By AARON MUELLER
Niles Daily Star

One of the big questions surrounding the process of demolishing the abandoned Eastgate Plaza has been: will anyone purchase the property and have it redeveloped?

That question was answered at the Niles Township board meeting Monday night when Niles Township Building Official Jeff Dunlap announced “a new player” in the Eastgate situation.

ML Developers LLC, a Michigan limited liability company, has the Eastgate property under contract and plans to purchase the property within the next 10 days.

During the meeting, the township board approved an agreement with ML Developers LLC that will have the company barricade the property, see to it the property is demolished and pay the township’s legal expenses up to $500 in exchange for the township dismissing the lawsuit against the property and removing the Notice of Lis Pendens against the property.

“You tell us what you’d like us to do,” said Sara Bell, the attorney representing ML Developers. “We will do those things, and then we will hold you to dismissing the lawsuit and the notice of lis pendens.”

Bell said there are currently no plans for exactly what will be built on the property. Right now the company is focused on getting rid of the community eyesore.

“It’s no secret the property is in really poor condition,” she said. “It needs to be secured short-term and it needs to be demolished. After that we will look at coming back to you for some sort of Brownfield redevelopment plan.”

She said the goal is to give the community “something it can be proud of.”

Also Monday, a representative from Brownfield Redevelopment Authority said that the environmental study of the property has revealed less contamination than expected, meaning the environmental cleanup should not be the most expensive part of the demolition project.

Eastgate is a 52-acre property on Oak Street. It was a popular shopping destination in the 1960s and 70s, featuring more than 20 businesses but has been abandoned since 2006.