DETROIT | Development & Construction: Motown Lowdown

[LMich]

The Shapero Hall renovation really came out of nowhere. I know they've been wanting to do something with it for years, but it had really gone quiet. That they plan to have it open by the end of next year and that it won't require any subsidies seems unusually ambitious for development in Detroit, so I won't believe it until I see it.

Seems like Lafayette Park is popping back up on the map as development spreads all throughout the core. Lafayette Park always seemed like an obvious near-in neighborhood that would be part of the rebirth, but it had really been left alone for whatever reason. However, I do think the city will have to rethink the road infrastructure and traffic patterns in the neighborhood as things get more crowded there and in downtown. I think we are already seeing this with the I-375 rethink, but the neighborhood does have some poor traffic patterns (basically, poor north-south flow, and fast-paced east-west flow) and is kind of roped in by the freeways. They intended the neighborhood to be an island, but that's not how city-center development is viewed, anymore.

BTW, I wonder where CoStar's 10,551-unit count comes from? It seems that "downtown" is defined so differently from source-to-source sometimes only including the downtown core within the freeway loop, while other times is stretches haphazerdly all the way to places like Woodbridge, Elmwood Park and the east side Villages.

[animatedmartian]

Hmm. Well I came across CoStar's submarket maps. Only, it's for office space and the most recent date on them is 2006. Obviously there's no way to tell if the residential definitions are the same and/or if the boundaries have changed since then but I'm assuming that these are current.




http://www.costar.com/about/SubmarketMaps.aspx


I've tried to calculate it and I'm pretty sure CoStar includes an area outside of just the CBD. Counting most of the apartments I could think of in the CBD, the number barely edges above 2,000 units (give or take). The area would have to include Midtown/New Center for the extra 8,000 units. If there's at least 2.1 people per household, then a 10,000 unit number would seem about accurate for the Midtown/Downtown area (since a combined population of the area is around roughly 20,000-25,000).

[LMich]

Oh, I was just kind of musing out loud on that one. I knew it didn't include downtown proper (which, BTW, had 4,572 housing units at the 2010 Census. Folks have to remember that most of downtown is singles, which is why the city-wide residents-per-household number won't work). It's just that once you get outside of downtown proper, I've seen different organizaton pick and choose different sets of neighborhoods are "downtown."

Anyway, if about 4,600 of those 10,000 units are downtown proper, is strikes me that CoStar may not even include all of Midtown. Maybe, even, they stretch "downtown" east-west instead of north-south.

[animatedmartian]

I know plenty of people would not like to hear this.

Recreation center where Joe Louis trained could be demolished



A storied Detroit recreation center where Joe Louis trained and a host of basketball and boxing legends sharpened their skills will be demolished within a few months unless someone comes up with a workable plan to save the deserted building, the city told the Free Press on Monday.

The Brewster Wheeler Recreation Center dates to 1929 and is adjacent to the Brewster-Douglass public housing projects that are in the final days of demolition now. Detroit officials are beginning to make plans for what will happen next at the sites.

The city will soon issue a request for proposals for redevelopment ideas in adjacent Brush Park, a historic but underpopulated district in Midtown, according to John Roach, a spokesman for Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.

A similar request was made early in the year, but officials decided to give developers a chance to update their designs in light of new developments, particularly the Ilitch family’s plan to erect most of Detroit’s new $650-million arena and entertainment district by mid-2017.

The city-owned rec center is structurally intact but in disrepair and awaiting the wrecking ball.

“It just kills me. It takes away another piece of history from this city of ours,” said Dr. Stuart Kirschenbaum, founder and president of the Michigan Boxing Hall of Fame and a former state boxing commissioner. “It’s almost sacrilegious to see that nothing was done to at least save something — a stairway, an entranceway.”

....

As recently as a year ago, then-Mayor Dave Bing said the Brewster center would be spared as the city considered possibilities for eventually re-opening it as a community amenity for youths and seniors.

The red brick building contains a gymnasium, pool, auditorium and other space, and lots of history.

But Duggan’s spokesman said Monday that the site was added to the demolition list. “So it is slated to come down this fall unless someone presents a workable redevelopment plan,” Roach wrote in an e-mail.

He said people from several city departments who inspected the property reached a consensus for demolition.

....

Along the subject of the Brewster Projects, there's only two towers left and they look more than halfway done.





