DETROIT | Development & Construction: Motown Lowdown

[skyfan]

Originally Posted by mind field

Praying for some sexy design, and not value engineered garbage.

Amen, I want that for every project , but that intersection definitely deserves some nice.


Dan might be exaggerating a bit, but 2015 was a very good year for Gilbert and Co.

Gilbert: Downtown running low on room for new arrivals

Businessman Dan Gilbert said Wednesday that so many residents and businesses have been moving downtown that the city's central business district may be running out of room.

In an upbeat summary of 2015 progress downtown, Gilbert, founder and chairman of Quicken Loans who with his partners owns or controls more than 80 properties downtown, said his Bedrock Real Estate Services signed 70 new tenants to downtown leases in 2015 after completing 53 new leases in 2014.

“The demand to be downtown is very strong, and we plan to continue investing and creating new opportunities so others can join us and participate in the fascinating story of Detroit," Gilbert said in a statement released by his office. "Soon, the biggest challenge will be lack of adequate supply for the anticipated demand in the marketplace.”

Bedrock's 2015 leasing activity filled up nearly 1.3 million square feet of retail and office space, after filling 1.1 million square feet in 2014.

Among Bedrock's biggest deals last year: Ally Financial agreed to occupy 13 floors with 321,000 square feet of office space and bring 1,500 employees to the newly named Ally Detroit Center, the former One Detroit Center. Among other new tenants either moving in or committing to leases in 2015 were Nike, which plans to open its downtown store on Woodward Avenue in the spring, the House of Pure Vin wine shop, the organic juice store Drought, and the Townhouse restaurant, among many others.

http://www.freep.com/story/money/bus...roit/78371892/

Also Amtrak service will be little better this year.

Detroit connection to speed passenger services




Amtrak’s Wolverine passenger trains between Chicago and Detroit have begun using a new curve at West Detroit Junction, which has been built in conjunction with the upgrading and double-tracking of the former NS route now owned by Michigan Department of Transportation.

Completed in late December, the US$15·8m curve was partially funded by a US$7·9m grant from the Federal Railroad Administration approved in 2012. Located around 3 km south of Amtrak’s Woodward Avenue station, the single-track curve connects the former NS (ex-Conrail) line from Ann Arbor and Chicago with the CN route to Pontiac, which serves the Amtrak station.

The new connection enables passenger trains to bypass the congested area around the triangular Bay City Junction at the Scotten Interlocking further east. The curve is carried over Junction Avenue on a new bridge built as part of the project.

As well as improving the performance of Amtrak services, the new connection is expected to facilitate the introduction of MDoT’s planned commuter rail service between Detroit, Dearborn and Ann Arbor.

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/i...-services.html

[animatedmartian]

New year has started off with a bunch of development news it seems.

New lease on life sought for New Center area building with sordid past
KIRK PINHO. Crain's Detroit. January 6, 2015.


Former brothel raided in 2012 could become jazz club at end of M-1 Rail line

While Darin McKlesky knows he can’t erase the windowless building’s checkered past, he knows it doesn’t deserve perdition or big scarlet “A” either.

McKlesky, who said he has a letter of intent with an undisclosed jazz club operator to lease the building’s 4,000 square feet of space, got the listing to lease the building to a tenant about four months ago while he was still working for the Detroit-based Loft Warehouse.

....

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...th-sordid-past

Buhl Building, parking garage put up for sale
By Kirk Pinho. Crain's Detroit. January 6, 2015.



One of the tallest office buildings in downtown Detroit is being marketed for sale.

The Buhl Building, a 27-story office tower at 535 Griswold St., has 385,000 square feet and is 71 percent leased, according to a confidential investment summary prepared by the Chicago office of Cushman Wakefield, which is marketing the building to buyers.

It is one of 13 buildings with at least 27 stories in Detroit's central business district, according to CoStar Group Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based real estate information service.

Included in a sale would be a 652-space parking deck, which was constructed in 1925 and designed by Wirt C. Rowland, who also designed the Guardian Building across the street and the Penobscot Building next door.

....

The average rent is $18.06 per square foot (compared to $20.36 per square foot in the downtown market) and the average remaining lease term among its 56 tenants is three years, according to the brochure.

....

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...ut-up-for-sale


Of course, there's bound to be some development drama.

Detroit artist sues Princeton Enterprises over 'bleeding rainbow' mural on North End building
By Kirk Pinho. Crain's Detroit. January 5th, 2016.



A federal lawsuit has been filed against a Bloomfield Township-based real estate company to protect a well-known mural on the side of one of the buildings it owns.

Andrew Smith, corporate counsel for Princeton Enterprises LLC, said the company is “still gathering information” on the lawsuit filed Tuesday by Detroit artist Katherine Craig, but that it disagrees with her “characterization of the facts and the law” in question: the federal Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990.

