New District Detroit Development Includes Hotels, Housing, Retail and Offices

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Olympia Development and Related Companies have released details about a $1.5 billion development that create housing, retail and hotel properties in the District Detroit.  The plans include 695 mixed-income residential unites, 1.2 million square feet of commercial office space, 100,000 square feet of retail and 467 hotel rooms across 10 downtown Detroit properties. The project will involve constructing six buildings and renovating four buildings. Upon completion, the project is expected to create more than 6,000 jobs and generate more than $500 million in wages annually.

 

City Living More Affordable Than Suburban

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In the month of October. while home prices continued to increase, sales fell sharply in metro Detroit. According to RE/MAX of Southeastern Michigan, rising mortgage rates led to the drop in sales. RE/MAX of Southeastern Michigan sows a 28.3% decrease in sales, and Realcomp showed sales decreased 26.7%. Both report an increase in median sales price of 4.3% or higher. Livingston, Macomb, Oakland, Wayne and Washtenaw counties were consistent in both prices and homes sales data. However in comparison, Detroit has greater affordability, decreasing only 2.3% in sales, making city living more in reach than in the suburbs.

 

Gun Lake Tribe Plans Development on U.S. 131

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The Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Potawatomi Indians (the Gun Lake Tribe) has begun a six-month planning process for a development on 1,200 acres along U.S. 131 in Allegan County. The tribe has been buying land for years, with most of the acreage between 133rd and 128th avenues on the east side of U.S. 131.  The development could bring retail, housing, health care, manufacturing, entertainment and dining establishments. The tribe and Gun Lake Investements (the tribe’s non-gaming economic development arm) hired St. Charles WBK Engineering to oversee the planning. The planning process will help the tribe evaluate non-gaming opportunities for the site.

 

New Apartment Building Proposed for Detroit’s Midtown

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Greatwater Opportunity Capital has proposed a new four-story, 57-unit apartment building next to the existing fire-damaged Brainard Apartments. After a February 2020 fire, Greatwater acquired the Brainard Apartments and the site next to it that is home to two unused solar panel arrays. The panels once supplied some electricity to the Brainard Apartments, but since the fire, the panels have stayed off. The developer is almost finished with the Brainard Apartments’ rehabilitation. Greatwater plans to remove the solar panels to make way for the new building that will include studio and one-bedroom apartments as well as ground-floor commercial space.

 

Switch Expands Former Steelcase Pyramid Site

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The former Steelcase Pyramid site south of Grand Rapids is facing a major expansion. Switch, the Las Vegas-based data storage company, is excavating at the Steelcase Pyramid campus in Gaines Township.  It’s building a 312,000-square-foot building separate from the Pyramid.  The project includes a 1,000-square-foot pump house.  Work on the expansion site began in the spring, with the concrete foundations expected to be poured before the snow flies. The cost of the project, its contractor and completion date have yet to be disclosed. According to Switch’s second-quarter earnings report, it allocated $800,000 toward site preparation.

 

Grand Rapids Planning Commission Approves Plans For Multi-Use Development

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The Grand Rapids City Planning Commission approved plans for The McConnell, a 432-unit apartment, restaurant and retail building south of downtown Grand Rapids. The project plans will reuse an existing industrial building in addition to new construction. The commission unanimously approved special land use and optional  plan review requests for the project. The special land use request was for a reduction in required parking, alcohol sales and consumption, live entertainment, banquet functions and outdoor seating. The developers of the project include Chicago-based Krika Development, Boston-based Spire Investment Properties and Suitepeople, based in McLean, Virginia.

 

 

Saugatuck’s Clearbrook Golf Course Has New Owners

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The new owners of Saugatuck’s Clearbrook Golf Course have no concrete plans for changes to the course other than small aesthetic amendments like burying overhead power lines. Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins and his wife, Julie, view their purchase as a way to invest in the community and plan to maintain the golf course which has been in place since 1926. The purchase did not include the Grill Room Restaurant. Jim and Candy Jeltema will continue as owners of the restaurant. Although they no longer own the golf course, the Jeltemas will continue to operate it.

 

Metro Detroit Home Builders Hold Pessimistic Outlook for 2023

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Interest rates continue to rise. Issues with labor availability, materials costs and supply chain slow downs persist. New construction waiting lists are shrinking because people are priced out of the new homes they had set their sights on. Home builders are mired in pessimism as the industry slows. Detroit builders are shifty to other types of development, including remodeling work, self-storage and multifamily apartments. Builders are normally trying to dig basements and frame houses before winter hits, but that isn’t the case this year. September 2022 saw the lowest number of housing  permits pulled since 2011. Rising interest rates continue to impact the market. In contrast, multifamily permits are having their best year since 1998.

 

Indiana-Based Developer Plans Multifamily Townhome Development in Grand Rapids

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Thompson Thrift Residential, based in Terra Haute, Indiana, is planning a 344-unit multifamily luxury townhome rental community in Wyoming, a Grand Rapids suburb. The developer spent $5.4 million on 28.5 acres in July. The development will be comprised of one- to four-bedroom  townhome apartments, some with attached garages and private yards.  The complex will include resort-style common areas including a clubhouse, swimming pool, gym, pickle ball courts and a dog park. Thompson Thrift Residential is motivated by the shortage of multifamily development, ;last year’s double-digit employment growth and the 40% increase in home values that have outpriced many first-time home buyers.

 

Trinity Health Systems Plans Mixed-Use Development in Grand Rapids

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Livonia-based Trinity Health System has its sights set on 10 parking lots in downtown Grand Rapids, but it’s not for a new hospital site. They are seeking $19 million in federal funding to convert the lots into a mixed-used development to ease the city’s affordable housing shortage.  Trinity was one of 319 applicants to submit requests to Kent County for a share of the $127 million awarded to the county in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)  funding. The Kent County Board of Commissioners will most likely finalize its remaining ARPA allocations at a November 14 meeting. Trinity Health is exploring additional funding sources for the project, including Brownfield Redevelopment Authority tax credits, Michigan Community Revitalization Program and Michigan Missing Middle Housing Program funds and a philanthropy and capital allocation from Trinity itself.