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Duggan Predicts Office to Residential Shift
/in Detroit, National, SE Michigan /by Tracy WillisAccording 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
/in Grand Rapids, Northern Michigan, SE Michigan, Western Michigan /by Tracy WillisAn 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
/in Grand Rapids, SE Michigan, Western Michigan /by Tracy WillisAmazon 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.
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Home Value Disparity Cripples Detroit Black Homeowners
/in Detroit /by Tracy WillisThe disparity between the average national home value and that of Detroit’s black homeowners has tripled in recent years and has far-reaching consequences for future generational wealth. While some attribute the gap to ongoing systemic racial issues and the foreclosure crisis, one professor of architecture and urban planning feels the study that produced the data is flawed. In the current year, there are no signs of the gap widening further, but also no signs the gap is shrinking. For a great discussion of the role of redlining in impeding African-American wealth, view the PBS documentary The House We Live In.
Michigan Downtowns Take A Hit From Remote Work
/in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Northern Michigan, SE Michigan, Western Michigan /by Tracy WillisDowntown businesses have lost a significant percentage of their consumers due to remote work trends. The number of empty commercial real estate sites is preventing the resurgence of downtowns. Owners are creatively repurposing empty sites to adapt to the need for affordable housing, remote employee wifi access, and coworking spaces.