Craig, whose nine-story “The Illuminated Mural” adorns the western wall of the 73,000-square-foot building at 2937 E. Grand Blvd. in the North End neighborhood, is seeking an injunction barring the destruction of the mural, created in 2009.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit, says the mural is in danger because Princeton Enterprises, whose founder and CEO is Matt Lester, put the building up for auction last year (it did not sell) and has considered redeveloping the Albert Kahn-designed building into multifamily housing.

“Princeton … has threatened to destroy or mutilate the mural by, for example, punching windows across the painted façade,” the lawsuit says.

“Princeton has asked Craig to accept little more than a token sum in exchange for her legal rights to an artwork that took more than a year to conceptualize and create, and that continues to be the most important part of her growing oeuvre.”

The lawsuit says Craig received $33,000 in funding from the College for Creative Studies Community + Public Arts: Detroit program for the project.

....

But the lawsuit is likely premature, said Andrey Tomkiw of Royal Oak-based Tomkiw Mackewich PLC. That’s because it has not yet been established that the mural is “in danger” because Princeton Enterprises has not yet determined what it specifically it will do with the building —sell it or redevelop it.

Tomkiw said he represented a potential buyer of the building, but that buyer opted not to bid in the auction because of the mural and the potential legal thorn it caused.

....

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...eeding-rainbow

[The Lurker]

This is wrapping up in Troy about 18 miles north northwest of Downtown Detroit.

[The Lurker]

Delete

[Docta_Love]

Hey has anyone else seen the new retail development that's been put up across from the new Meijer its kinda cool fitting into the sharp angular southeast corner of Grand River and McNichols for being so ordinary. I'm wondering if there is a newer effort to rejuvenate the Old Redford retail district, the original plans for the store and ancillary buildings don't include anything across GR but its being built but at the same time as the expanded retail along GR and McNic.



( *edit; i found this accidentally this is the site it was listed for lease with a different development plan possibly predating the meijer development plan)


Perhaps its just Meijer expanding the scope of the project boundaries slightly but it would be great to see some continued effort come out of this old redford has some great neighborhoods especially the area between berg and lasher south of 7 and north of grand river. I know that there was work done on the old redford theater and blight behind it removed and replaced with urban gardens even though more work is needed but that whole grand river- lansher - mcnichols area has such great potential it's already a place where young people from the burbs come a little investment could go a long way.

On a positive note i've seen good effects from the neighborhood center that was converted from an unused school in the shiawassee community neighborhood the city has taken down blight on the blocks closest to telegraph and more people have started taking pride in their yards and maintaining the vacant lots while some homes in the stable areas east of neighborhood center and near the rouge have invested in aesthetic improvement. I got to know the area much better over the past year helping a friend with the renovation of a home on dale st and although grand river and tele is a bit rough its great to see improvements happening in neighborhoods that need them.


http://lormaxstern.com/wp-content/up...ng-Package.pdf

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by The Lurker

This is wrapping up in Troy about 18 miles north northwest of Downtown Detroit.

Ho... Houuuu yea this is looking cool enough, people.

[animatedmartian]

Vacant Mexicantown buildings part of larger area redevelopment plan
By Marti Benedetti. Crain's Detroit. January 9th, 2016.



Southwest Housing Solutions' Vista Partnership is taking steps to redevelop vacant buildings along a 20-block stretch of Mexicantown as part of a larger redevelopment plan.

The Detroit-based nonprofit's Vista Partnership seeks to engage local residents, organizations, public-sector partners and businesses to revitalize a southwest Detroit neighborhood with economic opportunity and social equity. It is funded primarily through grants from foundations such as the Skillman Foundation.

The project got off to a slow start as it required creating a strategy and culling community feedback through meetings and a survey, said Dan Pederson, director of Vista Partnership and a former resident of the neighborhood for 20 years. Now that it has accomplished those steps, it can proceed to find developers and occupants for the vacated buildings.

Pederson is approaching owners of vacant buildings to see if they would like assistance in redeveloping the property or if they would like to sell the property to Vista that would, in turn, redevelop it and find tenants beneficial to the neighborhood.

....

The Vista Partnership has been somewhat controversial since its start. Neighborhood residents worry it will compromise the affordability of the area and its Hispanic character, which goes back more than 100 years.

Pederson acknowledged that the demographics of the 20 blocks is changing.

"We are seeing an influx of young people from Brooklyn and other places, and I see more people riding bikes than ever before. But part of the attractiveness here is how multicultural we are," he said.

Recent counts show the neighborhood is 85 percent Hispanic.

....



Southwest Housing is open to adding housing but wants a combination of market-rate and affordable housing so people aren't priced out of the neighborhood, Pederson said.

Sherri Saad, broker and owner of Re/Max Leading Edge in Detroit, said home prices in southwest Detroit are on the upswing.

Housing that was priced at $10,000 to $15,000 is now $35,000 to $40,000, up about 40 percent from a few years ago.