Via Detroiturbex on August 4.

[LMich]

Oh, Duggan. Sigh. And, he was doing so well, too. The guy that put a stop to the "demolish everything" policy of the previous administration, and he's going to put this up after it was promised for renovation, no less?

Yeah, not too happy about that. lol Forget about the historical aspect of it for a second, this would be a significant amenity for the future neighborhood they plan to build in this neighborhood all by itself.

[animatedmartian]

Well see, previous administrations "promised" development on the expectations that a developer would step up at some point. Duggan is a little more realistic in that the city can't exactly hold to these properties forever until it's convenient for developers to use them. He puts a deadline on the property and developers have ample time to decide whether to propose plans for it or not.

If it's not for the historical aspect, then couldn't a new rec center just be built in its place? The historical aspect is probably the biggest and only reason for preserving it. I would rather have an actual confirmation of a new rec center being built rather than a possibility of this one being reused.

[LMich]

Looks like some good, well-placed complaining has gotten Magic Johnson's development of the fair grounds to pull it away from a strip-mall power center-type development, and towards something more urban. REDICO has hired SmithGroup, which has brought about a major reimagining of the original proposal. I can't wait to see what they've come up with. Good job on MetaExpo's part for pushing Magic towards something better. As a fully built-out city, Detroit doesn't get these opportunities on vast single-owner sites often, so when they do, it's best they really try and do something fitting.

Berman: Ex-State Fair site plans get makeover

By Laura Berman | The Detroit News

August 5, 2014

The State Fair and its pig races are over. At the fairgrounds, it’s time for the controversy to begin.

Last October, Magic Plus LLC signed a purchase agreement for the 157-acre site, signing on Redico as the developer. Critics were able to pressure the state, forestalling any transfer of cash and land before the developer met a series of requirements.

It was a vision thing: Critics hated the vast open-air parking lots, scant green space and “strip mall” feel of the early plans. Jim Casha, an engineer and advocate for better use of the land, independently created a “MetaExpo” plan that created buzz behind the scenes, raising the level of expectations for design and transit planning, and slowing down the state’s plans to finalize the deal.

Sometimes making noise works.

Redico, the Southfield-based developer, has unveiled preliminary new plans and has hired SmithGroup, an architectural firm, and another global firm, Parsons Brinckerhoff, as a mass transit consultant — signaling that the firm is aiming higher aesthetically and conceptually as it prepares to meet a state requirement for a transit plan.

SmithGroup CEO Carl Roehling says the intention is “to do something special” that honors people’s memories of the fair and other events held on the site in the past, and to make the site walkable and exciting. He’s so enthusiastic about the project’s potential that he drove to Lansing last week to pore over the archival records.

With the success of the Meijer’s Gateway Project and the M-1 rail startup, “we do see this as a great opportunity for a transportation hub,” Redico CEO Dale Watchowski told me during an interview at the firm’s 16th floor office in Southfield.

...

“It’s not going to be a ‘big power center,’ said Kenneth Till, Redico senior vice president, responding to a phrase used by critics. “It’s going to be a very high quality development.”

The firm’s latest plan includes an American House senior center, 650 rent apartment units “that won’t be typical suburban apartments” and the intent to use three or four historic buildings on the site, including the Coliseum and the poultry building. “We would like to repurpose everything,” Watchowski said, but given the project budget — between $160 million and $200 million — and the high cost of re-inventing huge, old buildings, that prospect seems unlikely.

...

Buildings are being designed to wrap around parking areas, so the lots aren’t visible from the street.

...

[animatedmartian]

Somewhat more positive demolition news, at least you can't blame Duggan for not going after negligent landlords. I don't recall too many examples of past administrations bringing the hammer down on landlords who are known to be negligent.

Judge orders former AAA building near Statler Hotel to be demolished
By Ryan Felton on Tue, Aug 5, 2014.



A Wayne County Circuit Court judge today ordered the owner of the former AAA building at 139 Bagley Ave. to demolish it by the end of next week.

In a 50-minute ruling from the bench this morning, Judge Robert Colombo said the 5,800-square-foot, five-story building located adjacent to the former Statler Hotel has deteriorated to the point "a high wind can easily knock the east wall down ... and injure or kill members of the public."

