Detroit filed two lawsuits and is now pushing for a court order to seize a vacant apartment complex at Greenfield and Grove on the city’s west side, where years of illegal dumping have worn neighbors thin.

The city’s Law Department, led by Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallett, wants a judge to hand the city possession of the property so it can be secured, marketed to a developer, and eventually returned to use as rental housing. Fines against the owner have climbed to nearly $100,000. The owner has not responded to requests for comment and has not offered a defense in either lawsuit.

“He has to comply with the city ordinance,” Mallett said. “We’ve got two default judgments. We now want to go to court and say, ‘Your honor, listen, he’s basically, by his lack of offering a defense, admitted everything we said in our complaint is true.’”

That’s a significant posture. Two default judgments means the owner has already, in practical legal terms, lost twice. Mallett’s office is now asking the court to convert those losses into something actionable: city control of the building.

What the Block Has Been Living With

The complex sat empty and unsecured for years while trash piled up and squatters moved through. Neighbors watched it happen. The city eventually cleaned and boarded the site after reporting exposed the conditions, and installed additional security cameras and fencing to hold things steady until the court process plays out.

Neighbor Rathael Baldwin lives nearby and isn’t celebrating yet, but he’s watching.

“What would be better than this?” Baldwin said. “Make sure they don’t be dumping here no more. As long as the right people are in it, it’s good.”

That’s the central question. Getting the city into possession of the property is step one. Finding a developer willing to gut-renovate a long-vacant west side apartment complex and make the numbers work is a different problem entirely.

The Council Wants State Help

Detroit City Councilwoman Mary Waters has been pushing on this case since before the cleanup started. She was among the first officials to see images of the dumping conditions, and she committed then to staying on it. Two weeks later, she’s still leaning in.

“Two weeks later, folks are wondering what’s happening here,” Waters said. “I’m very grateful our law department has really taken the initiatives in going after these people. But, guess what, they still need state law behind them.”

Waters is pointing at a real structural limit. Detroit can fine landlords. Detroit can sue. Detroit can, with enough legal work, seize a property. What Detroit’s current blight enforcement framework can’t easily do is impose penalties steep enough to make neglect genuinely costly before a building deteriorates this far. The city collected nearly $100,000 in fines here, but the owner simply didn’t pay and didn’t respond. The fines didn’t deter anything.

Waters wants the state legislature to pass tougher laws that give cities like Detroit harder tools against absentee landlords. Bills working through Lansing could raise penalty caps and streamline the court process for seizing blighted property. None of that is final yet.

What Happens Next

The city is still working to formally serve the owner with the lawsuit. That matters because a court won’t move forward on the seizure order until service is confirmed. Another update is expected within a few weeks at the next scheduled court hearing.

If the judge grants the city’s request, Detroit would take possession and begin the process of finding a buyer. The goal, per Mallett’s office, is a developer who renovates the units and rents them out. That’s the best-case outcome: a blighted west side property converted back into functioning housing.

But city-controlled receivership processes can drag. Developers have to be found, deals have to pencil out, and renovations at a long-vacant building rarely go smoothly or cheaply. The Greenfield and Grove block has waited this long. Residents like Baldwin aren’t holding their breath, according to initial reporting from WXYZ, but they are paying attention.

The cameras are up. The fencing is in place. The next move is the court’s.