The site of Detroit’s only Big Boy restaurant, across from Belle Isle, is back on the market. The Platform LLC has backed away from its plans to build new apartments on the site. The Farbman Group is marketing the property for an undisclosed price. According to a Platform spokesperson, the company remains committed to its work in Detroit. The Platform had envisioned an 8-10-story apartment building with 240 studio, one- and two-bedroom units.
Rhodium Capital Advisors closed on the purchase of the former Hyatt Regency hotel in Dearborn on Wednesday. The Manhattan-based real estate company purchased the property for an undisclosed sum. The company owns and operates 17,000 apartments across the U.S. It plans to convert the 772-room hotel into a multifamily, market-rate apartment complex with 375 unites. Phase 2 of the $50 million project includes renovation of the restaurant and banquet space on the property.
The state psychiatric hospital site in Northville Township will be demolished as early as the summer of 2022. The hospital has been closed since 2003. The Northville Township Board of Trustees approved a $12 million bond sale to fund the clearing of the site. Previously in 2018, the site’s nine-story structure was demolished in 2018. The property will be developed into hiking and biking trails, with over 96% of the 332 acre site returned to a natural state. The township’s general fund will not be used to pay for the clearing.
The 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.
In 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.
A 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.
The Detroit-based City Growth Partners LLC has scrapped its plans for boutique hotel rooms in a Detroit riverfront development. The $136 million vision for the property now includes 478 apartments instead of an original 360 apartments and 120 boutique hotel rooms. The revised number of apartments will make it one of the largest new multifamily projects in Detroit. The development will still include retail space. The Detroit Economic Growth Corp. board will have to sign off on the changes to the development plan because it is publicly-owned land. The changes have yet to be presented to the board.
Inkster, Pontiac and Auburn Hills were once communities where the majority of residents were homeowners. According to U.S. census data, analyzed by the apartment search website RENTCafé, the municipalities have shifted to become majority-renter communities. Port Huron and Hazel Park are close to having more renters than homeowners, too. The changes occurred in each city as foreclosures jumped and home values dropped. The increase in suburban rentals may be because people are delaying home purchases.
InvestNext Inc., a software firm backed by Detroit billionaire Dan Gilbert, has closed on a venture capital financing round to the tune of $4.3 million. The company’s software goal is to help investors and fund managers keep track of pertinent details and documents involved in real estate investments. Hyde Park Venture Partners, Detroit Venture Partners, Whitecap Venture Partners and Grand Ventures participated in the funding round. InvestNext Inc. now has more than 18,000 active investors and has paved the way for more than $.4 billion in transactions.
The Core City neighborhood, located west of Woodbridge and about 2 miles from downtown, is one of the most unique real estate projects in the city and the state. It currently spreads across six existing commercial buildings, 10 recently built Quonset hut apartments, plus one large Quonset hut split into eight live-work space. It will be expanding early next year to include more housing. The old commercial buildings are filled with office and retail tenants. The buildings surround a new public space park filled with shade trees and artwork. The Core City project is the brain child of developer Philip Kafka and his real estate company, Prince Concepts.