Detroit Regional Partnership Invested $2.5M in 40+ Industrial Sites in 2025
Posted By: DBUSINESS on February 10, 2026. For more information, please click here to read the source article.
The Detroit Regional Partnership’s Verified Industrial Properties (VIP) program has announced it made significant strides to strengthen site readiness across the Detroit region.
In 2025, the program invested $2.5 million into more than 40 industrial sites, funding critical on-site studies that help communities compete for advanced manufacturing, mobility and clean technology investment.
VIP was designed to support both regional site owners and site selectors looking to expand by offering a curated portfolio of development-ready industrial properties, complete with information companies and site selectors need to inform their decisions.
In total, VIP has invested more than $5 million to support site owners and brokers and has 91 verified sites on the portal.
The investments supported a wide range of due diligence activities, including geotechnical investigations, ALTA surveys, Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments, wetland delineations, threatened and endangered species reviews, archaeological and cultural resource studies, and floodplain analyses.
In total, VIP services provide up to $216,000 in value for each site and play a critical role in reducing risk and shaving months off development timelines for companies and site selectors evaluating the Detroit region, according to DRP officials.
“As competition for industrial investment becomes more intense, regions that can deliver clear, credible, and development-ready sites are the ones that win,” says Shannon Selby, vice president of real estate at the Detroit Regional Partnership.
“Through the VIP program, we’re doing the work upfront by removing uncertainty, shortening timelines, and giving both communities and companies the confidence to move forward.”
From a national developer’s perspective, programs that remove uncertainty early in the process can dramatically influence where and how projects move forward.
“Speed and certainty matter more than ever in industrial development,” says Kyle Morton, vice president of development at Ashley Capital, a national developer with multiple projects in the Detroit region.
“The VIP program provides a level of due diligence and transparency that developers and end users rarely get upfront. It helps projects move faster, reduces risk, and ultimately makes markets like Detroit far more competitive.”
In 2025, the program reached a key milestone by successfully assisting in the rezoning of an agricultural site for industrial development for the first time in VIP’s history, expanding the region’s inventory of development-ready land and demonstrating the program’s ability to navigate complex land-use and regulatory barriers.
The program also earned national recognition from leading economic development organizations in 2025, including the RACER Trust Racer’s Edge Award and Business Facilities Magazine’s Economic Development Organization of the Year, awarded specifically for the VIP program’s leadership in advancing industrial site readiness.
Building on its 2025 momentum, DRP will launch the VIP Industrial Development Toolkit in 2026, a new resource designed to help municipal leaders proactively prepare their communities for industrial development.
The toolkit will provide guidance on zoning, infrastructure, permitting, public engagement, and alignment with regional economic development strategies to ultimately help communities take control of their economic future and ensure industrial growth happens with real benefits.
Launched in 2019, the Detroit Regional Partnership is a public-private, 501(c)(3) not-for-profit economic development partnership focused on marketing and business attraction for the 11-county Detroit Region. The DRP works to attract investment in the region from out-of-state and international companies, serves as a convenient single point of contact for all regional resources, and works with companies and site selectors to help manage their projects and support their transition into the region.
« Back to Insights