Historic and ‘haunted’ Eloise Complex in Westland sold for $1

June 22--The site of one of Michigan's most historic, and possibly haunted, former mental asylums will be sold for $1 and turned into a housing development.

The Wayne County Commission unanimously voted Thursday to sell the Eloise Complex in Westland to a developer who will convert the property into a mixed-use residential complex for low-income seniors and families.

The buyer is 30712 Michigan Avenue, LLC in Southfield, which will acquire 28 acres including the Kay Beard Building, the Commissary Building, and several dilapidated structures between Merriman and Henry Ruff roads. The nearby Potter's Field on Henry Ruff Road also was included in the purchase.

"This was once named as one of the most haunted places in the state of Michigan, and to go from that to seeing tens of millions of dollars of investment is another great indication that our county is on the comeback; really, not like we've seen in recent history," said assistant county executive Khalil Rahal.

The county is asking the developers to spend a minimum of $20 million and to start the rehabilitation within 18 months and complete it within 42 months. A minimum of 106 units is required at the site, Rahal said.

The historic Kay Beard Building, vacant since October 2016, will accommodate the senior housing unit.

The Free Press reported in 2015 that the Eloise Complex was for sale for $1.5 million. Along with the five-story, 150,000-square-foot Kay Beard Building, the purchase would have included an old fire station, a decommissioned power plant, and two maintenance buildings.

According to a fact sheet from Wayne County, there were no offers on the property, which costs $375,000 per year to maintain.

The sale is part of the Wayne County Recovery Plan, which, according to the county fact sheet, aims to sell underutilized properties in order to streamline county government and increase efficiency and rehabilitate properties.

The Eloise site opened in 1839 as a poorhouse and a farm, and grew to span 900 acres and house 76 buildings. It once had its own post office, tobacco field, greenhouse, cannery, and piggery. It was also the location of the Wayne County General Hospital, which closed in 1984.

In 1979, psychiatric patients were moved from the facility.

Jim Martinez, communications director for the Wayne County Executive Office, said in an email that the developer will maintain the cemetery located on the site. According to the website Tales of Eloise, more than 7,000 former residents of the Eloise hospital and infirmary are buried there.

HauntedUSA.org says that "many a lost soul is said to haunt the grounds" of Eloise.

"Explorers were rumored to have discovered jars of human body parts, documents outlining strange medical procedures, and creepy snapshots of patients in the abandoned buildings that were torn down in the 1980s," according to the website.

It even was the subject of a horror film -- "Eloise" -- released in 2017.

Samaritas --the social ministry arm of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America -- runs a family service center on the site, which will continue to operate, Rahal said. He said they are going to explore possible senior housing options with Samaritas.

Westland Mayor William Wild said in a June 4 letter of support that the developers have agreed to remove blighted structures that exist on the property and that the addition of new housing will help to "support a nearby commercial center."

Wild wrote: "While the Eloise complex was once a large publicly funded and operated institution, this public use is no longer needed or desired; therefore, as government officials we need to facilitate the redevelopment of this community into new development driven by private investment and sustained by one of the state's largest, diversified, nonprofit agencies, which is Samaritas."

Charles House, the City of Westland's economic development director, said that the Eloise Complex throughout its history has always been a place focused on helping people.

"When you think about independent senior living in Wayne County that's going to be affordable, it'll fill a growing need," House said.

Daniel Beard, the grandson of the late Wayne County Commissioner Kay Beard, for whom the Kay Beard Building is named, said that he and his family are excited that to see that building return to productive use and that it will still carry his grandmother's name.

"It was such an honor symbolically for my grandma to know that her service to the county over several decades was important enough that they would honor her in that way," Beard said.

"The fact that it was providing a service to the community that she served and the community that she lived in meant the world to her. So I know that she'd be thrilled to see that it's going to continue to serve the community and provide a good use for the people that live in Westland."

Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the amount Wayne County pays to maintain Eloise. The correct amount is $375,000 per year. This story has been corrected.

Contact Hasan Dudar: [email protected].

___

(c)2018 the Detroit Free Press

Visit the Detroit Free Press at www.freep.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.