Two Boyne City small businesses are vacating their store fronts. However, it’s not goodbye. The Outdoor Beerdsman, a retail store, is moving to online sales. The difficulty in securing available workers has pushed the owner toward a virtual storefront that will include a sister company. The second business, Long Road Distillers, is relocating to Charlevoix and is awaiting its liquor license.
The disparity between the average national home value and that of Detroit’s black homeowners has tripled in recent years and has far-reaching consequences for future generational wealth. While some attribute the gap to ongoing systemic racial issues and the foreclosure crisis, one professor of architecture and urban planning feels the study that produced the data is flawed. In the current year, there are no signs of the gap widening further, but also no signs the gap is shrinking. For a great discussion of the role of redlining in impeding African-American wealth, view the PBS documentary The House We Live In.
Amazon will open a sorting center in Plymouth at the old Spartan warehouse on Haggerty Road. Amazon plans to add 30,000 square feet to the existing 300,000 square feet of the structure. The development will add 200 jobs to the area with an investment of $2.5 million. This continues the growth of Amazon facilities in Southeast Michigan.
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Amazon plans to add 5 sites, create 2,000 jobs in Metro Detroit
Council OKs tax break for redevelopment of Cadillac Stamping site
Detroit’s Transfiguration School readied for housing transformation
Home value disparity hits Detroit Black homeowners
240-unit affordable housing development up for reconsideration in GR
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Amazon plans to add 5 sites, create 2,000 jobs in Metro Detroit
Amazon plans new sorting center along Haggerty in Plymouth Township
Bay Pointe Golf Club in west Oakland County seeks buyer at $8.95 million
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Clothing store, distiller to vacate downtown Boyne City space
I want to highlight a few topics that I believe will dominate the Michigan real estate landscape at a macro level in 2021.
First, mortgage foreclosures will begin to impact the residential market later this year. Although there is the potential for further federal or state moratoria, eventually we will be unable to kick the can further down the road. These foreclosures will begin to place downward pressure on sales prices at the end of 2021 or early 2022, as the foreclosed properties will begin to be marketed for resale.
Second, the impact of COVID-19 on commercial properties will begin to be felt in 2021 as well.
Although it appears the industrial class is weathering the storm quite well, the same cannot be said for retail and office properties.
For retail properties, in addition to the impact of “stay home” orders, you have the continuing trend of online shopping, which only accelerated due to COVID-19. Paradoxically, the decline of the retail sector has contributed to the stability of the industrial sector, as logistics and warehouse uses that support online retailers have thrived during the pandemic.
Major retailers often file for bankruptcy protection in January, after the cold realities of a failed holiday season hit home. This year, I would expect that major retailers, as well as “mom and pop” stores will have to fact reality in early 2021. The “sit-down” restaurant sector will likely also be impacted.
For the office sector, it remains to be seen is whether the impact will be long-lasting. If companies permanently shift work to a remote, or work-from-home, setting, the impact on the office sector could be significant. However, if employers move back to a traditional work setting, 2020 may be a blip on the office sector radar.
Finally, the lifting of eviction moratoria will impact the residential market. Evictions could have a net positive impact on the investor-owned market, as non-paying tenants are shown the literal, and proverbial, door. Or it could merely signal that rental rates will be forced down, impacting investors and overall residential market pricing.
If you would like to track articles on foreclosure and evictions, those articles are specifically tracked on this page of the Michigan Real Estate News website.
Family Video will close about 60 Michigan locations in the next month. A decline in foot traffic and new movie releases due to COVID-19 has contributed to the closures. However, the owners will still be in the game because they own the underlying real estate. The strategy of purchasing corner properties located in close proximity to neighborhood traffic has made the properties highly desirable for future tenants.
Plymouth township residents want the former Courthouse Grille demolished, sooner rather than later. Development companies have made plans in the past, but ultimately backed out. Hope is on the horizon with District Capital Detroit’s plan to build a multi-story residential complex.
Macy’s will close 45 stores nationwide by the middle of 2021. These closures come on the heels of the company’s February 2020 announcement of their plans to cut 2,000 jobs and close roughly 125 locations. The company received a credit line of $3.15 billion in June of 2020 which has allowed it to survive the impact of COVID-19. The timing of the store closings may be adjusted as Macy’s monitors its recovery from the pandemic and the performance of its competitors.
Grand Rapids median home prices are predicted to grow 6.5% in 2021, mirroring the 6.8% growth between 2019 and 2020. Younger adults are a driving force behind the trend with the median household income also increasing from $68,703 (2019) to $80,000 (2020).
Houghton’s planning commission will reconsider a previously approved zoning request to rezone approximately 15.5 acres. The previous request included a wetlands area. The wetlands area was removed from the earlier request. However, concerns continue to be raised about the land use along the shoreline.
