DETROIT | Development & Construction: Motown Lowdown

[bobjgumby]

Originally Posted by The North One

Ehh, I wouldn't expect anything majorly tall, that's not even what we need right now (or want).

I'd like something that's architecturally significant and interacts with the street level in great way. Hopefully that's what we'll get.

Can't go much higher than like 13-15 floors from what I have heard in the past. The garage was not designed to handle anymore.

[Docta_Love]

^ If he really wanted to the garage could be retrofitted most likely to handle a somewhat taller building, i remember that the bottom levels have been mentioned to have issues with flooding. Dan most likely is going to buy it and if he buys it the work that needs doing gets done. Which would put him in a position to be able to perhaps do some kind of reengineering of the garage as a whole but that's all complete speculation that he would want to go higher.

[JonathanGRR]

The deal for the parking garage is apparently rather close to happening: http://www.freep.com/story/money/bus...sons/77691540/

Perhaps I am not remembering correctly, but I thought that the reason for the delay since the renderings came out was initially credited to Gilbert wanting to buy the garage (in order to go bigger)? Maybe the next 30 days is to allow time to adjust the plans if the deal does go through?

[Docta_Love]

This 105-year-old building at 3000 E. Jefferson Ave. is expected to be turned into about 80 studio and one-bedroom units.

80 multifamily units planned in $13 million East Jefferson redevelopment

Roger Basmajian purchased east riverfront building for $1.275 million

By KIRK PINHO
December 30, 2015




A planned $13 million redevelopment along East Jefferson Avenue in Detroit could bring about 80 multifamily units to the market.

Roger Basmajian, whose Detroit real estate portfolio has grown to nearly a quarter-million square feet since the middle of 2013, said construction at the three-story building at 3000 E. Jefferson Ave. is expected to begin late next year or in early 2017 on the studio and one-bedroom units.

“We are just putting the pro formas and studies together, so next year we’ll probably get our financing in order,” he said.

Basmajian closed on the purchase of the 85,000-square-foot building, constructed in 1910 at East Jefferson and McDougall Street, earlier this month from WGPR Inc., which is registered with the state to James O. Dogan.

The redevelopment is also expected to include about 10,000 square feet of retail space.

The purchase was for $1.275 million, according to CoStar Group Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based real estate information service.

Between that project and an expected $5 million renovation of a 28,000-square-foot industrial building at 3104 E. Woodbridge St., Basmajian has about $18 million in east riverfront redevelopment in the works.

That building, purchased in March 2014 for $240,000 and a block south of the East Jefferson building, is expected to become live/work space, Basmajian said.

....

Basmajian, who was instrumental in the revitalization of Ferndale’s downtown area, also owns the buildings at 607 Shelby St., 220 W. Congress St. and 751 Griswold St. in Detroit.

He paid $1.31 million for the 50,000-square-foot Shelby Congress Building in November 2013; $570,000 for the 35,000-square-foot Sterling Building on Congress; and $800,000 for the 19,000-square-foot former Olde Building (now called The 751) on Griswold.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...east-jefferson

Perhaps I am not remembering correctly, but I thought that the reason for the delay since the renderings came out was initially credited to Gilbert wanting to buy the garage (in order to go bigger)? Maybe the next 30 days is to allow time to adjust the plans if the deal does go through?

^We dont know exactly what the final design is going to look he has committed to a bigger development by adding in 200+ units of residential but the first design was a sweeping flowing kind of building it could be he would go with something that allows him to build it out a little more rather than up but we'll find out soon.

[Docta_Love]

Some more good economic news for the Detroit Area there are also some interesting trends in home buyer patterns with "closer to town" climbing in favor and "acreage" not necessarily being a major selling point which is a reversal of trends from the previous decade and before.

Million dollar deals: Metro Detroit's high-end home market sees best year in a decade

By Vickie Elmer
December 31, 2015
Crain's Detroit Business




This home at 1990 Oak Pointe Drive in Rochester Hills is for sale for $1.3 million.


On a cold, blustery day in late December, Kay Agney drove an out-of-state buyer to see a few homes along Lakeshore Drive and elsewhere in Grosse Pointe.

The buyers were eager to land a luxury home, and neither price tags of $1.7 million nor icy roads slowed them down. The luxury-home market in metro Detroit shows no signs of slipping, according to sales data and agents such as Agney.