The terse ruling followed a contentious court battle that has quietly played out since late June. The city filed a lawsuit against the building's owner, Triple-A Venture, seeking demolition of the property — a decision that would facilitate a proposed $40 million development on the site of the Statler, which was demolished in 2005.

Triple-A's part-owner and decision-maker, Anthony Pieroni, said he saw potential for redevelopment at the site, in light of the Statler proposal and an anticipated $650 million new Detroit Red Wings arena and entertainment district — or, at least, what he considered a fair purchase price. As he put it on the stand last Friday, "Things have changed."

Colombo didn't buy it, even after Pieroni said he would possibly sign a consent agreement to redevelop the property, as proposed by a city attorney while he was on the stand last week — depending on the circumstances. Colombo said Pieroni has had eight years to begin renovations, with more than $1 million in settlement fees after damage to the building took place during the Statler's demolition. His recent work on the building, Colombo said, is "too late and totally insufficient."

Colombo said of Pieroni and the 76-year-old's responses to the city's previous efforts to demolish the structure: "He takes to intimidate you, that he'll use top law firms" to defend himself.

Colombo added: "Mr. Pieroni has no intention of renovating the building.

The building must be demolished no later than Aug. 15, at Pieroni's expense, Colombo said. If it's not torn down by then, the city can pursue necessary action to have it demolished.

Saying he was "pleased" by the outcome, Detroit Corporation Counsel Melvin Butch Hollowell said after the ruling that the city will take measures to ensure Pieroni reimburses whatever costs the city incurs — if he doesn't demo the building himself.

....

[LMich]

The [i]Police Athletic League[/b] updated Corktown on their plans for their headquarters along the Cochrane side of the site, and for the refurbishment of the field at the old Tiger Stadium site. The other parcels around the stadium will be developed as demand arises.

Development At Tigers Stadium: Playing Field Upgrades Planned

Last night's meeting largely focused on plans for developing and running the baseball diamond, for which OTSC hired Zachary and Associates to study the logistics of the plan, estimated to cost between $7-$10M. The best case scenario is that it could take at least a year to complete. Funding has not yet been secured but expect a hefty fund raising effort over the next several months.

An organization called the Police Athletic League (PAL) is going to be running the ball field, where where leagues from throughout Metro Detroit will pay to reserve playing time. There will be locker rooms, bathrooms, a ticket booth, PAL offices and a loungey meeting room inside a two-story pavilion.

Ground Level:



Level Two:



Cross Section:

[rihanageorge]

Yes, i've been waiting to get some info on detroit as well. The more rust belt the better.

[LMich]

Sigh

David Coates | The Detroit News

Detroit targets historic Park Avenue Building for demolition

By Louis Aguilar | The Detroit News

August 15, 2014

Detroit— One year after the former Charlevoix Hotel near Grand Circus Park was demolished, the city is taking legal steps to tear down the empty historic building next door: the Albert Kahn-designed Park Avenue Building.

The building is in one of the five new “neighborhoods” planned in a $650 million, 45-block district that would be anchored by the new home ice for the Detroit Red Wings as well as create hundreds of new apartments, offices and other mixed-use retail.

The 12-story Park Avenue Building is on the northwest corner of West Adams Avenue and Park. It has been empty since at least the late ’90s. The building was designed by famed architect Kahn in 1922, according to the city of Detroit planning department.

Last week, the city of Detroit Law Department described the condition of the building as “open, vacant and dangerous,” in a court filing in Wayne County Circuit Court. “It is the very definition of irreparable harm to the public,” the court filing said.

The building has a crumbling brick veneer, a damaged fire escape that could potentially fall off, and periodic open doors on the ground floor, the city attorneys said in the court filing.

The city wants Wayne Court Circuit Court Judge Robert Colombo Jr. to declare the site a public danger and issue a preliminary injunction against the private owner and order immediate demolition. Court records identify the owner as Ralph Sachs, doing business as Triangle Management.

Sachs also owned the former Charlevoix Hotel, which was razed last summer after years of legal battles with the city over the condition of the long-empty building.

Sachs faces a Sept. 19 hearing in the Park Avenue case. He could not be reached for comment. Attorneys for the city also did not respond to telephone calls and emails from The Detroit News.

...

I thought we were largely over this. These buildings were starting to take care of themselves. I hope the city is playing some 11-dimensional chess, and this is a way to get this thing to change ownership. Honestly, the building is in bad shape, but it's not the worst building even in downtown as far as safety is concerned. It also fills a corner, and would be an excellent reuse for the future district in the area.

