The Bagley Development Group has begun its redevelopment of the Ilitch-owned, 18-story United Artists Theater Building at 150 Bagley St. The property is being transformed into a 148-unit residential building called Residences @150 Bagley. It is scheduled to open in late 2023. Twenty percent of the new apartments will be offered at below-market rents for qualified tenants. It will also include about 10,000 square feet retail space on the ground floor.
The Fisher Body Plant No. 21 in Detroit will be repurposed into more than 400 apartments and will include retail space. Fisher 21 Lofts is a $134 million project that will be up for site approvals later this spring. Redevelopment could start late next year and be completed by 2025. The project would include 433 for-rent apartments. Twenty percent of those would be set aside for below-market rents. It would also include 28,000 square feet of commercial and retail space and 15,000 square feet of co-working space. The former auto body factory has been abandoned for 30 years.
Low inventory and increased demand caused the upswing of the 2021 Southeast Michigan housing market. Some areas in the city of Detroit saw the biggest increase in sale prices. One area’s prices jumped an incredible 68%. Detroit had more sales than anywhere in the region, with 2021 marking an 11.1% increase over 2020 and a median value increase of 33.6%. One broker’s theory is that the increase in sales in the city comes from landlords who decided they wanted to get out when the Duggan administration enforced certificates of compliance in order to be eligible for full distributions of coronavirus relief funds.
Construction is due to begin on the former Joe Louis Arena site for a new residential apartment tower. Several pieces of heavy-duty equipment arrived on late Wednesday afternoon. Colasanti Construction Services Inc. prepped for initial work on the 24-story apartment tower, drilling 100-foot deep caissons. Sterling Group applied for a permit for the building, but no information has been released by the city pending the outcome of the permit review. Part of the vision for the site includes an apartment tower called The Louis, with 500 studio and one-bedroom units. Specific plans for the property have not been made public since Sterling Group acquired the property. Previously, the site had been discussed as a mixed use development, potentially with a hotel.
Petoskey and Charlevoix are gaining new high-end and climate-controlled storage units. Developer Aston Clark is building the Toy Box Luxury Storage Units. The warehouses will be between U.S. 31, between Petoskey and Charlevoix. Each unit will have heat and air conditioning, a bathroom, a kitchen, loft and balcony with views of the lake. The 2,300 square foot units will be available starting May 4. According to the Michigan Self-Storage Association, the demand has gone up for storage in Northern Michigan.
Charlevoix City Council has approved a property maintenance code to address declining properties before they reach blight status. The international Property Maintenance Code Ordinance is designed to supplement the Dangerous Buildings Ordinance. According to zoning administrator Jonathan Scheel, the city didn’t have any type of property maintenance code to prevent a building from becoming dilapidated. The new code will give the city the ability to intervene and require deteriorating structures to be corrected before they become unfixable issues.
When opportunity knocked, Agree Realty Corp. listened. The Bloomfield Hills-based real estate investment trust capitalized on the COVID-19 pandemic and has doubled its portfolio size and outgrown its recently-expanded headquarters. It will redevelop the former 50,000-square-foot Art Van Furniture Inc. store into a new base of operations. The company has focused on retail properties leased to investment-grade tenants. They’ve bought up properties with a diverse mix of tenants, strengthening their multi-faceted retail game. In less than 3 years, the company’s portfolio has increased from 660 to 1,404 properties across 47 states. Their growth is expected to continue in 2022.
Charlevoix’s city officials are searching for solutions to the area’s affordable housing shortage. Accessory dwelling units (ADUs) are small outbuildings that can be used for a variety of purposes, from guest apartments to home offices. At a January 10 meeting, Charlevoix’s planning commission recommended approval of regulations that would make ADUs easier to build in residential areas. The ADUs increase property usage in residential districts, provide extra space for families, and allow space for multi-generational homes that support familial caretaking. They create income sources when they serve as rentals. The accessory units also increase property values.
173,000 tenants have applied for the statewide rent aid program that was launched to help renters avoid eviction and meet their payments. Wayne County makes up about one-third of the applicants. Detroiters make up 22% of the rent help applicants. According to the chief operating officer of the Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency, they continue to see high numbers of requests for support. The Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey reports that between Dec. 1 and Dec. 13, more than 100,000 Michiganders said they were behind on rent or mortgage payments. Less than half of the applications for assistance were approved as of January 7. Statewide, wait time between application and approval averages 35 to 40 days. In Wayne County, that wait time may take as long as 10 weeks. MSHDA has hired staff combat the backlog and high numbers of applications in Wayne County
Plans for a new 83-unit apartment building near the Masonic Temple and Little Caesars Arena were shared with the public during a virtual community meeting. 3rd & Charlotte, the name of the development, is a joint project between developer Stephen Ross’ Related Cos. and the development firm The Platform. The apartments would be leased at below-market rents to tenants making 60% of area median incomes. To go forward, the project must be awarded Low-Income Housing Tax Credits from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. If developers can meet the requirements, construction could begin in the 4th quarter of 2022.