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$5.8 Million in Grants Awarded to Detroit Projects

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The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) awarded brownfield grants and loans to the Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (DBRA), the Southwest Housing Solutions Corp., the American Indian Health and Family Services, and Detroit’s Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department (BSEED). Brownfields are areas where reuse is complicated by contamination issues. DBRA will use $1 million in EGLE brownfield grants to fix contamination at the former American Motors Corporation headquarters. Southwest Housing Solutions Corp. will use the grant monies to remediate an entire block of contaminated land into a new development that will provide affordable housing. The American Indian Health and Family Services will build a new community health and wellness center in southwest Detroit. The city of Detroit will use the $450,000 it was awarded to transform vacant parcels of land for a residential redevelopment project. BSEED will use its grant to assess contamination, remove an underground storage tank and install a ventilation system if removal of the contamination is impossible.

 

 

 

Metro Detroit Tops Most Expensive Home Sales in 2022

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Metro Detroit had some of the most expensive home sales in 2022. The Bloomfield Hills home at 780 Vaughn Road features classic French chateau design. It sold for $6.125 million. Its location on more than 3 acres by Cranbrook was a selling point. The property at 4890 Birchway Drive in Orchard Lake Village boasts more than 10,000 square feet and 109 feet of Orchard Lake frontage. It features a bedroom suites, a guest room over the garage, a theater room, wine cellar and patio with outdoor gathering area. The home sold for $5.6 million in less than 48 hours. The home at 7420 Inner Circle Drive in Bloomfield Township sold for $4.9 million. It includes 11 acres with a river and a chicken coop. A large garden, theater room, and a lower level entertaining space with a second kitchen and bar were big selling points. The Fisher Mansion is the most expensive house to sell in Detroit’s history. Located at 1771 Balmoral Drive in Detroit, the home includes entertaining space, a library, 15 bedrooms and more than 20,000 square feet. Other properties in Bloomfield Township, Oakland Township and Birmingham sold in the range of $4.3 to $5 million.

 

 

 

The RenCen Comprises Over Half of Downtown’s Vacant Office Space

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Downtown Detroit is home to some of the biggest empty office spaces in the state. Over half the of the vacancy across Detroit’s best office buildings is inside the Renaissance Center. Six RenCen office towers, four of which are owned by General Motors Company and two that are owned by a publicly-traded utility from New Jersey, comprise 26.1% of the total office space surveyed by JLL’s Skyline report. The office towers make up nearly 53% of the vacancy across the 22 buildings surveyed. The towers took a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic when GM allowed its employees to work remotely, and tenants like Deloitte LLP and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan opted for space in other buildings. The health of the office market in Detroit and elsewhere continues to be a concern in commercial real estate.

 

Detroit’s Hotel Boom Is Just The Beginning

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Detroit’s hotel market is showing signs of revitalization. Operators and developers are investing millions in new and renovated properties. Hotel occupancy is coming back to pre-pandemic levels after a lean-to-starvation year in 2020. Cambria Hotel Detroit Downtown is expected to open in February. Corktown’s Godfrey Hotel, west of downtown, is slated to open in the spring. The Westin Book Cadillac’s $20 million renovations begin next month. In addition, Olympia Development and Related Companies have plans to build two hotels as part of a $1.5 billion investment in the District Detroit. Operators of Huntington Place are pushing for the construction of hotels at the former Joe Louis Arena site. The tourism industry hopes to attract more large-scale events, like the 2027 NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four that was awarded to the city last month.

 

Metro Detroit’s 2022 Commercial Real Estate Update Impresses

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In the past year, the Ilitch family and billionaire development mogul Stephen Ross announced their partnership to build the Detroit Center for Innovation. Since then, no construction has started. Whether or not the plans come to fruition is up in the air. There are currently 10 projects in the works outside of the DCI. They include business incubator space, new office and residential towers, and hotel space. Altogether, $1.5 billion in projects are waiting in the wings. That figure doesn’t include the DCI which would cost $250 million, funded in part with a $100 million earmarked in the state budget.

 

Gilbert Trades Out Brokerage Firms On Hudson’s Project

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Billionaire Dan Gilbert has hired the local office of New York City-based brokerage house Newmark to attract tenants to the new office space he’s building at Woodward and East Grand River avenues. The move marks a switch from the brokerage he had retained previously. The $1.4 billion Hudson’s site project is probably the highest and largest profile in the city, as of late. The market for office space has taken a beating because of the COVID-19 pandemic, pummeling sites like the Renaissance Center, Meridian Health and Compuware Corporation. The leasing of Gilbert’s 400,000 square feet of new build office space faces a challenging market.

 

Detroit’s Yorba Hotel Is On The Market

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Detroit’s Hotel Yorba is back on the market at a reduced price. Located at 4020 W. Lafayette Blvd.,  in the city’s Hubbard Farms neighborhood, The historic hotel’s purchase price was reduced from $3.3 million to $2.95 million. The four-story building has around 250 hotel rooms with common bathrooms on each floor. The property is owned by Gerald Jankowski. The hotel opened in 1926 and was designed by Detroit architecture firm Pollmar & Ropes.

 

Bedrock LLC Adds Hotel To Its Portfolio

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Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock LLC has purchased the Roberts Riverwalk Hotel at 1000 River Place Dr. The property is the newest splurge in the company’s $80 million shopping spree on Detroit’s riverfront. Bedrock began collecting property along the east Detroit riverfront during the pandemic. The company owns almost 1 million square feet of office space, about 1,600 parking spaces and ore than 40 acres of land in addition to the new hotel purchase. The hotel’s purchase price is undisclosed. Dan Gilbert’s $80 million-plus spending spree on the east Detroit riverfront continues.

Detroiters Tangled Up In Title Transfers

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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

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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.