DETROIT | Development & Construction: Motown Lowdown

[animatedmartian]

Apartment building proposed in West village.

West Village Catches Apartment Fever; 63 Units Proposed

[subterranean]

My second home is half a block from this. Crazytown.

[animatedmartian]

A bit more info on the quiet resurgence taking place in the Villages.

Video Link

This short film also focuses on what often is going unnoticed in other neighborhoods of Detroit. Although progress may be slow coming, certainly slower than that of downtown, there are groups making due with the resources they have.

Video Link

[animatedmartian]

The most interesting man in the world making moves in the city.

Developing a strategy: Packard Plant owner eyes bids for historic downtown buildings



Over breakfast at the Inn on Ferry Street in Midtown, Fernando Palazuelo slides salt and pepper shakers across the table like chess pieces. They are a representation of his Detroit real estate strategy.

Yes, he says, he's getting ready to make a series of big moves.

The new owner of the 3.5 million-square-foot Packard Plant on the city's east side has much broader ambitions for his portfolio in the city, which first took notice of him in 2013 when he bought the shuttered plant — all 47 buildings, all 40 acres — for a mere $405,000 at a Wayne County tax foreclosure auction.

Palazuelo is a native of Spain who has been developing historic but dilapidated sites in Peru since losing everything in the recession. He said in an interview with Crain's last week that he plans to make offers to buy five of greater downtown's most storied buildings: the 255,000-square-foot Book Tower and adjoining 260,000-square-foot Book Building; the 996,000-square-foot Penobscot Building; and the Albert Kahn Building and Fisher Building in the New Center Area, which total 925,000 square feet.

But whether he's actually successful in buying them is anybody's guess.

While Palazuelo said he has private equity money available to him as investment partners, he's publicly pursuing properties that are mostly not actually for sale.

...


At the Packard Plant, Palazuelo envisions a mixed-use development unfolding over the next 10 to 15 years with as many as a dozen individual projects. Rough project cost estimates are $120 per square foot, or $420 million, he said.

The first project is slated to include the 150,000-square-foot former administrative building. Palazuelo expects the financing sources to be identified, and licenses and approvals will be received by August, and that construction could begin shortly thereafter.

...

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...s-for-historic

[mind field]

Originally Posted by animatedmartian

A bit more info on the quiet resurgence taking place in the Villages.

Video Link

This short film also focuses on what often is going unnoticed in other neighborhoods of Detroit. Although progress may be slow coming, certainly slower than that of downtown, there are groups making due with the resources they have.

Video Link

Great info, thanks for sharing.

[JonathanGRR]

I was just coming here to post that article about Palazuelo. This really is interesting news, and I think he could do great things with any of the properties if he is successful.--My hopes are on the Book Tower right now!

And thank you for posting those videos. The first one was especially great!

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by animatedmartian

The most interesting man in the world making moves in the city.

I see the guy must've suffered in Spain. Real estate was booming over there prior to the recession (and the Spanish standards of living were proudly catching up on those of the somewhat arrogant French), then it all shockingly collapsed, a disaster. I guess that's an interesting experience he went through. His obsession for mixed-use is fine anyway.

[animatedmartian]

Fisher Building in Detroit to hit auction block in June
By Dan Austin, Detroit Free Press.





The Fisher Building, one of Detroit's most celebrated skyscrapers, will be hitting the auction block this summer after suffering with vacancies and falling into foreclosure.

Often referred to as "Detroit's largest art object," the Fisher will be put up for bid on Auction.com in June, along with its next-door neighbor, the Albert Kahn Building, sources told the Free Press.

One of the likely bidders for the pair of art deco gems will be Spanish developer Fernando Palazuelo, who made headlines in Detroit when he bought the Packard Plant and announced plans to renovate parts of the crumbling factory. He tried to buy the Fisher and Kahn buildings, but negotiations fell apart, and the buildings fell into foreclosure.

The Fisher and Kahn have struggled with dwindling occupancy in recent years. Despite the near-miraculous turnaround in downtown real estate thanks to building purchases and redevelopment by Dan Gilbert, the Roxbury Group and others, that surge hasn't been felt 3 miles up the road in New Center.

The buildings would likely stay as office complexes as any new investor would look to grow occupancy and capitalize on the positive momentum and new investment in greater downtown Detroit. Current tenants also have leases, often for years-on-end, and that represents valuable revenue.

Jim Bieri, a principal at Stokas Bieri Real Estate, said there's new investment on the way in Woodward storefronts and the old St. Regis Hotel, as well as the continuing build-out of M-1 rail, which will run from New Center, about a block from the Fisher, to Jefferson Avenue near the Detroit River.

"You need folks who are going to invest there," he said. "New Center hasn't had a Dan Gilbert-type figure yet, but (those new Woodward and M-1 Rail investments) will really help."

