Book Mansion Hits Market Soon
/in Detroit, SE Michigan /by Tracy WillisThe James Burgess Book Jr. mansion on East Jefferson Avenue will most likely hit the market for sale in the very near future. The property has been taken back by a foreclosing lender. The 1911, 12,000-square-foot building had been owned by Historic Book House LLC. The approximate $1.245 million mortgage is from December 2016. Soaring Pine Capital Real Estate and Debt Fund II are the lenders. The deadline to redeem the property by paying $937,006 plus interest is January 29. According to a Soaring Pine representative, that is unlikely to happen. The occupants had planned to hold orchestral concerts for the Ars Poetica Chamber Orchestra and give music lessons to pay back the loan. Unfortunately, those plans went by the wayside with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Landmark Trees To Be Cut For Ann Arbor Subdivision
/in SE Michigan /by Tracy WillisIn an 8-3 vote, Ann Arbor City Council has agreed to the controversial Concord Pines development. National homebuilder, Toll Brothers, will cut down hundreds of landmark trees to develop a 57-home luxury subdivision. Some argue that the development is not in keeping with Ann Arbor’s sustainability goals. The 30+ acre site includes land owned by Concordia University. Out of 447 landmark trees, 311 will be cut down, as well as 450 of the 741 low-level woodland trees.
Inadequate Housing Plagues Detroiters
/in Detroit /by Tracy WillisA new report from the University of Michigan estimates that 90,000 Detroiters live in inadequate housing. The study found that residents of color, rental tenants, people with children and those who earn less than $60,000 annually are impacted the most. The study considers housing inadequate if it has major problems with electrical needs, furnace or heating problems, or a lack of hot or running water. 81% of survey respondents had at least one problem with their home condition. The greatest complaints included concerns about plumbing, pests, and crumbling porches.
NTT Ltd Subleases Its Headquarters Space in Southfield Town Center
/in SE Michigan /by Tracy WillisNTT 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
/in Detroit, SE Michigan /by Tracy WillisNearly 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.
Renowned Detroit Hotel Sale and Renovations Pending
/in Detroit /by Tracy WillisThe Westin Book Cadillac hotel in downtown Detroit is under a pending deal. Chicago-based Oxford Capital Group, the same company that broke ground on a new Godfrey Hotel in Corktown, is buying the 453-room hotel. Downtown Detroit hotels took a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Book Cadillac has been delinquent on its mortgage since spring 2020. With the sale, Oxford Capital will assume $77 million in debt to prevent the hotel from going into foreclosure. The company will spend at least $16.5 million on renovations and maintenance. It’s seeking a 12-year Commercial Redevelopment tax break that’s valued at over $26 million.