Fifth Third Bank to invest $20 million in northeast Detroit's Gratiot-Seven Mile and Denby/Whittier neighborhoods

Fifth Third Bank announced a $20 million investment in two northeast Detroit neighborhoods. The bank will direct loans, grants and other resources to affordable housing, small-business districts and job access.

Fifth Third said the commitment targets the Gratiot-Seven Mile and Denby/Whittier areas.

Kala Gibson, Fifth Third's chief corporate responsibility officer, said spending will follow a plan developed by paid community partners and residents. The effort is in its information-gathering phase.

Detroit partners include the Osborn Neighborhood Alliance. Gibson said the group's duplex renovation project may be a model for reusing vacant homes, and Fifth Third may be interested in replicating it.

Fifth Third is also spending $1 million to renovate its branch in the Gratiot-Seven Mile area.

The investment is part of the $400 million Fifth Third Neighborhood Program, which Fifth Third said covers 11 historically disinvested areas nationwide.

Fifth Third previously invested $5 million in Gratiot-Seven Mile through the Strategic Neighborhood Fund, the city-backed revitalization program launched under former Mayor Mike Duggan. Gibson said that earlier investment helped inspire the bank's national neighborhood program.

The new spending arrives as Mayor Mary Sheffield pushes for more investment outside downtown. Sheffield has said she wants to broaden the Strategic Neighborhood Fund, but she has not announced major strategic changes.

Fifth Third is making the investment in coordination with the city, which plans to start new neighborhood investments in the same area later this month.

A groundbreaking is expected soon for The Hub Laundromat Cafe in the Denby neighborhood.

The Gratiot-Seven Mile area was hit hard during the Great Recession and has experienced population loss, evictions and long periods without investment from government or outside buyers. Vacant lots, empty buildings and vacant homes remain major obstacles, along with job availability and safety problems on Gratiot Avenue.

Neighborhood organizations, including the Osborn Neighborhood Alliance, have continued working to stabilize the area.