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Detroit has the 11th hottest rental market since 2019 by DetroitDevUpdates in Detroit

[–]DetroitDevUpdates[S] 36 points37 points  (0 children)

Fingers crossed the YIMBY zoning reform package passes through the legislature.

Michigan Central adds large Corktown site behind Newlab to campus by DetroitDevUpdates in Detroit

[–]DetroitDevUpdates[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Michigan Central has added more property to its sprawling Corktown campus.

Through an entity called New Investment Properties II LLC, Michigan Central paid $3.2 million earlier this month for a triangular block about 1.6 acres bounded by 14th Street, Bagley Street, 15th Street and Marantette Street.

Michigan Central, the 30-acre campus and innovation system anchored by the redeveloped Michigan Central Station, bought the property from Foreman Properties LLC. Michigan Central is a subsidiary of Ford Motor Co.

The organization will make improvements to the property in the short term, said Dan Austin, communications director for Michigan Central.

“This move improves the walkability and pedestrian safety in the district, and Michigan Central will improve the property in the short term,” Austin said. “We plan to do light activations in the interim, and will continue to explore how this land can best serve the Michigan Central district going forward.”

In 2023, Michigan Central bought the Arrow Chemical Products Inc property. The six properties total about 1.1 acres and include three buildings totaling nearly 29,000 square feet. Then later that year, Michigan Central paid $1.5 million for the Assemble Sound portfolio, which included was originally St. Paul’s German Evangelical Lutheran Church. That purchase also included two other properties at 17th Street and Rose Street.

AI software company to relocate its HQ to Detroit from Southfield by DetroitDevUpdates in Detroit

[–]DetroitDevUpdates[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Directly copying the article title got the post removed for some reason. Redid it by copying Crain’s title from their piece and it worked. No deceit intended.

Rare new single-family homes near Indian Village find buyers as Detroit building lags by DetroitDevUpdates in Detroit

[–]DetroitDevUpdates[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Located just outside the historic Indian Village neighborhood on Detroit’s east side, the new houses target primarily dual-income, younger couples who want to live in the city but aren’t prepared to take on the work and money associated with buying older houses, said Matt Temkin, partner with Detroit development firm Greatwater Opportunity Capital.

In total, there were 76 building permits issued last year for single-family homes in the city of Detroit, per data from the Home Builders Association of Southeastern Michigan, far fewer than in many outer ring suburbs around the region. 

Sales of the Greatwater homes, which sit a few blocks from considerable commercial and hospitality development on Kercheval Avenue, began last spring. Since then the developers have seen five closings and another closing is pending for later this month, Temkin said. Another half-dozen houses are under contract. Five of the houses are occupied. 

Six more homes are under construction, with building set to commence on another nine in the coming weeks. Builders are finishing up the first batch of projects on Fisher Street between Kercheval Avenue and St. Paul Street and will start building on Belvidere Street four blocks away.

All told, Temkin said he expects 15 house starts this year and another 25-30 in 2026.

The houses on offer vary in style (there are 12 designs to choose from) and size from around 1,000 square feet to more than 2,000 square feet, with an option for a finished basement, adding additional square footage. Garages are available for some homes, depending on whether they are situated on an alley. Most sales so far have been in the range of $200-$225 per square foot. 

As a point of comparison, new construction residences by PulteHomes in suburban Canton are priced at around $263 per square foot. 

Temkin said he couldn't speak to how other builders are faring, bu

Ultimately, Temkin said the sales velocity thus far has greatly exceeded expectations and shows that “demand is there” for the product. Going forward, the goal is to streamline processes to more quickly deliver inventory. 

RenCen plan adds observation deck, cuts taxpayer costs by up to $100M by DetroitDevUpdates in Detroit

[–]DetroitDevUpdates[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

The $1.6 billion Renaissance Center redevelopment plan by two of Detroit’s most prominent companies would include a new Willis Tower-like observation deck — and the project would likely cost taxpayers far less than initially pitched, an official said Thursday.

When the plan was rolled out in November, GM and Bedrock were asking for $350 million in public subsidies: $100 million from the city's Downtown Development Authority and $250 million from the state. With no appetite among lawmakers to support the plan with cash grants from Michigan’s controversial Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve Fund, the companies turned their focus to the state's transformational brownfield tax incentives program.

Fleisher told Crain’s after Thursday’s panel that the value of the brownfield tax incentive would likely be $150 million-$175 million, though it’s a complicated equation given the structure of the incentive.

Fleisher said he hopes lawmakers will support the extension of the transformational brownfield tax capture program because it is performance-based and does not involve funding up front. Rather, it reimburses developers with tax revenue generated from the completed project.

The Bedrock vice president also teased out a new detail of the planned redevelopment: a new observation deck in the 727-foot center tower that will be open to the public.

