Though it announced the plan this spring, the joint venture presented its plan for the Pavilions of Troy to the council for the first time on Monday night. The city's planning commission agreed at its Sept. 11 meeting to recommend the project to the council.

Hunter Richardson, a principal of the self-named firm, told the council that there's a demonstrated need for more retail in the city, even though the project will be very close to the popular, affluent Somerset Mall. "We think Somerset will actually do better because of our development," he told the council. "We're going to make this a livable, walk-able community, with people places, places to dine and places to live. There's not anything like it in the Metropolitan Detroit area."

Brian Murphy, the real estate director for Troy, tells GlobeSt.com that Richardson is right about the retail. "This project will be complimentary to Somerset," he says. "We had a study done by the Chesapeake Group, and they showed that Troy is well-positioned to be able to absorb greater levels of retail and development than what is proposed." The city of 80,000 doesn't have a downtown to call its own, and lost its last movie theater when Oakland Mall closed its AMC about a decade ago.