Michigan’s Vacation Home Market Is Hot

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Demand for vacation homes is just as strong as the market for first homes. During the first half of 2021, vacation home sales jumped more than 57 percent when compared with 2020. Several counties in Northern Michigan are considered “vacation home counties,” which are counties with 20 percent or more of their housing inventory listed as seasonal. Leelanau County is a prime example. The average home price in the first quarter of this year jumped to $779,960 from $494,649 in the same quarter of last year. A more shocking comparison can be made when the average home in Leelanau County sold for $274,831 in 2012!

 

5-Story Building Planned For Downtown Birmingham

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Birmingham-based developer, Surnow Co., has submitted plans for an 80-foot high, 53,000-square-foot building on the rear of the post office building parking lot. The developer currently has its offices in the redeveloped post office property at 329 Martin St. The building will include 5,400 square-feet of first-floor retail space, about 19,200 square feet of office space on the second and third floors, and six residential units on the fourth and fifth floors. It will also include underground parking with an automated parking system. The project is still in the planning stages.

 

Amazon Ditches Square Footage

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Amazon is subleasing at lease 10 million square feet and possibly terminating leases in New York, New Jersey, Southern California and Atlanta. The figure could be as high as 30 million square feet. This is in contrast to the the company’s acquisition of 200 million square feet during the pandemic. In the Detroit area, it’s a different story. The company currently occupies or is building at least 13 million square feet. According to sources, Amazon was more deliberate in the Detroit area, as opposed to other areas where it acquired square footage where it could find it. The company also seems to be dropping smaller spaces and not mega-centers like those in the Detroit area.

 

 

Hotel Residents Demand Affordable Housing

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Evicted tenants who have become hotel residents are about to have their federal aid come to an end. They called on city officials for help finding affordable housing before the federal aid runs out. More than 275 Detroit households have used federal aid through the federal American Rescue Plan to pay for hotels following eviction. The tenants had been informed that the aid would be cut off on June 1. Of the 88 households currently living in hotels and supported by the aid, 40 have received an extension on their end date to June 30. The other 48 already had later end dates.

 

 

Equinox Hotel Planned for Detroit Center For Innovation

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The Detroit Center for Innovation will include an Equinox hotel. The hotel will be designed to host visiting sports teams and will include gyms and a special floor for them to work out. The entire project will encompass a 300-acre district of residential, office, education and entertainment. The center will include a University of Michigan graduate campus. Ross and Ilitch, the muscle behind the project, believe it will attract companies and make local graduates want to stay in the state.

 

Gilbert Family Foundation Pledges Money For Eviction Defense

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The Gilbert Family Foundation has pledged up to $13 million over three years to help renters avoid eviction in Detroit. This comes weeks after the city of Detroit passed an ordinance giving renters at risk of eviction the right to have an attorney represent them in their defense. The United Community Housing Coalition, Lakeshore Legal Aid and Michigan Legal Services will split the money evenly. The Detroit Eviction Defense Fund was created after the city committed $6 million in American Rescue Plan dollars to fund eviction defense. It is thought that Detroit’s population decline is occurring, in part, to the 30,000 Detroit households that face eviction each year.

Ilitch And Ross Release Detroit Center Renderings

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Stephen Ross and the Ilitch organization have released conceptual renderings showing new retail, housing and office developments in Detroit’s sports venue district.  The projects include new construction, as well as reuse of existing buildings. The renderings show a future hotel on Henry Street, an office tower with ground-floor retail space along Woodward Avenue next to Comerica Park, a residential, retail and office development on Park Street, and office, retail and residential development along Columbia Street. Ross and Ilitch are collaborating on the University of Michigan’s planned Detroit Center for Innovation.  They expect to break ground on the project in 2023.

 

 

 

David Whitney Building Hotel Builds On And Rebrands

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The David Whitney Building will soon be renovated and rebranded. It will become an Autograph Collection hotel and expand to 160 rooms. According The Roxbury Group, the building will lose 24 of the apartments but leave 80 residences on the top seven floors. The hotel rooms will be renovated, along with the lobby bar, atrium lounge and outdoor seating. The building’s event space will become restaurant space. Renovations will being this summer. The project’s budget is undisclosed.

 

 

Home Costs Rise As New Building Permits Dip

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As interest rates and materials costs rose, the number of single-family home permits in metro Detroit fell in April.  The number of permits across Detroit Metro counties dropped to 303 in April from 414 in March. That’s a 27% drop. When compared to April 2021, they number of permits dropped 31%.  Builders whose business was split between commercial and residential projects have seen it flip to entirely commercial. They cite rising costs, interest rates and supply chain issues. Buyers don’t have the money to cover the rising costs during actual construction. In addition, there aren’t enough workers to keep up with labor demands.

 

 

Pharmaceutical Company Rises in Grand Rapids

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Perrigo, the private label over-the-counter pharmaceutical company, is opening its new North American headquarters in Grand Rapids. The company chose Grand Rapids over Chicago and Miami in hopes of benefitting by joining other health care-focused companies and research facilities in the Grand Rapids area. West Michigan is home to 60,000 health science jobs, 428 health science companies and 83 medical device manufacturers.  This concentration has impacted the community, with doctorate-level jobs at six-figure salaries.