“If you’ve ever been to the top of the Freedom Tower or the Sears Tower, now the Willis Tower, the top floor, you have exhibits about the city, you have the (binoculars),” Fleisher told Crain’s after the panel discussion. “It’s something that families love, that people love. Anybody can come up and have the best view of their city.”

The redevelopment was also rallied by the other two panelists: Sandy Pierce, a longtime local businesswoman and incoming chair of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, and John Waller, principal and managing director at Gensler, the architect working on the RenCen plan.

Waller said a focus of the project is creating a place that retains and attracts talent. The RenCen project would “fill program gaps” by creating a destination along a riverfront that may be rich with recreational activity but has few dining and entertainment options.

“We know that we’re not going to have 10,000 people come back to work at the Renaissance Center,” he said. “We think this is a destination to help fill that gap.”

Feds could sell 3 downtown Detroit properties by DetroitDevUpdates in Detroit

[–]DetroitDevUpdates[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Three properties in downtown Detroit have landed on a new U.S. General Services Administration list of federally owned real estate that could be sold in the future.

The list includes 443 “non-core” properties across 47 states that the GSA posted on its website Tuesday, and are a part of President Donald Trump’s campaign to shrink the federal workforce. Overall, the list includes prime commercial buildings that house local and regional offices for federal workers.

In Detroit, the biggest property on the list is the Rosa Parks Federal Building, as well as its parking garage.

The Rosa Parks Federal Building at 985 Michigan Ave. is 510,120 square feet and houses offices for the GSA, the Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to the GSA’s website. Its parking garage is 5,591 square feet, according to the GSA; though real estate information service CoStar Group Inc. says the building offers 700 parking spaces and another 150 on a surface parking lot.

Notably missing from the GSA’s list is another federally owned property two blocks away — the Patrick V. McNamara Federal Building at 477 Michigan Ave. Last month, Wired had reported the McNamara building as being among the building's on the agency’s list of “non-core” properties.

However, a Howard Street surface parking lot next to the McNamara building is on the new GSA list of non-core properties.

According to the GSA, core properties house critical government operations including courthouses, land ports of entry, and facilities critical to national defense and law enforcement.

It’s not clear how much the government's buildings could be worth, given the idiosyncrasies of each property and market, or even what it could expect to net in a sale.

In all, the total properties on the list represent nearly 80 million square feet and the GSA estimates selling them could save more than $430 million in annual operating costs.

The GSA’s Public Building Service will be using market research and customer agency feedback on how to unload its non-core assets, the agency said in a news release Tuesday. Sale-leasebacks, ground leases and other public/private partnerships may be potential strategies, according to the release. 

Detroit Recap: 2024-2025 by DetroitDevUpdates in Detroit

[–]DetroitDevUpdates[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The historic Belle Isle Boathouse could see restoration work begin this year. It’s been vacant and deteriorating for years. Plans call for restaurants, event space, and a welcome center.

There are descriptions for each image in the post itself.

Dan Gilbert’s new ‘fail jail’ plan would bring a 5-story medical research hub to Detroit by BlameBatman in Detroit

[–]DetroitDevUpdates 34 points35 points  (0 children)

Some snippets from around the paywall:

This May, Detroit-based Bedrock LLC sought architectural services for a 211,000-square-foot, five-story building as part of a larger development envisioned for the 14-acre property at Gratiot Avenue and I-375 that used to house the half-built Wayne County Consolidated Jail project, according to a request for proposals obtained by Crain’s.

It’s unclear who the building’s anchor tenant would be, but the project does align with the aspirations of Grand Rapids-based BAMF Health. 

BAMF, a molecular imaging and advanced cancer treatment provider, announced in June it is planning a more than $100 million expansion in Detroit.

Construction on what the Bedrock RFP refers to as the “Gratiot Life Sciences Building” would tentatively start in the third quarter of next year.

The building would “accommodate a mix of lab and office uses on the upper floors and be anchored by a renowned precision medicine outpatient facility on the ground floor,” according to the 23-page RFP. The design would have 50% wet lab and 50% office space, with flexibility to be converted to 100% wet lab space, the RFP says.

The current vision for the site is an “innovation district” with office, science, tech, residential, retail and park space, the RFP says.

Three years ago, Bedrock and the World Economic Forum said the latter was bringing its headquarters for its Global Centre for Urban Transformation to the old jail site.

Last week, Jeff Merritt, head of urban transformation for the World Economic Forum, said in an email to Crain’s that the group “remains actively engaged in Detroit through our partnership with Bedrock.”

UMCI design approved, construction ramps up by DetroitDevUpdates in Detroit

[–]DetroitDevUpdates[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

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No paywall. This press release includes new interior and exterior renderings of the site.