"It's been an incredible year for the upper end of the market," said Agney, owner and broker at Higbie Maxon Agney Inc.

Dozens of homes in Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Rochester, Grosse Pointe and elsewhere in metro Detroit have sold for $1 million or more in the past 12 months — so many that the high-end home market is on track to have its best year in at least a decade, according to multiple listings service Realcomp II Ltd.

Through October, 229 homes sold at or above the $1 million mark in metro Detroit, up from the 217 in all of 2014 and 211 in 2013, according to Realcomp data pulled for Crain's Detroit Business.

A record year for luxury homes occurred in 2004, when 254 million-dollar abodes changed hands through Realcomp. But marketing manager Francine Green noted that in 2003-2004, the organization changed its data collection methodology, so it's impossible to draw a true apples-to-apples comparison. In earlier years, high-end sales were grouped in the $400,000-and-up category.

While 2015 will be remembered as a "very strong year," local agents say they are not seeing bidding wars or multiple offers for the most expensive homes. The average days on the market for homes priced at $2 million or more declined from 115 days last year to 103 days in 2015, Realcomp reported, though for those between $1 million and $2 million, days on market remained steady — declining slightly from 76 to 74 days. Both reflect year-to-date sales through November.

....

Average days on market: Homes priced in the $1 million-to-$2 million range in metro Detroit were on the market an average of 76 days, steady with 2014's sales pace of 76 days.

Active listings: The number of homes for sale in the $1 million-and-up range totaled 597 in 2015, up from 478 in 2014. The increase is considered a barometer of an improving market as more optimistic sellers list properties.

New construction: Of the 106 permits issued in Oakland County from January 2012 through November 2015, the top three communities for new $1 million-plus construction are Bloomfield Township (37), Bloomfield Hills (20) and Franklin Village (16).

....

Sales price trends are inconsistent across the region. Some communities are seeing 10-year highs while others, including Grosse Pointe, are approaching but still have not reached the pre-recession peaks.

As prices and sales gain momentum, some property owners have decided to list properties that had previously been held off the market. By November, there were 597 active homes priced at $1 million or more, up about 25 percent from a year earlier.

"That's a lot of inventory," said Jeff Barker, a broker with Max Broock Realtors who sells many lakefront properties and also West Bloomfield and Franklin homes. "As prices have increased, people are starting to sell," a reversal from 2007-2011, when most people felt prices were too low and held onto their sprawling compounds or 1920s mansions if they could.


Renewed demand for high-end homes started about three years ago. But until 2014, there were more buyers than inventory, said Brad Wolf, managing director of Hall & Hunter Realtors in Birmingham. That imbalance started tipping the other way in 2014, "with more and more listings," Wolf said.

Homes that are "closer to town or in town" are more in demand and those with three acres of land or more seem to have fallen in favor, a switch from the market a decade ago, Wolf said. "Size isn't as important as location," he said, and walkability and move-in condition make a luxury home a standout.

Zillow has reiterated in reports that "dense walkable suburbs with an urban feel" are the hot buzzwords in residential real estate right now.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...rket-sees-best


Trends such as seeing the most high end development in a decade and the Metro Area Design economy on a comeback as well are having officials along the M-14 Corridor in Washtenaw County reversing a 30 year trend and opening up the area to development.

Design economy on a comeback

By Vickie Elmer
September 19, 2015
Crain's Detroit Business

After a major retrenchment, the design sector of Michigan is growing again – with hundreds of new jobs as industrial designers, graphic designers, music directors and composers added since the recession ended around 2011.

Creative jobs grew with the local economy between 2011 and 2014, but, have a long way to go before reaching the 2003 levels, according to a report by Anderson Economic Group for the Prima Civitas Foundation, an East Lansing-based economic and community development organization.

There were 22,750 creative jobs in 2014, up 6 percent from 12,464 in 2011. However, it is still down from the high of 27,000 in 2003.

Growth in the creative sector is driven partially by demand from companies, but, also by the influx of new people to the metro area.

The design economy is alive and well. It provides more jobs in Michigan than the construction industry – and a higher payroll, according to the study.

The design economy consists of approximately 23,000 jobs plus another 13,000 freelancers or self-employed individuals – and in many cases those two groups overlap, according to the study.