[mousquet]

I think Detroit is some of the few most interesting places on Earth because it went through the most extreme conditions within a relatively short time (roughly 100 years). Glory, booming like few others (NYC owes the couple of its most legendary buildings to the Michigan companies), then too harsh struggle. But damn, this is showing they still lack just a little bit of experience. They just shouldn't be doing this. That's enough. They could reuse this thing, and make it real good looking in the middle of flattering contemporary materials. I just think it'd be a little plus for the city's future. But I'm truly sure it'll be fine anyway.

[animatedmartian]

Pontiac picking up the pace for its own resurgence.

Investor pool plans $40M Pontiac redevelopment
By Kirk Pinho. August 17, 2014.



Sometimes it actually does take a village to raise a child.

In this case, the child is downtown Pontiac, and the village is a group of more than 50 private investors, entrepreneurs and Pontiac supporters who are forming an investment pool to spend between $40 million and $50 million on a series of redevelopment projects for the historic but underused area being rebranded as Indian Hill.

The redevelopment — expected to take about three years and involve more than a dozen historic buildings owned or controlled by the investors — would be the latest in a spate of new projects for a city that just a year ago emerged from under four years of emergency manager control after swimming in tens of millions in debt.

But it would be among the first large investments downtown, which is only about one square mile in size.

....



Looking north on Saginaw Street last week, fellow project investor Bob Waun, vice president of business development for Core Partners, counts off about a half-dozen buildings and three parking lots that he owns.

Those buildings and a handful more are expected to be the investors' playgrounds, becoming the sites of a combination of multifamily residential, office and retail space — and possibly even a hotel.

All told, investors envision 175-225 residential units, between 50,000 and 75,000 square feet of loft and traditional office space, boutique and destination retail, and restaurants and entertainment space.

The largest of the projects would be a $15.6 million renovation of the 135,000-square-foot Oakland Towne Center at 28 N. Saginaw St., a 15-story building that would be converted into nearly 100 loft apartments and 40,000 square feet of Class A office space, plus retail and restaurant space.

The investors are under contract to buy that building, which was long known as the Pontiac State Bank Building.

The 61,000-square-foot Riker Building, at 31-35 Huron St., would be turned into a boutique hotel or mixed-use development with a $2.5 million to $4.8 million price tag. The investors are under contract to buy that, too. The vacant 31,000-square-foot building at 50 Wayne St., owned by Waun’s RE Fund LLC, would be turned from office space into 16 apartments, plus 6,000 square feet of retail and office space, for $3.7 million. At Waun’s building at 40 Pike St., the former 22,500-square-foot failed Sevin Nightclub building would be turned into office or creative flex space with a $1.25 million renovation, investors said. Smaller renovations to add loft office space, loft apartments and creative workspace are planned for other buildings, including the 12,000-square-foot building at 1 N. Saginaw, where the former JD’s Key Club and Coyote Club were located, and the 3,800-square-foot building at 9-11 W. Pike St.

....

g

[LMich]

Awesome. I've heard that Pontiac has made some amazing strides since the recession. And it's not just the downtown redevelopment, but blight removal in the near-in neighborhoods. It's good to see some grass-roots redevelopment of the county seat.

One thing I'd hope for it that they can find someway to creatively redo the Woodward loop, someday. I'm not sure if something that wide is really needed, particularly given the trend in making neighborhoods more pedestrian friendly. I also wish them well in the study concerning how to return the Clinton River in the area to a more natural state.

[animatedmartian]

Yea I believe Pulte is doing the demolitions in Pontiac similar to what he was doing in Detroit. It won't be long before Pontiac is considered a gem of Oakland County rather than a scar (one can hope).

[LMich]

In a county with places like downtowns like Birmingham, Royal Oak, and even Ferndale, I'm not sure it will be the gem of the county. That said, it can definitely be a solid downtown and not something Oakland County has to be embarrassed of as its county seat. It's also unique having with its larger historic buildings, and can find a niche. Not sure what that'll be yet, but it definitely has a different (heavier) built character than those other downtowns.

[hudkina]

I'd like to see it turn into an urban office center to rival Birmingham. There's a lot of land where the Phoenix Center is (or was... did they tear that down yet?) that could be used to develop an urban office complex.

