Business & Economic Development
Economic Development Strategy
Adopted in 2026
Berkley is a high-performing, fully built-out, inner-ring community with a strong residential base, a recognizable
downtown, and three commercial corridors with meaningful redevelopment potential.
The Economic Development Strategy provides a practical framework to focus limited City and DDA resources where they can create the greatest public value.
Redevelopment and Real Estate Finance Tools
Based on our adopted Economic Development Strategy, the City of Berkley is beginning to explore tools and incentives to make it easier to bring your business to Berkley. The list below encompasses the tools that we offer currently.
Interested in something you don't see here? Reach out to our Community Development department at building@berkleymi.gov or 248-658-3320; our staff is happy to work with you on creative solutions.
Berkley’s DDA, covering the Twelve Mile and Coolidge corridors, receives approximately $530,000 annually in combined TIF capture and DDA millage revenue. Funds are fully committed to infrastructure, streetscape, property acquisition, events, and marketing that benefit the downtown area.
Adopted in spring 2025, this tool enables Payment in Lieu of Taxes agreements for eligible development projects. City Council serves as the decision-making authority. PILOT programs reduce and stabilize property-tax costs for qualifying workforce-housing projects and may be combined with other state and local financing tools. This is a critical tool for making mixed-use and residential development financially viable under current construction economics.
If your project can include a public benefit, such as affordable housing units, streetscape improvements, or sustainability features, a height bonus incentive may be applied to allow your building to be taller than our base zoning typically allows.
Matching grants of up to $10,000 are available for eligible façade improvements within the DDA district, subject to current program funding and approval requirements.
In cases of transformative developments, the city is able to offer expedited plan review time in coordination with other economic development agencies.
Available for properties designated as environmentally contaminated, blighted, or functionally obsolete, and recently adapted for qualifying housing development activities. This tool captures future tax increment to reimburse eligible development costs, including demolition, remediation, and infrastructure. Brownfield and DDA tax capture must be coordinated. Administered through the County authority with state involvement.
State gap financing available as performance-based grants (up to $1.5M per project) or loans (up to $10M per project), capped at 25% of eligible investment and determined by needs analysis. Eligible for contaminated, blighted, functionally obsolete, or historic resource properties located in traditional downtowns and high-impact corridors. Berkley’s underutilized corridor properties may align with MCRP priorities, subject to property eligibility, demonstrated financial need and MEDC underwriting.
This is an MEDC initiative focused on small-scale, incremental redevelopment projects and emerging developers. It provides real estate development gap financing and technical assistance, and is best suited for smaller corridor infill, building reuse, and local developer-led projects that are too small for larger incentive packages but still face a financing gap. Subject to state funding availability.