Sterling Heights City Council Approves Lakeside Mall Redevelopment Plan
/in SE Michigan /by Tracy WillisFollowing two hours of discussion, the Sterling Heights City Council approved a redevelopment plan that will raze Lakeside Mall. The proposed Lakeside Town Center project will include 150,000 new square feet of retail and dining space. Miami-based Out of the Box Ventures will tear down the shopping center and replace it with more than 2,800 residential units, and new retail, office and hotel space over the course of 12 years. The project has a $1 billion price tag. A $45 million public bond will be issued to pay for public infrastructure improvements at the site located at Hall and Schoenherr roads.
Mortgage Rates Surge Upward As Q3 Earnings Post
/in National, SE Michigan /by Tracy WillisRising interest rates are having a big effect in Southeast Michigan. According to Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate is higher than 7%. This surge hasn’t been seen since April 2002. The U.S. Federal Reserve is hiking rates in order to control inflation. Detroit-based Rocket Mortgage parent company Rocket Companies Inc. will soon be reporting its third-quarter earnings on Nov. 3, providing a better picture of how mortgage companies will fare in the future months. Ann Arbor-based Home Point will report its earnings on Nov. 10. Pontiac’s UWM has not released the date of its third-quarter report.
As Mortgage Rates Rise, Demand Drops
/in National /by Tracy WillisThe S&P 500 bounced back from the 2022 lows. The 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds yield hit 4.337% on Friday. Following a Wall Street Journal report that some Federal Reserve officials are uneasy with the pace of the central bank’s interest rate increases, treasury yields slid down to close out the week. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that U.S. mortgage demand dropped to a 25-year low, and the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 7.15%. The S&P 500’s price to earnings ration is 15.5 which is below its 10-year average.
Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Celebrates New Headquarters
/in SE Michigan /by Tracy WillisMercedes-Benz Financial Services USA (MBFS) has opened its new corporate campus in Farmington Hills. The headquarters are designed to support a new hybrid workforce model. The 3-story headquarters building is located on 35 acres at 35555 W. 12 Mile Road. The new workspaces encompasses 200,000 square feet. Olympia Development of Michigan, KIRCO MANIX and Gensler Detroit partnered with MBFS on the project. Mercedes-Benz Financial Services USA provides brand-specific financing and leasing products and insurance services.
Detroit’s New Huntington Tower Opens
/in Detroit /by Tracy WillisHuntington Bank held its grand opening of its new 20-story glass-clad Huntington Tower. Neumann/Smith Architecture designed the building which is located at 2025 Woodward Ave. The property houses Huntington’s commercial banking operations. Half of the tower is for indoor parking, with the top 9 floors mostly filled with offices. The ground floor includes a lobby and will include a Huntington branch. Construction of the tower began in 2019. Although it originally announced as a $104 million project, Huntington officials have not disclosed the project’s final costs. Huntington Tower is the first large new downtown Detroit building to be completed since the pandemic.
Detroit Relies On Virtual Property Appraisals
/in Detroit /by Tracy WillisThe city of Detroit is using desktop appraisals to determine property values. Desktop appraisals involve looking at aerial photos of properties and information gathered from parcel maps, deeds and permits, in stead of going to look at it in person. They are a quicker way of keeping up with about 71,000 residential parcels that need to be valued each year. Up until 2017, 60 years had passed without Detroit finishing a comprehensive reappraisal of city property values. After playing catch up, the assessor’s office must keep current with a state requirement that 20 percent of properties be reassessed each year. Aerial technology aids the city in keeping up with the huge number of homes over about 140 square miles. The strategy has critics who say that aerial imagery can cause low-value property owners to be in over their heads when their properties are already over-assessed. A shortage of appraisers has contributed to the reliance on desktop appraisals.