Free Legal Services for Low-Income Tenants Delayed

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A program to provide free lawyers to low-income Detroiters facing eviction is being delayed. The program was supposed to start October 1, according to the Detroit City Council ordinance that was enacted over the summer. Tenant advocates are voicing concerns over the delay, although legal services continue to be available through a statewide pandemic program. The ordinance offers legal representation in 36th District Court for tenants who are facing eviction and making below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines. The city is working to produce requests for proposals and is working its way through the American Rescue Plan compliance process. Funding for the program would last for over three years.

 

 

Detroit’s Satellite Suburbs Boom With New Home Construction

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Outer-ring suburbs are booming with new residential construction and newly paved roads despite the rising interest rates that are causing the resale home market to slow. According to census data, more than 3,000 new single-family homes were ok’d to be built from January to July of 2022. New construction in satellite suburbs of larger cities is a national trend. Rising interest rates have had an effect on the new-home market. New-home permits are down 10 to 15 percent from last year, but the demand isn’t gone. Lower lumber prices and the continued high demand for housing have helped builders.

 

 

 

 

Apartment Construction Gets A Boost Due To Mortgage Rates

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New construction of multifamily properties jumped 28 percent in August. bringing the market’s multifamily segment to its highest level since 1986. The jump is due to rising mortgage rates. Single-family home construction also increased slightly in August after a two-year low. Borrowing costs have doubled since late 2020 due to interest-rate hikes designed to tame high inflation. Last week, the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage surpassed 6 percent. The continued low apartment vacancy rates and low single-family inventory have given multifamily construction a boost.

 

Detroit’s New Huntington Tower Opens

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Huntington Bank held its grand opening of its new 20-story glass-clad Huntington Tower. Neumann/Smith Architecture designed the building which is located at 2025 Woodward Ave. The property houses Huntington’s commercial banking operations. Half of the tower is for indoor parking, with the top 9 floors mostly filled with offices. The ground floor includes a lobby and will include a Huntington branch. Construction of the tower began in 2019. Although it originally announced as a $104 million project, Huntington officials have not disclosed the project’s final costs. Huntington Tower is the first large new downtown Detroit building to be completed since the pandemic.

 

 

Ilitch and Ross Propose Hotel Development Near Little Caesars Arena

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The Downtown Development Authority board signed off on a proposal for a new $190.5 million hotel south of Little Caesars Arena. Plans for the hotel have been in the works for a while. The hotel would be 14 stories tall with 290 rooms. The Ilitch family and developer Stephen Ross submitted the development plan. Together, they would ground-lease the land from an Olympia-owned entity. The hotel, food, beverage and other amenities will create a variety of jobs and attract people to the region. The project would cost $137.3 million. Ilitch and Ross have partnered on projects in the Ilitch family’s District Detroit area in the last year.

 

 

Bed Bath & Beyond To Close 5 Michigan Stores

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Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. is closing five Michigan locations, as part of a 150-store closing and liquidation plan. Many of the closings are occurring in the upper MIdwest, New York and New Jersey. The changes, along with job cuts for 20% of its workforce, will slash costs. The company has a new $500 million line of credit to get back on good terms with its suppliers. Complicating its turnaround plan, the company’s Chief Financial Officer Gustavo Arnal committed suicide. The rise of Amazon.com Inc. and other online retailers contributed to Bed Bath & Beyond’s struggles. The five affected Michigan locations are Chesterfield, Farmington Hills, Northville, Walker and White Lake.

 

Federal Grant Allows I-375 Project to Move Ahead Sooner

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A $104 million federal grant, an allotment that’s part of $1.5 billion from the infrastructure for Rebuilding competitive grant program, will allow the I-375 Interstate project to begin two years early. The state will replace the 1-mile sunken freeway that connects I-75 to Jefferson Avenue with a wide street. Michigan had asked for $180 million, and Governor Whitmer had requested monies from the new federal Reconnecting Communities program. The estimated cost of the project is $300 million. The project should be completed in 2028.

 

Macomb County’s Big Red Orchard For Sale

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The Big Red Orchard in Washington Township is on its way out. The site includes 11 buildings-a main barn, a market, a pair of residences, a retail shop, a cold storage building, a feed bar and a garage. Owner Ryan Moore is auctioning off the farm equipment and selling the property in November. Four years ago, Moore purchased the property known for apples, cider and doughnuts in order to supply the restaurants he had bought. Moore wants to divide the property into small sections for single-family home development.

 

 

Homeownership On The Rise In Detroit

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For the first time in a decade, the majority of Detroit residents are home owners, according to new Census data. Data from the American Community Survey shows a large increase in the number of vacant units in the city. Detroit’s homeownership peak was in 1970 when 60 percent of the city’s residents were homeowners. Thirty years later, that figure had fallen to 55 percent. Foreclosures and population loss impacted 2012 data, dropping the data to 49.9 percent. By 2014, homeownership dropped again to 46.3 percent of residents. Increasing home ownership has been one of Mayor Mike Duggan’s goals since taking office.

 

Detroit Relies On Virtual Property Appraisals

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The city of Detroit is using desktop appraisals to determine property values. Desktop appraisals involve looking at aerial photos of properties and information gathered from parcel maps, deeds and permits, in stead of going to look at it in person. They are a quicker way of keeping up with about 71,000 residential parcels that need to be valued each year. Up until 2017, 60 years had passed without Detroit finishing a comprehensive reappraisal of city property values. After playing catch up, the assessor’s office must keep current with a state requirement that 20 percent of properties be reassessed each year. Aerial technology aids the city in keeping up with the huge number of homes over about 140 square miles. The strategy has critics who say that aerial imagery can cause low-value property owners to be in over their heads when their properties are already over-assessed. A shortage of appraisers has contributed to the reliance on desktop appraisals.