InvestNext Raises $4.3 Million In Venture Capital Financing

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InvestNext Inc., a software firm backed by Detroit billionaire Dan Gilbert, has closed on a venture capital financing round to the tune of $4.3 million. The company’s software goal is to help investors and fund managers keep track of pertinent details and documents involved in real estate investments. Hyde Park Venture Partners, Detroit Venture Partners, Whitecap Venture Partners and Grand Ventures participated in the funding round. InvestNext Inc. now has more than 18,000 active investors and has paved the way for more than $.4 billion in transactions.

Fowling Warehouse to Open in Ypsilanti

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Royal Oak resident Scott Brown is opening a Fowling Warehouse location in Ypsilanti. The original Fowling Warehouse was established by Chris Hutt in 2014. The game is part football/part bowling. Prior to finding the Ypsilanti space, Brown looked in Lansing, Lake Orion and Indianapolis. His Ypsilanti location will be the sixth in the franchise. Other locations include Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Cincinnati and Hamtramck. All have opened in last seven years. No opening date is set yet for the Ypsilanti location, but it will feature 20 indoor fowling lanes. Players may bring in their own food or have it delivered, and two bars will be on site.

NTT Ltd Subleases Its Headquarters Space in Southfield Town Center

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 NTT Communications Corp., Formerly know as Secure-24, has walked away from its 100,000-square-foot headquarters in the 4000 Town Center high rise in Southfield. They’ve put the space up for sublease along with a 9,000-square-foot property in Auburn Hills. The company signed the Southfield lease in September 2019, prior to the pandemic. The bad timing of the COVID-19 pandemic may have contributed to the company’s recent listing of the property. The asking price is $19 per square foot.

 

 

Landmark Office Real Estate Up For Grabs

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Nearly 800,000 square feet of prime office space across four landmark properties in Troy and Pontiac are up for grabs. They join the Fisher Building and the former UAW-GM Center for Human Resources in Detroit. That totals 1.8 million square feet between the six buildings that has come available in the last 30 days! The sale of these buildings has implications for the upside down office market. According to a second-quarter report, Detroit’s office market vacancy rate increased to 16.8%. That’s an increase of 2 percentage points from a year ago.

Chaldean Community Foundation Plans Affordable Housing Projects

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The Chaldean Community Foundation has broken ground on its first mixed-use affordable housing site and has another$25 million project in the works. The Macomb County site which got under way on Friday, Oct. 1, will bring 135 apartments and street-level retail to Sterling Heights. It’s a beginning toward addressing the long-term housing needs of almost 1,000 families who go to the foundation for assistance. It will include 9,000 square feet of retail for the Chaldean community. The foundation is negotiating a purchase of more than 6 acres in Farmington Hills for a new Chaldean Community Foundation Campus. The Farmington Hills campus will house a new office for the Chaldean Chamber, a satellite office for the foundation and a senior living center.

 

Multifamily Building Permits At Highest Levels in Decades

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The 2021 total of multifamily housing construction building permits in southeast Michigan has exceeded the total for the last 20 years! So far, 1,762 permits have been issued, making 2021 the best year since 1998. Even as the housing market continues to stay hot, many people are more interested in renting. Along with multifamily housing, new home construction is also up. August was the 15th straight month in which more than 300 permits were issued.

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Duggan Predicts Office to Residential Shift

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According to Detroit mayor, Mike Duggan, downtown Detroit is in for a dramatic shift in the next 2-3 years. He predicts that Detroit’s office buildings will be repurposed from offices into housing. He believes that this shift will be a national trend. He points to a 16-story apartment building near Greektown as an example. With more construction going on than in the last 50 years, the majority of it is residential, manufacturing and distribution.

 

 

Novel Financing Helps With Inadequate Housing Issues

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An inadequate supply of housing is creating problems for businesses and crippling economic development in many communities. As a result, some communities are turning to tax increment financing. Tax increment financing (TIF) enables a developer to regain some of the upfront costs for a project by securing an increase in property taxes for a period of years and diverting them until the spending is repaid. Once the agreed-upon costs are paid off, the higher tax increment goes to local government. TIF has been around for a while but using it to allow new housing to be built that would be affordable to residents is a novel idea. It’s being used where labor and supply costs wouldn’t otherwise allow affordability.

 

 

 

Amazon to Add Four New Michigan Sites

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Amazon will add four new sites in 2022 and 2023. The announcement is expected on Wednesday. It will open its first mid-Michigan fulfillment center and three more facilities in the Metro Detroit and Grand Rapids areas. The new sites include a 1 million-square-foot fulfillment center just west of Lansing, a sort center and delivery station in the Grand Rapids area, and a delivery station in Canton Township. Amazon has created more than 21,000 jobs in Michigan so far. With the new site in the Lansing area, the company expects to create more than 500 full-time jobs. The other centers will create hundreds of jobs, as well.

Automotive Country Club Heading to Howell

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A father and son duo plan to bring a multimillion-dollar automotive country club and garage development to a 270 acre site owned by the city of Howell. Motorsports Gateway includes 67 private garage suite units and a 2.2 mile European-inspired road course. Previously the duo owned JD Racing Indoor Karting in Novi but sold it in January. The first phase of Motorsports Gateway includes the track, garage suites, a pit lane clubhouse and amenities, and a $65 million price tag. Groundbreaking should take place next summer, and phase one should be completed by the end of 2025. Phase two calls for an auto innovation park and mixed-use construction that will cost an additional $35 million.