Michigan Real Estate News

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Ann Arbor Attempts To Smooth Building Process For Developers

Real Estate developers have complained for years about Ann Arbor’s many requirements and layers of review and approval for building projects. Some have stated that they’ll never do business in the city again because it’s easier and less costly to build new housing in other places. Ann Arbor officials are trying to right that wrong. The City Council voted to shorten the approval process. Projects that meet the city’s zoning requirements will not have to go through council. Instead, they’ll be reviewed and approved by city staff and the Planning Commission. City leaders are discussing more steps to smooth the process as the city tries to attract high-density development along transit corridors.

Detroiters Tangled Up In Title Transfers

Many Detroiters are dealing with “tangled titles.” They’re in living situations, like inherited homes, where home titles haven’t been transferred from deceased family members. Foreclosure prevention experts often come across title problems where heirs need more education on how to navigate the title transfer problems. Title issues prohibit people from gaining access to assistance programs that help with home repairs or back property taxes. When a home title doesn’t transfer within a family, it cripples families’ abilities to build generational wealth. Title issues occur when there isn’t a will or trust in place. Transferring ownership then has to occur through probate, and that process is out-of-reach for many who can’t afford a lawyer. The stakes grow higher when people are facing tax foreclosure. Michigan Legal Services, a nonprofit legal services organization, has helped over a thousand in Wayne County administer probate cases to transfer title to the heir occupying the home. The need for these services far outweighs the available legal resources.

 

Fort Ponchartrain Hotel’s Second Tower Plans Revisited

Investor group, Operadora de Servicio Para Hoteles de Lujo, is revisiting the idea of building a second hotel tower on the Fort Pontchartrain hotel in downtown Detroit.  They recently issued a request for proposals for an economic feasibility study fro a 390-room addition to the property. The addition would include 40 for-sale condominiums. There have been plans to build a second tower for the hotel for years. The plans go as far back as 2015. They were abandoned until 2018 when 498 rooms across a 28-story expansion were proposed. At that time, the hotel was called the Crowne Plaza Downtown Detroit Riverfront. At that time, the Detroit City Council called for a neutrality agreement for a labor union to represent hotel workers. In 2021, the hotel’s ownership renamed it Fort Pontchartrain, a Wyndham Hotel, and reopened the Top of the Pontch restaurant.