A developer with an ambitious Romulus proposal first conceived more than two decades ago is taking another crack at it.

Kenneth Bardwell and his Motown Sports Group Holdings LLC has received conceptual site plan approval from the Planning Commission for his grand vision: a sprawling sports and entertainment complex that would include a 9,000-seat arena and a 1.15 million-square-foot youth sports facility with 12 basketball courts, four hockey rinks, a 16-lane bowling alley, a pair of IMAX movie theaters, and a variety of other uses across multiple phases. 

Bardwell has made a long string of proposals of similar scale with similar components in other nearby states, none of which have come to fruition over the years.

According to Planning Commission documents, other components of the project proposed in Romulus include 7,300 parking spaces across two decks and surface parking, three hotels with up to 1,100 rooms total plus some 500 housing units, and a marina, all situated on a site bounded by Wayne Road to the west, Ecorse Road to the north, Vining Road to the east and Wick Road to the south.

There are a plethora of challenges ahead for the development group. They do not own the land yet — industrial/warehouse developer Ashley Capital does, although the Planning Commission documents say a purchase agreement is in place. And Bardwell has not built anything like this before, even though he has proposed similar complexes outside of St. Louis and Lexington, Ky. 

According to Bardwell, the closing on the Romulus land purchase is scheduled for Aug. 1. Ashley Capital declined comment.

“We would love to see this. Who wouldn’t love to see this,” McCraight said, adding that he has not been informed of the project’s investors or its financing. “We are anticipating plans, and we will do all we can to facilitate it. We would hate to see something like this go away for lack of momentum on our part.” 

Bardwell said in an interview he has letters of intent from lenders to build the first phase of his plan, but declined to provide specifics. He said the conceptual site plan approval was one of the requisites before securing financing.

Jeff Kemp Jr., Romulus’s director of planning and building, said full site plan approval remains. Some potential uses — a pet hotel, for example — could have to go to the City Council for approval, as well, Kemp said.  

Bardwell said his consultants at Chicago-based real estate firm JLL have been in conversations with IMAX. An email was sent to IMAX seeking comment. 

Crain’s reported on a similar Bardwell plan that ultimately went nowhere in 2007. 

It had raised some eyebrows 17 years ago when a press event to announce the project was called, but some of the prominent politicians billed as being involved with the event and the project denied that. There were also questions raised about ownership of the land, why there wasn’t a formally submitted proposal to the city and Bardwell’s lack of development experience. He had previously run a computer company called Bardwell Industries, Crain’s reported in 2007. 

Crain’s reported that the 2007 version of the project failed over the land issue. Bardwell said Wednesday that the economic downturn was to blame. 

He said this time around, it’s a “totally different” group of investors than had previously been discussed, but declined to disclose who they were. Bardwell said his plan in 2007 was geared more toward a community-center type development, while now it’s geared more toward youth sports. 

“This is very different from what we were proposing,” Bardwell said. “This is more travel sports, from basketball to hockey, soccer, football, extreme sports, even golf.”

As for his lack of development experience, he pointed to his consultants at JLL, a large commercial real estate company with experience managing large development projects. 

Bardwell said he has been in talks with Los Angeles-based ASM Global, an international event and venue management company, about running the complex. 

A source familiar with the project confirmed there have been talks between ASM and Bardwell’s team, but said to move forward in the discussions, Bardwell would have to demonstrate that he has secured the financing for the project as well as a major developer to build it, as is common industry practice. 

As for the 2007 proposal that evaporated? That was something of a fledgling idea stymied by a rough economy, Bardwell said. 

“We were actually just in experimental phases, actually trying to see if we could find some land,” Bardwell said. “We were looking at the Romulus area, but nothing was cemented in terms of having land under contract or purchase at that particular time. … Our timing was just really off.”

After that, he looked at land in other states. 

In 2010, The Leader-Union newspaper in Vandalia, Ill., east of St. Louis reported that a similar large-scale Bardwell proposal for a sports and entertainment complex, reportedly estimated to cost $300 million and include an arena, hotel and IMAX movie theater space, and other uses, failed. There had been missed deadlines, failed attempts by Vandalia officials to reach the development team, and reportedly a bounced check for $17,500, the newspaper reported. 

“They got paid,” Bardwell said on Friday. 

The Leader-Union reported that Bardwell’s group ultimately “pulled the plug on the project” about a year after announcing it. 

In 2009, Bardwell also proposed a similar project in Winchester, Ky., outside of Lexington, according to local reports at the time. That proposal also included an arena, hotel, IMAX movie theaters and other space. The arena was originally proposed to be 14,000 seats but then grew to 27,000 seats, which the Lexington Herald Leader said at the time was larger than Rupp Arena’s 23,000, home to the University of Kentucky men’s and women’s basketball teams. The project cost had been $377 million.

Crain’s left a voicemail with the Winchester planning department on Friday seeking details of what caused that project to not be built. 

As for the revived Romulus project, Bardwell said he is going to be persistent. 

“I’m gonna keep on doing it until I get it right and I’ve gotten it right,” Bardwell said Friday afternoon. “Everyone changes and grows up and develops and does what they need to do. There are people who were homeless who are successful now.” 

“We have the support, the project is real, we are doing what we are supposed to do,” Bardwell continued. “The city wants it, we want to be there and we are going to get it right.”