I definitely think they should expose the Clinton River close to its original path, with a nice greenway running along the banks. That would be a nice touch to go with any new residential, office, or retail in the portion of Downtown.

[LMich]

An interesting concept:

David Coates | The Detroit News

Capitol Park project boosts area's arts, design image

by Louis Aguilar | The Detroit News

August 19, 2014

Detroit —Efforts to turn Capitol Park into an art and design enclave appears to be progressing with an international artists residency program and contemporary art space finding a permanent home in the small triangle downtown.

The co-founder of Passenger, a joint effort involving the non-profit Detroit Creative Corridor and the College for Creative Studies, said the program will set up shop at 119 State. On Friday, Passenger will host a preview exhibition in “pop-up studio” in the building, but a date has not been set for when the program becomes permanent.

“We won’t begin accepting applications until we have a final construction schedule worked out,” said co-founder Brian Barr in an email.

That schedule has not been set, he said.

...

Passenger was founded by artists Barr and Lauren Rice. It will be a residency program that provides national and international artists with a live/work space and monthly stipend.

“The residency program will have three national and international artists at a time for up to four months. We will occupy the building along with a couple partners to be named in the future,” Barr said.

...

[animatedmartian]

Remember the fiasco with The Griswold senior apartments? Well, there's likely more situations like that to come.

Detroit's Midtown, downtown redevelopment threatens senior housing
August 18, 2014. By David Muller.



Hershel Welch was visibly confused surveying his new surroundings.

The 61-year-old man was touring a new apartment with a social worker assigned to help low-income seniors move out of downtown Detroit’s Griswold apartment building, which was converting to market-rate units.

"To find this man toward the end of this process, I still get choked up," said Claudia Sanford, of the United Community Housing Coalition, who worked to help Welch move to Rivertown Assisted Living in Detroit. "I took him to Rivertown and he had a real moment of profound confusion."

Welch didn't make the move. He was found dead two weeks after the deadline for tenants to vacate the building at 1214 Griswold. His body was found amid the construction to convert the building from senior housing in The Griswold into market-rate apartments developed by Broder & Sachse Real Estate Services, Inc., which renamed the building The Albert.

Wayne County Medical Examiner records confirm Welch was found dead in apartment 1109 at 1214 Griswold on April 14. The cause of death is listed as "natural causes/heart failure."

Welch's death galvanized a coalition of Metro Detroit housing experts to study what went wrong, and where it could happen again. Their findings, so far:

• At least a dozen senior apartment buildings in Detroit's Midtown and downtown areas could convert to market rate apartments in the next 10 years, forcing thousands of seniors to find new homes.

• There is a strong incentive for building owners to capitalize on high demand for apartments in Midtown and downtown.

• Right now, there's no set system to move seniors or preserve low-income housing credits.

....

"This is a national problem, it's not unique," said Tim Wintermute, executive director of the Luella Hannan Memorial Foundation. "What's interesting about Detroit is people don't think it would happen in Detroit."

Wintermute and the coalition have identified more than a dozen properties in Midtown and downtown where low-income subsidies for senior housing - paid by HUD - are set to expire in the coming years. Most pressing on the list: Orchestra Towers, at 3501 Woodward Ave., where vouchers on 248 units are set to expire Sept. 30. Other properties still have several years left in the subsidy-based contracts with HUD or MSHDA.

Preserving senior housing in Midtown and downtown will be difficult for the coalition, which ideally would like to get senior housing apartments into the hands of mission-driven nonprofits. But intense demand for apartments in the city’s high-profile neighborhoods - both occupancy rates above 95 percent - have private owners taking note of young professionals’ desire to pay premium rents to live in the city’s business, entertainment and university districts.

....

Conversely, the seniors' departure shows the resurgence of downtown Detroit real estate. Many of the senior apartment buildings were filled in the 1980s when no one wanted to live downtown, according to experts. Senior subsidies paid by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development were one way to keep any sort of density in the central districts.

Today, stories of young professionals being unable to find affordable housing in downtown Detroit are heralded as proof of downtown Detroit's comeback. Displacing subsidized apartments - albeit units housing seniors - with market-rate apartments like The Albert can be seen as a sign of economic health.

....

[JonathanGRR]

If no other developers come forward, could the former Herman Kiefer Hospital complex be turned into a new senior living home for those being displaced...?