Construction continues at what will become Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park, in Detroit, March 28, 2024. (David Guralnick/The Detroit News/TNS)

DETROIT — The Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan has created a $35 million fund to help the cash-strapped Detroit Riverfront Conservancy finish its riverfront projects amid the embezzlement investigation involving the former CFO accused of stealing $40 million.

Officials say the money will pay contractors and support fundraising to complete the 5.5. miles of east and west riverfront projects. Those projects include the Ralph C. Wilson Centennial Park, which remains under construction, and final portions of the Uniroyal Promenade and Robert Valade Park.

“The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan is committed to making our region a desirable place to live, work and play,” foundation President Ric DeVore said in a statement. “That’s why we must complete the Detroit riverfront. We are encouraged by how the philanthropic community is stepping up during this critically important time.”

The establishment of the fund comes as former Detroit Riverfront Conservancy CFO William Smith, 51, is accused of stealing $40 million from the nonprofit since November 2012. The conservancy fired the Novi resident on May 31, days before he was arrested and charged with bank and wire fraud, a 20-year felony.

Federal prosecutors have placed liens on the bulk of Smith’s real estate holdings, including his long-planned $3 million luxury cigar bar development in Detroit and properties owned by relatives, in an effort to recoup money the U.S Attorney’s office says was stolen from the nonprofit over a period of nearly 12 years.

Sources have said the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy is in need of as much as $41 million to finish the West Riverfront Park project — named after the late Ralph C. Wilson, a Grosse Pointe industrialist and longtime owner of the Buffalo Bills — and sustain its long-term operations of the park system along the riverfront into the future.

The Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation is contributing a $10 million grant to the $35 million fund, officials said. The Wilson Foundation has authorized the Community Foundation to use assets of endowed funds at the Community Foundation to create a $25 million line of credit for future construction contractor payments. A line of credit will be reduced as fundraising continues or recoveries from the alleged embezzlement are received, officials said.

“Completing the revitalization of Detroit’s riverfront has been the conservancy’s mission from day one,” said Matt Cullen, board chairman of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, in a statement. “We are grateful to the Community Foundation, the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation, and other philanthropic partners who believe in this vision, and whose support has made our goal of building an accessible, beautiful, and exciting international riverfront a reality.”

Construction of the riverfront projects is expected to be complete by the fall of 2025.

Officials said if the endowed funds need to be used, the Wilson Foundation will provide additional grants to ensure the Community Foundation can continue making community grants from those funds while fundraising efforts continue. Officials said that other funders have expressed support for the effort. Discussions with those groups will resume now that the fund has been established, officials said.

“Completing the full five and a half miles of the East and West Riverfront is fulfilling a promise to the people of Detroit and Southeast Michigan,” said David Egner, president & CEO of the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation, in a statement. “The revitalization of Detroit’s riverfront has been a collaborative community effort from the very beginning. We are grateful to the board and leaders of the Community Foundation for spearheading the pathway to completion in partnership with the Conservancy.”

——-