Design jobs pay on average 26 percent more than all jobs, and are less likely to disappear with technological changes and advancements, according to the report Unveiling Michigan’s Design Economy

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...NEWS/150919833

As far as development along M-14 its at least a area where more development makes sense being West of Plymouth-Canton Area east of Ann Arbor and to the south of South Lyon and to the north of the Metro Airport - Willow Run - Ypsilanti Area, its highly desirable island of freeway and Oak Forest in the surrounded by built up areas. I'm not for blindly just building for the sake of building but the Metro Area has really grown to the North and Northwest to such a degree that this particular area now finds it's self in an advantageous position where it can be picky about what kind of development it wants which Washtenaw County is famous for doing already perhaps the officials have figured that now is a time where we can expect high quality development and we can control the pace we should take the first step. There are only 2 exits off M-14 between the Wayne County border and Ann Arbor not to mention the need for the area to be hooked up to City Water and Sewer as well which is very costly even for high end developments so i don't think were going to see the area ruined by sprawl any time soon.

30 years later, Washtenaw County officials open to M-14 development

By KIRK PINHO
November 15, 2015
Crain's Detroit Business



Some Washtenaw County officials' words from 30 years ago have come true.

At that time, Crain's reported on pending or underway developments along what was then the new M-14 freeway corridor, the 22-mile stretch connecting Wayne County's western suburbs of Livonia, Plymouth and Canton Township to Ann Arbor.

While steady development began on the Wayne County portion a few years after the freeway's completion, officials from Washtenaw County said they wanted to retain the highway's countryside feel and have it not be the meeting point between Detroit and Ann Arbor development.

They mostly got their wish, although current local officials are more receptive to development along the freeway.


In the three decades that have passed, 33 buildings comprising nearly 3.5 million square feet of industrial, warehouse, distribution, and research and development facilities have sprouted along the east-west freeway. All but three, totaling 267,000 square feet, are in the 6.4-mile Wayne County stretch, according to data from the Southfield office of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank.

Those three, all in Ann Arbor, are the 150,000-square-foot Flint Ink Building, the 60,000-square-foot Jackson Plaza Business Park and the 67,000-square-foot Traverwood Business Park.

Space along the corridor remains desirable, with just a 3.2 percent vacancy rate, leaving only 112,000 square feet available so far in the fourth quarter, according to Newmark Grubb. The average asking rent is $6.03 per square foot, not including utility costs.

"As a kid, I remember people saying this whole area ... was going to be developed," said Dan Labes, senior managing director for Newmark Grubb. "But all you see (between Livonia/Plymouth and Ann Arbor) are vacant lands and signs. You see a megachurch and golf courses, but it appears that the industrial, R&D stopped just west of Beck Road."

Ken Schwartz, Superior Township supervisor, said he is open to development along the portion of the freeway that stretches through his community, as is the township board. However, a variety of infrastructure problems — including a lack of public water and sewer lines and just two Washtenaw County interchanges outside of Ann Arbor off of which to develop — make such projects difficult for developers.

"I would personally be open if a large firm wanted to come in and set up a world headquarters or a research lab, anything that would be progressive with jobs and tech space. But there are issues," Schwartz said.

Darren Frankel, principal of Troy-based Stuart Frankel Development Co., which developed the 77,000-square-foot Plymouth Commerce Center in 2003, said the M-14 corridor is attractive for developers and companies because of its proximity to Detroit Metropolitan Airport and other transportation options like rail lines.

He also said its connection to Ann Arbor, home of the University of Michigan and its talent stream, is desirable for high-tech and R&D companies looking for space, and that the communities through which it passes, and those surrounding it, are desirable for workers.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...14-development

[The North One]

Rochester hills?

That's hardly even considered metro Detroit and it's nowhere near the city proper.

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by The North One

Rochester hills?

That's hardly even considered metro Detroit and it's nowhere near the city proper.

How is a city in Oakland Co. hardly metro Detroit? Oakland Co. is a large part of Metro Detroit.

[animatedmartian]

Originally Posted by The North One

Rochester hills?

That's hardly even considered metro Detroit and it's nowhere near the city proper.

You might be a minority in that opinion.

[The Lurker]

Metro Pontiac maybe?

A couple from Rochester Hills visited me in Clinton Township last year and considered it to be "in the the city" as though they were from "rural Rochester"

[The North One]

Originally Posted by animatedmartian

You might be a minority in that opinion.

lol man I gotta tell you, there are people in Birmingham who want to pretend that Detroit doesn't even exist haha.

The key word here is "hardly" it's on the very edge of the line.

