Posted May 21, 2016, 10:05 PM
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Detroit Love
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Detroit
Posts: 594
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28 W. Grand River is making progress
Quote:
Owners of Fisher, Kahn buildings look to develop underserved areas of Detroit
It was 4:30 a.m. one Friday, and Peter Cummings and Dietrich Knoer were feeling just the right kind of crazy.
That day last summer, touring Eastern Market's Wholesale Market well before dawn, the two real estate veterans began the process of forming their new Detroit-based development company, The Platform LLC, which has more than $250 million in primarily mixed-use apartment projects in the pipeline in Midtown, New Center and around TechTown.
First on the list is Third and Grand, a $52 million project at Third Avenue and West Grand Boulevard on a 1.41-acre parking lot purchased from the Henry Ford Health System that is expected to house hundreds of apartments and tens of thousands of square feet of retail space.
Groundbreaking is expected this fall, followed by a steady stream of other projects that would bring about 1,000 units and 100,000 to 150,000 square feet of retail space to the area along Woodward Avenue within a few blocks of QLine rail stations.
Also in the works is the planned redevelopment and new construction for Baltimore Station, the seeds of which were planted by a trio of University of Michigan graduates who came up with the first incarnation of the plan in a class with their professor, real estate developer Peter Allen.
The former students — Clarke Lewis, Dang Duong and Myles Hamby — are all now working on the expanded project as contract employees for The Platform.
As part of a class project, the students originally conceived the development as a $14 million project along the one-block stretch of retail buildings on Woodward Avenue between Baltimore and Milwaukee streets. It would have brought 48-56 new units to the market, along with retail space.
Today, after taking Cummings and Knoer on as development partners, Baltimore Station is expected to cost $40 million and bring between 160 and 170 units at 6402 Woodward Ave. and 6408 Woodward Ave., along with a nearby vacant lot under contract for purchase, Cummings and Knoer said.
There is also the planned redevelopment of an Albert Kahn-designed building at Cass Avenue and York Street that used to be a Cadillac sales and service building and house Wayne State University criminal justice classes. About 80 residential units and other uses are planned for the 147,500-square-foot building.
Cummings also said there is a planned project in Midtown but wouldn't discuss specifics.
Outside of the company's main targeted development area is a 2.3-acre chunk of west riverfront land next to the Riverfront Towers that Cummings owns. He said that while the land is not part of the company's official development lineup, he expects it to be in the equation.
Bond insurer Financial Guaranty Insurance Corp. received development rights for Joe Louis Arena, which is slated for demolition and to be replaced by a hotel with at least 300 rooms and standing no more than 30 stories; and a mix of office, retail, recreation and residential space, according to bankruptcy court documents. The property sits on about 9 acres.
The Cummings land is next to JLA, and he said he has had conversations with FGIC and the city about the development plans.
"It's going to be part of that story," he said
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...erved-areas-of
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