council approval under the Zoning Ordinance.
Here is where the plan's housing language sends each type:
- Apartments, condominiums and townhomes go primarily along Dix-Toledo and Northline Roads, with attention to traffic on neighboring streets for large projects.
- Mixed-use buildings with shops downstairs and homes above are best suited to Eureka, Dix-Toledo and Northline. On Eureka they're limited to three stories.
- Attached single-family housing is planned between Fordline and Helen Streets north of Eureka Road, along with continued infill at Woodland Ridge on McCann Avenue.
- Duplexes inside existing single-family neighborhoods need "additional study" before the city decides whether and how to allow them.
The plan's housing strategies go further on paper. They call for promoting "missing middle" housing and for adding triplexes, fourplexes, courtyard apartments, bungalow courts and live-work units as defined housing types allowed in appropriate zones. They also call for a housing market study, with zoning changes to follow based on its findings.
So far, the follow-up work on record is narrower. At its September meeting the Planning Commission discussed a draft amendment to the parking rules in Section 1292.01. Staff called it a starting point and didn't expect a recommendation to Council that night. The October meeting was cancelled.
What This Means If You're Weighing Southgate
New density lands on the corridors and on large, unusual sites like a 38-acre former campus. The interior single-family blocks don't change under the plan unless zoning changes first, and the duplex question is still open.
For a buyer, that means a few things:
- New for-sale construction stays rare in the near term. The one large approved project is rental. The attached single-family areas the plan names, Fordline to Helen north of Eureka and Woodland Ridge on McCann, are policy direction, not a schedule of new homes.
- The Aquinas site borders single-family homes. The city's staff report lists single-family homes zoned R-1B to the west, woodland to the south, and medical offices and apartments to the east and north. If you're looking at a house on the streets nearby, plan for a demolition season starting in 2027 and two to three years of building after that.
- Watch the corridors. Any house that backs onto Northline, Dix-Toledo or Eureka sits next to land the plan has marked for taller and denser buildings over time.
For sellers near Northline, the timeline matters too. Buyers touring in spring 2027 may see demolition underway next door instead of a finished project.
Quick Answers
Are the Aquinas townhomes for sale? No. The Brownfield Plan describes them as market-rate multifamily apartment buildings with a workforce-housing set-aside. MLive describes them as apartments.
When does work start? The latest public estimate is early spring 2027 for abatement and demolition, according to the city administrator's comments in MLive.
Does the Master Plan rezone my street? No. The Master Plan text says legally permitted uses are set only by the Zoning Ordinance, and changes need Planning Commission and City Council approval.
This post is general information about public plans and approvals. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, so check zoning or tax questions about a specific property with the city or the right professional.
If you own a home near Northline, Dix-Toledo or Eureka and want to know how the Aquinas timeline and the new Master Plan could affect your sale, Lisa Sobell can walk you through it street by street. Start with a Free Home Valuation.
