A Wayne County judge has ruled that Detroit Thermal does not have the legal right to run steam lines across private property in Detroit’s historic Lafayette Park neighborhood, delivering a major victory to residents of the townhome cooperatives.
Circuit Court Judge Annette Berry recently granted partial summary disposition to the cooperatives and declared that Detroit Thermal cannot use the property to provide steam service to buildings outside the Lafayette Park subdivision. Entering the property for that purpose “exceeds the scope of the easements and constitutes a trespass,” Berry ruled.
The decision resolves a key legal question in the case, which centers on whether decades-old utility easements allow Detroit Thermal to revive dormant steam lines that have not been used since the 1980s. The company had argued the easements allowed it to access the property to restore steam service to the nearby 1300 Lafayette East Cooperative tower after the building’s aging boilers failed in 2022.
Residents of the townhomes, which were designed by famed modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and are part of the nationally recognized Lafayette Park historic district, challenged the plan. They argued that Detroit Thermal was attempting to expand narrow utility easements originally granted to Detroit Edison in the 1950s for a different purpose, which at the time was for heating the townhomes themselves, and could not legally use the corridor to serve another building outside the subdivision.
The dispute intensified last year after Detroit Thermal fenced off a playground and portions of the townhomes’ shared greenspace and brought in equipment to examine the dormant lines, prompting residents to file suit.
Berry later issued a temporary restraining order blocking the work while the case moved forward.
In a previous ruling in December 2025, Berry rejected Detroit Thermal’s attempt to dismiss the lawsuit and allowed the residents’ claims to proceed toward trial. The judge found that the easements were limited in scope and that the residents had plausibly argued they were abandoned or revoked when the townhomes switched from steam heat to natural gas decades ago.
Berry also rejected Detroit Thermal’s argument that the dispute should be handled by the Michigan Public Service Commission, rather than a court, ruling that the agency regulates utility rates and service, not property ownership or quiet title disputes.
In a statement to Metro Times, Detroit Thermal said the ruling addressed only one part of the lawsuit. The company said the court determined that a public easement shown on the 1957 Lafayette Park subdivision plat could be used to serve properties within the subdivision but not outside it. Detroit Thermal said it still claims rights under earlier easements from 1950 and 1951, which were created before the subdivision was platted, as well as a prescriptive easement based on historical use of the steam lines.
A company spokesperson did not say whether Detroit Thermal plans to appeal.
The court ruling is also a blow to the former Mayor Mike Duggan administration, which inserted itself in the case by arguing in favor of Detroit Thermal. Behind the scenes, the administration worked to override historic preservation staff and steer the project through Detroit’s Historic District Commission (HDC), despite warnings it would cause irreversible damage to the nationally recognized landscape.
In July 2025, Metro Times revealed that Duggan’s family stood to benefit from the steam heat. Those family members include Duggan’s son, Patrick, who owns one of the units; Duggan’s brother, Dan, who owns another unit; and Duggan’s niece, Sydney, who lives there.
Despite the recent ruling, some of the case is still unresolved, including competing trespass allegations by both sides. The case is currently scheduled for trial on March 24.
Residents have said they weren’t opposed to improving utility service. Their objection was to what they viewed as an attempt to use their private property for infrastructure that was never authorized by the original easements. They have argued that allowing the project to proceed would damage the historic landscape and set a precedent for expanding utility rights across private property in the neighborhood.
Lafayette Park, widely regarded as one of the most important collections of modernist residential architecture in the U.S., was designed by Mies van der Rohe as part of Detroit’s mid-20th-century urban renewal effort. The townhomes are surrounded by landscaped open space that residents say is central to the design and character of the historic district.