Uncategorized Archives – Michigan Real Estate News

Soured Chicago Land Deal Upsets Public

October 10, 2022/in SE Michigan, Uncategorized /by Tracy Willis

Justin Ishbia, the brother of the CEO of Pontiac-based United Wholesale Mortgage, has reneged on a land swap deal with a suburban Chicago park district. Ishbia and his wife bought the 261 Sheridan Road property in November 2020. The property stands between Elder Lane park and Centennial park. They negotiated a land swap deal with the Winnetka Park District officials, promising to turn the Sheridan Road property over to park district officials in exchange for the southern section of Centennial Park. Residents are urging park district officials to take the multimillion-dollar lakefront parcel by eminent domain. The land swap deal fell apart under public scrutiny of the deal the park officials made with Ishbia.

Michigan Mobile Home Owners Feel The Pinch As Lot Rent Increases

July 25, 2022/in National, SE Michigan, Uncategorized /by Tracy Willis

Across the U.S., private equity investors are buying up manufactured housing communities and driving up lot rents. Many mobile homeowners have lower or fixed incomes, and increases in rent make it difficult to meet expenses. Older mobile home residents are particularly impacted, often lacking money for adequate food. A series of Michigan bills could hamper those investors’ actions by creating more protections for mobile homeowners and updating the state’s manufactured housing law. Mobile home ownership is one of the few affordable housing options in rural and urban areas.

Ilitch And Ross Release Detroit Center Renderings

May 31, 2022/in Detroit, SE Michigan, Uncategorized /by Tracy Willis

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.

Utility Companies Seek Land For Solar Farms

March 28, 2022/in Grand Rapids, Northern Michigan, SE Michigan, Uncategorized, Western Michigan /by Tracy Willis

Michigan utility companies are securing real estate to expand their solar energy generation capabilities as consumer demand accelerates. DTE Energy Co. needs 20,000 to 35,000 acres of southern-facing flat land to erect solar arrays over the next 10-15 years. Consumers Energy Co. currently generates 40 megawatts of electricity from solar and plans to be at 8,000 megawatts by 2040. That will require between 40,000-56,000 acres of land. Customer demand and land usage is a balancing act that Lansing policymakers haven’t yet addressed. Industry leaders anticipate some community resistance.

Washtenaw County Clerk Discovers Racial Restriction Policies

March 7, 2022/in SE Michigan, Uncategorized /by Tracy Willis

Washtenaw County’s county clerk, Larry Kestenbaum, has been researching county property records for over 17 years. He has found evidence of racially restrictive covenants all over the county. These policies kept people of color from living in many neighborhoods unless they were in-service for white families. A group called Justice InDeed, along with the Civil Rights Litigation Initiative at the University of Michigan have decided to get involved with the project. Together with Kestenbaum’s office, they filed paperwork to officially repeal and replace the 1947 whites-only policy for the Hannah subdivision in Ann Arbor. Although the restrictions haven’t been legal or enforceable for years, repealing them will affirm the neighborhood’s welcoming inclusivity.

Michigan’s Last Kmart Store Has New Owner

February 7, 2022/in Uncategorized, Western Michigan /by Tracy Willis

The site of Michigan’s last Kmart store near Battle Creek has a new owner. B. Riley Real Estate bought the former Kmart for an undisclosed amount. Prior to the store’s closing, it was a strong retail performer. That, coupled with the future growth of Marshall’s market and the planned Megasite development initiative attracted the buyer. The 86,479 square-foot building is in the Marshall Plaza shopping center and less than three miles away from Marshall Megasite, an industrial development. The developer plans to bring a mix of national retail tenants to the site.

Weekly Brief – July 6, 2021

July 6, 2021/in Uncategorized /by Dave Nykanen

As the residential market starts to settle back into a normal pattern, buyers are focusing on amenities that made homes appealing prior to the pandemic. However, given the impact of the pandemic and the lockdown, some of these features are receiving extra attention.

Buyers are now favoring more than ever outdoor amenities. Lakefront homes, golf course homes, and homes with “outdoor rooms” are becoming more attractive to buyers, as some are focusing on the ability to enjoy life even if there is a future pandemic leading to lockdowns.

On a (tangentially) related note, I had the opportunity to volunteer at the Rocket Mortgage Classic PGA Tour event at Detroit Golf Club last week. Even an extremely hot day on the golf course volunteering beat a day in the office!

Weekly Brief – June 14, 2021

June 14, 2021/in Uncategorized /by Dave Nykanen

While the real estate market was booming in Detroit prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the comeback has been somewhat slower post-pandemic.

This is largely due to the reliance on the downtown and Midtown development’s reliance on a singular force: Quicken/Rocket employees. As the return-to-work process has been adopting a more hybrid approach and has been slower than anticipated, the rebound of Detroit retail and restaurants has been slower than expected.

There are a couple of other issues in Detroit that have hindered the growth of the real estate markets in Detroit.

First, the Ilitch development of District Detroit has been, to be charitable, lacking. This has had the impact of stalling some development as developers wait to see what, if anything the Ilitch organizations will develop.

Second (and this applies to the residential market much more than the commercial market), the incidence of title fraud is still more than occasional (albeit perhaps not as rampant as it was previously). Until there is some solution to this issue, the residential markets will be hindered. As an observer of the title fraud, it appears some factors feeding the prevalence of title fraud include out-of-state investors who are not “on the ground,” as well as the much higher percentage of non-owner-occupied properties.

Perhaps technology can help solve the title fraud problem. Although few truly understand the benefits of it, the adoption of a blockchain approach to deed recording could slow down title fraud.