....

http://www.freep.com/story/money/rea...kahn/24347217/

[subterranean]

Behold: The first official concept rendering for the Hudson's Site development is here. In response to this morning's ridiculous media frenzy over one blurry, outdated rendering, Rock Ventures just released this new rendering with an accompanying statement:

We did not expect that an extensive report of an earlier design concept of the Hudson's site would appear in the media. Since it did appear, we are releasing this more refined conceptual rendering looking north on Woodward Avenue near Gratiot. While we are excited about the direction of this concept, it is important to note that the design of the beloved Hudson's site on Woodward Avenue in the heart of downtown Detroit is still evolving.

Via Curbed

[animatedmartian]

Across the street from Hudson's site:

Co-owner of Cliff Bell's, Bronx Bar to open new downtown Detroit bar by late summer

By Kirk Pinho. March 05, 2015.



Paul Howard has plans for a new bar and restaurant in downtown Detroit.

Howard, a co-owner of nightclub and restaurant Cliff Bell’s and the Bronx Bar in Midtown, said he plans to open the bar, which will be similar to the Bronx, late this summer in the building at 25-35 E. Grand River Ave. that used to house the Biegas Gallery.

“It’ll be a neighborhood corner bar with a small kitchen and a patio,” Howard said Thursday morning.

The bar, the name of which Howard declined to disclose, is expected to accommodate around 80 people inside and another 40 on the patio.

Howard purchased the 12,000-square-foot building on Grand River at Farmer Street for $685,000, according to CoStar Group Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based real estate information service.

Howard said the bar will have about 25 full- and part-time employees. Sam Spruill, a former co-manager of Cliff Bell's, will be a co-owner of the new bar, Howard said.

Charles Howard, senior associate in the Farmington Hills office of Transwestern, has the lease listing on the building, which was built in 1948 and also houses the Puppet Art Theater in about 4,000 square feet of space on the first floor.

The bar is expected to be in 1,500-2,000 square feet. The second floor of the building is vacant.

City permitting is in the works, according to Howard.

Cliff Bell’s is at 2030 Park Ave. and the Bronx Bar is at 4476 Second Ave.

[subterranean]

I am trying to understand that Hudson's concept drawing from the limited perspective given. It would appear that nearly the entirety of the front of the site is internally open and serves no real purpose unless this is a grand entry to what is unseen to the rear of the block, which is extensive. Clearly part of the concept goes over Gratiot and would likely block the ugly backside of the Compuware building. This just leaves so many more questions. It could literally be anything from this perspective.

[subterranean]

Originally Posted by animatedmartian

Across the street from Hudson's site:

That is a lot of cash for a bar.

[animatedmartian]

Originally Posted by subterranean

I am trying to understand that Hudson's concept drawing from the limited perspective given. It would appear that nearly the entirety of the front of the site is internally open and serves no real purpose unless this is a grand entry to what is unseen to the rear of the block, which is extensive. Clearly part of the concept goes over Gratiot and would likely block the ugly backside of the Compuware building. This just leaves so many more questions. It could literally be anything from this perspective.

There's a dedicated thread for the site, but here's the main gist of the design. The images are screencaps from a video that Gilbert's team have supposedly taken down. The internals at the time this design was created would have been a car museum. Though Gilbert's team say this is not the final design so who knows.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=208634


View from Woodward


View from Southwest Corner


View from Northwest Corner


View from Compuware

[davidberko]

Oy ve. Not a fan of the renderings. Thank goodness its evolving still though :/

[The-New-Tony-Detroit]

I want to see an aerial shot.... I think there has been some creative cropping to the rendering (especially the south side along Gratiot!)

Excited to see what comes next!

[mousquet]

http://detroit.curbed.com/uploads/hudsonfirst.png

It doesn't look bad on that rendering already, if you ask me. But I'm more obsessed with street level than height itself.

Mind you a Parisian point of view. The central historic districts over here don't own a skyscraper (or very very few), but still kick downtown Detroit's butt at the urban game.
The district of la Défense alone on the other hand probably counts more towers than entire Detroit, but will have a damn hard time to beat it's downtown or even midtown.

[subterranean]

Hudson's at Christmas back in the day:

http://www.attorneybutler.net/2010/1...t-gallery.html

[Warrenite84]

I would prefer this in a heartbeat:

http://198.171.44.249/projectimages/...ne__detail.jpg

(From Kraemer Design Group plan that was considered a few years back).

[davidberko]

Originally Posted by Warrenite84

I would prefer this in a heartbeat:

http://198.171.44.249/projectimages/...ne__detail.jpg

(From Kraemer Design Group plan that was considered a few years back).

Yep, me too.
Or some other tall building like a glass One Detroit Center...

[mousquet]

^ Uh no, I don't think that would fit this particular lot. I know I may be annoying and apoligize, but that would be too commonplace for this central spot. You may agree in the end.

The suggested building may be shorter, it looks both more original and easily open to the surroundings. That's a significant advantage for something located along a corridor that should end up crowded. Idk, I may be wrong, still sense a better strategy in something you wouldn't find anywhere, even when it would be shorter.

Anyway, there most likely will be a much easier market for taller things a little later, then you'll have some nimbys to annoy you guys.