Luxury homes have always existed and have been built in Birmingham, Bloomfield hills, Rochester and all the likes. I don't see how that's relevant to the city proper's revitalization since this is nothing new, the only difference is the patterns of buyers wanting to be "closer to town" which is a tiny, minuscule, fetus step in the right direction.

[animatedmartian]

Originally Posted by The North One

lol man I gotta tell you, there are people in Birmingham who want to pretend that Detroit doesn't even exist haha.

The key word here is "hardly" it's on the very edge of the line.

Luxury homes have always existed and have been built in Birmingham, Bloomfield hills, Rochester and all the likes. I don't see how that's relevant to the city proper's revitalization since this is nothing new, the only difference is the patterns of buyers wanting to be "closer to town" which is a tiny, minuscule, fetus step in the right direction.

Just because wealth is concentrated in those regions doesn't make them any less apart of the metro area or less impacted by local economic events.

[Docta_Love]

^
I gotta say i hope to see 3 more projects in the near future like the planned rebuilding of Woodward from New Center to Pontiac one along Grand River, Gratiot and Michigan. At this point the struggle of many inner-ring burbs mirrors that of what Detroit has been struggling with such as how to draw new investment and new residents, there are a lot of assets in our region that other areas would be envious to have but if we can't properly utilize them we will continue to lose out. For the Woodward redesign its been hard getting Bloomfield on board but when you have a great cross regional redevelopment project like this getting everyone on board even if they go against the view of most is important because if the project is a success and Bloomfield benefits then people who may not care about Detroit on a day to day basis will be able to see tangiable proof of the benefit of being part of a big city.

Oakland County whether it stings our pride as a big city or not is fait accompli the center of the metro area for business not to mention the geographic center of the metro area being in Ten Mile and Evergreen area. That's not to say that the Rochester Hills model of development is the one we should embrace as a region. But there have been a lot of business and people from some of the "smarter cities" in Oakland County like Compuware and Quicken From Farmington Hills or many of the small and meduim sized business that relocated or opened a second location in the downtown area from Ferndale and Royal Oak contributing to the Detroit's rebirth.

I would even argue that what makes this renaissance different from the ones that have come before it is the way that the region has come together on the public and private levels in a way that we didn't see in the past with both parties agreeing they need to work with each other. Because Detroit needs resources such as business investment and dare i say it new middle class residents from places like Oakland and Oakland needs Detroit because Detroit has international recognition and when people look to the area they first and foremost look at the city itself.

[skyfan]

Mostly a rehash about things we already know about. But there was some interest info about the overall market. That the "magic number" has gone up, I wonder much of that is the Detroit factor. Last year I heard an radio interview about work going at Cobo. When the regional authority was going to bond market to raise money for the renovation it was suggested to drop Detroit from the authority's name because they could probably get better deal with all negative around "Detroit". They chose not do that. In that same vein it's not unreasonable to think that developers might have a higher bar to cross with lenders, because their project is Detroit.

Thousands of new residents coming to greater downtown


Greater downtown Detroit, running out of housing units to meet growing demand, is at the precipice of major change as a dozen or more construction projects now under way will add more than 1,000 new apartments this year, bringing more money, customers and growth

...
Sue Mosey, president of the nonprofit Midtown Detroit Inc., which promotes redevelopment efforts, said residential occupancy levels in Midtown held steady in 2015 at 97%, spurring construction of new units and putting upward pressure on rents.

During the year, landlords raised rents as much as 15% in the Brush Park district, 14% in New Center and 10% in the areas around Wayne State University and the Detroit Medical Center, according to a Midtown Detroit survey.
...
There was talk in recent years that subsidies might disappear once residential rental rates reached $2 per square foot, but that hasn’t proved true. The “magic number” for subsidy-free projects is more likely between $2.25 to $2.50 per square foot.

“It’s by no means like a slam dunk out here — yet,” Mosey said. “It’s still an emerging market. But not as emerging as it used to be.”

Asked whether the process was getting any easier, Richard Karp, a Lansing-based developer renovating several buildings in downtown's Capitol Park district, said, "I would hope that it is, or maybe we’re just getting used to the level of challenge."

Rents in downtown Detroit remain well below rents in, say, Chicago. A one-bedroom unit in Detroit that might rent between $1.60 and $2 per square foot would fetch $2.50 to $3.50 in downtown Chicago.

http://www.freep.com/story/money/bus...bert/78027012/

[pacifist112]

why did I read those comments... why do I always read the comments?

