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Car Wash Manufacturer to Build New Headquarters

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Car wash manufacturer, Tommy Car Wash Systems, is building a new headquarters and manufacturing facility in Holland. The $32.6 million facility will centralize the company’s operations. The expansion site has sat vacant for more than 20 years. The 245,000 square-foot building will house production space, an assembly area, office space and a demonstration center. The project promises to create or preserve 300 new full-time equivalent jobs. The federal New Markets Tax Credit program will enable Tommy Car Wash Systems to provide advancement opportunities with lower levels of education.  Michigan Community Capital, Old National Bank, and Cinnaire are investors in the project. The project should be complete by the summer of 2023.

 

 

Landmark Office Real Estate Up For Grabs

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Nearly 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.

Detroit’s Revitalization Could Have A New Focus

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The global pandemic has turned many things upside down. The office markets around the U.S. are one of those things. Congress may offer developers incentives to repurpose old office buildings into residential, institutional, hotel or mixed-use spaces. While Mayor Mike Duggan has come out in support of the Revitalizing Downtowns Act, area developers do not have active plans to utilize it should the law be passed. The number of Detroit’s residential units lags behind other downtown areas. The legislation isn’t limited to downtown redevelopments but could be used to convert old office properties in the suburban locations into new uses as well.

 

Detroit Coworking Locations Adapt Post-Pandemic

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Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous coworking spaces were opening or planned in Detroit. While the growth appears to have slowed post-pandemic, and several locations have permanently closed, there are still new coworking locations planned in Detroit.  There are currently about a dozen coworking sites open in the city, with a few more planned in the near future. Some of the new sites are planned for areas outside of the core downtown area.

Stellantis Pilots New Work Model

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White-collar workers at Stellantis are likely to continue working remotely much of the time once they formally come back to the office. The company has devised a new work model that it calls the New Era of Agility. As part of a new pilot program in October, 450 employees will return to the Chrysler Technology Center at the headquarters complex in Auburn Hills. What’s learned in the pilot program will determine how the company proceeds with its remaining employees, but it envisions a split of 70% remote work to 30% on-site time.

Weekly Brief – April 5

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My focus this week is on the impact of COVID-19 on the future of office space. Although I have previously discussed the impact of the global pandemic on retail (bad) and industrial uses (good), I have not devoted much time to the impact on the future of the office sector.

At this point, there is not a lot of hard data on the impact of the acceleration of remote work caused by COVID-19 on office users. This is mainly due to the fact that most office leases have not yet expired post-pandemic. So the choices made by tenants about the contraction of office space have not become evident in the market.

We are, however, starting to see some anecdotal evidence that office space needs will contract in the near term.

Ford will likely be reducing the number of employees working on-site. This decision will necessarily reduce the office space needs of Ford. This could have a significant impact on the Dearborn marketplace, especially. (This may have a double impact on Fairlane mall, as the mall is being reused as office space by Ford after the closure of anchor retail tenants).

DTE Energy recently announced it would be selling its office building in downtown Ann Arbor. The 400 employees at the site are either going to work remotely or be relocated to existing DTE office space in Detroit.

This week Crain’s also provided more anecdotal stories. Some smaller office users are reducing office space. New entrepreneurs are reducing office space. A large law firm is maintaining its office usage in Detroit. However, that decision may be due to the space being completed, and the lease having been signed pre-pandemic.

Also anecdotally, I have spoken to office users who have renegotiated existing leases to reduce square footage. Apparently, some landlords have decided that getting 100% rent on 50% of space from a tenant is better than receiving 0% rent on 100% of space, notwithstanding existing lease terms.

As this year progresses, I expect we will receive more hard data about the contraction of office space. Each month, more office leases will expire and be renegotiated for a renewal. I expect tenants will be signing leases for less space, and the vacancy rates will start to tick upward.

Commercial Real Estate Faces Existential Crisis

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When compared to the 20 bankruptcies that were filed per month over the last year, the 11 companies who filed for bankruptcy over the past month could point to a slow down. Cheap money/capital have helped troubled companies stay afloat, slowing the bankruptcy filings.

However, the retail, office, and hotel sectors are particularly vulnerable. The impact of the pandemic is trickling down as the government intervention to prop up the economy starts to slow.

Weekly Brief – January 11, 2021

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I want to highlight a few topics that I believe will dominate the Michigan real estate landscape at a macro level in 2021.

First, mortgage foreclosures will begin to impact the residential market later this year. Although there is the potential for further federal or state moratoria, eventually we will be unable to kick the can further down the road. These foreclosures will begin to place downward pressure on sales prices at the end of 2021 or early 2022, as the foreclosed properties will begin to be marketed for resale.

Second, the impact of COVID-19 on commercial properties will begin to be felt in 2021 as well.

Although it appears the industrial class is weathering the storm quite well, the same cannot be said for retail and office properties.

For retail properties, in addition to the impact of “stay home” orders, you have the continuing trend of online shopping, which only accelerated due to COVID-19. Paradoxically, the decline of the retail sector has contributed to the stability of the industrial sector, as logistics and warehouse uses that support online retailers have thrived during the pandemic.

Major retailers often file for bankruptcy protection in January, after the cold realities of a failed holiday season hit home. This year, I would expect that major retailers, as well as “mom and pop” stores will have to fact reality in early 2021. The “sit-down” restaurant sector will likely also be impacted.

For the office sector, it remains to be seen is whether the impact will be long-lasting. If companies permanently shift work to a remote, or work-from-home, setting, the impact on the office sector could be significant. However, if employers move back to a traditional work setting, 2020 may be a blip on the office sector radar.

Finally, the lifting of eviction moratoria will impact the residential market. Evictions could have a net positive impact on the investor-owned market, as non-paying tenants are shown the literal, and proverbial, door. Or it could merely signal that rental rates will be forced down, impacting investors and overall residential market pricing.

If you would like to track articles on foreclosure and evictions, those articles are specifically tracked on this page of the Michigan Real Estate News website.