[mousquet]

They urgently need to end this conflict between better off burbs and struggling inner city right away.

It brings about outrageous misinformation reports broadcasted by the crappy French media. Lol, they only show ruined neighborhoods and drug addicts. They once showed a fucked up, lost black guy who claimed to be a prostitute for practicing "the French thing," so he can afford his daily crack dose. Is that kidding? Hard to believe any woman would pay for that. Yet another hilarious, stereotyping report of boring French TV. I remember it and just can't forget. It was sooo fucked up.

The only positive thing they dared to show was the Chrysler plants that were recently purchased by the Italian Fiat group, while the Chrysler brand and American workforce would actually be sparing Fiat from bankrupcy at the moment.

There's a mere insult to our intelligence from our own media here. And you know what? Too many over here still believe it. That's more than enough. I can't stand misinformation, it's propaganda raising distrust, hatred and our own impoverishment in the end. So they must stop feeding that crap.

[animatedmartian]

New mixed-use development planned across from Westin Book Cadillac downtown
Kirk Pinho. Crain's Detroit Business. Janurary 5th, 2016.



If you’ve been outside the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel in the past year or so, you’ve likely noticed the building directly across the street and its colorful, distinctive artwork that wraps around its first floor.

You can expect to say goodbye to it soon, developer Richard Karp told me this morning. He plans to tear the building down to make way for a mixed-use development with a multifamily component. Formally known as the Gateway Center building, the exterior of its first floor is wrapped in black-and-white and color portraits, including some of women and lollipops. (He referred to it as the "lollipop girl" building during our conversation.)

“But it’s not historic. It’s not architecturally significant. So there’s no (financing) incentives available for it from a historic standpoint. For us to spend the money rehabbing it, we are better off doing a larger structure encompassing the surface lots to the north,” he said.

Details on his planned development — including time frame for starting and concluding demolition and construction, how large it will be, etc. — are not yet being disclosed.

....

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...-book-cadillac

[mind field]

Praying for some sexy design, and not value engineered garbage.

[The North One]

Originally Posted by mousquet

There's a mere insult to our intelligence from our own media here. And you know what? Too many over here still believe it. That's more than enough. I can't stand misinformation, it's propaganda raising distrust, hatred and our own impoverishment in the end. So they must stop feeding that crap.

Hmmm, is that what the French think?

I honestly always wonder, do most of you know Detroit was founded by yourselves (I guess the name would make it obvious).

Do the French see Detroit as a long lost child/cousin, or are they totally detached? It's been centuries since French control haha, so maybe this is a stupid thought. I wish this city embraced it's French heritage more like New Orleans does with their flour-de-lis symbols and such. But I guess Detroit has it's own strong identity.

[subterranean]

Originally Posted by The North One

Hmmm, is that what the French think?

I honestly always wonder, do most of you know Detroit was founded by yourselves (I guess the name would make it obvious).

Do the French see Detroit as a long lost child/cousin, or are they totally detached? It's been centuries since French control haha, so maybe this is a stupid thought. I wish this city embraced it's French heritage more like New Orleans does with their flour-de-lis symbols and such. But I guess Detroit has it's own strong identity.

I feel like there is a movement of whites moving into the city that try to appropriate some of what they believe to be "french". Like the Marche Du Nain Rouge, Tour de Troit, the Detroit City Football Club using "Le Rouge" as its nickname, etc.

[mousquet]

Bah, I don't really get that kind of speech, although some say the US sometimes feels orphaned, as if it felt like lacking older and original identity or something. But that's not the issue here. The supposedly Frenchness of Detroit doesn't matter so much. Neither does it in St Louis or New Orleans. What's necessary on the other hand is just to have them thrive again for good. Then you might hear the French boast about the ancient founders indeed. Lol

Anyway, our population is totally fond of SF and NYC, while none of these 2 was founded by any French-American or Canadian pioneer. Truth is they only envy what's vibrant, and pity what's struggling. That's it, to be frank.

So I'd rather have them envious and hungry than patronizing. It's much better for us, more effective for our own developments and improvement. When they show Detroit's ruins by calling them "today's American city," it is very bad and counterproductive like lying to ourselves. That is the real issue.

In short, despite unavoidable feelings of rivalry and fear, we have no interest in seeing anything declining in North America.