She stressed that in southwest Detroit, the value of a house depends on its street. Some streets are known for vandalism, gang activity and foreclosures. "Depending on the street, a house can cost from $5,000 to $50,000," she said.

Pederson added that certain streets' houses can command $100,000 or more.

Saad, who has been selling houses in southwest Detroit, including Corktown, for 15 years, said in adjoining Corktown there are now no bargains and rarely a foreclosure. "There are bidding wars on houses," she said.

Houses of 1,000 to 1,500 square feet range from $129,000 to $189,000.

She said Corktown's prosperity is spilling into the Hubbard Farms neighborhood and may eventually move into Mexicantown, but that community is family-driven and slow to change.

....

Unlike neighborhoods closer to downtown, Southwest Detroit would probably be most vulnerable to obvious gentrification since the area is already well populated.

[dc_denizen]

this is how you make money...

Gilbert’s First National Building soars in value

The First National Building, one of the first downtown Detroit properties bought by Dan Gilbert, is worth more than 13 times the $8.1 million price paid in 2011, according to an analyst report.

Several reports issued by the commercial real estate research firm Trepp LLC — along with a loan prospectus by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. about the Woodward skyscraper — provide a rare glimpse into the financial details of a downtown property owned by Gilbert. The billionaire founder of Quicken Loans Inc. has grand visions for the central business district.

“I would say he really hit a home run with this investment,” says Sean Barrie, research analyst for Trepp, a New York-based firm.

A Gilbert-affiliated entity purchased the First National Building, an historic skyscraper next to Campus Martius, in bankruptcy court. Since 2011, Gilbert’s Bedrock Real Estate Services has spent more than $110 million to renovate the 25-story historic gem at 660 Woodward, according to the loan prospectus. Last September, the building appraised for $106 million, according a report issued by Trepp.

Last year, the building was used as collateral for a $70 million commercial mortgage-backed securities loan issued to the Gilbert entity, 660 Woodward Associates LLC. The firm is registered to Jim Ketai, the managing partner and CEO of Bedrock Real Estate Services LLC. Gilbert is co-founder of Bedrock Real Estate. The last piece of that $70 million loan officially closed in late December, according to Trepp.

Gilbert and Bedrock are playing a leading role in reshaping a booming downtown. Since 2011, Bedrock and its affiliates have invested nearly $2.2 billion in acquiring, renovating and developing more than 80 properties downtown, totaling nearly 14 million square feet.

First National Building was one of Gilbert’s first downtown purchases. At the time, First National was among the many struggling properties in the city’s core. The building had gone through foreclosure and was half empty.

Bedrock began to immediately renovate the 800,000-square-foot building, which was designed by legendary architect Albert Kahn. As of last summer, the 26-story First National was 92 percent occupied, according to the J. P. Morgan loan prospectus. Its latest annual net income was $7.5 million.

“They have done what any smart developer does — they bought low and then made a first-class asset out of the property,” said Dennis Bernard, founder and president of Bernard Financial Group in Southfield. Bernard Financial was the servicer on the First National Building loan, which he says is one of the largest loans of its kind for a downtown building.

[The North One]

I'm not sure if they made that children's hospital look obnoxious enough, needs more neon colors.

[animatedmartian]

Originally Posted by The North One

I'm not sure if they made that children's hospital look obnoxious enough, needs more neon colors.

I think that particular picture is just over saturated. It's not that bright in-person on a typical day.


Children's Hospital of Michigan - Troy by Detroit Medical Center, on Flickr


Children's Hospital of Michigan - Troy by Detroit Medical Center, on Flickr

[Docta_Love]

I'm not sure if they made that children's hospital look obnoxious enough, needs more neon colors.

I think its more like who ever chose that paint scheme is a major u of m fan, they just threw in the red to try and throw us off.

[The North One]

Where in Troy is this thing? It can't be on Big Beaver, lets just say I would have noticed.

[DetroitSky]

Originally Posted by The North One

Where in Troy is this thing? It can't be on Big Beaver, lets just say I would have noticed.

It is on Big Beaver, near the intersection with Livernois.

The Strand Theatre in downtown Pontiac has started renovations.

[animatedmartian]

Originally Posted by The North One

Where in Troy is this thing? It can't be on Big Beaver, lets just say I would have noticed.

Not sure how it couldn't be noticed, lol. It's even closer to the street than a lot of the other buildings in the area.

https://goo.gl/maps/3XGc4pSaCGs

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by The North One

I'm not sure if they made that children's hospital look obnoxious enough, needs more neon colors.

I find it more awesome than obnoxious, cause the design is ultra symbolic of the function of the building. At least, if that institution actually specializes in pediatrics, which is obviously assumed. You'd better like Lego, though...

Anyway, there's no reason for architecture to always be stuck in conventional codes and conformism. Symbolism like this can be highly interesting too.

The only unfortunate thing about it is that some random Toys R Us boxes you sometimes pass in a suburb planned for cars exclusively might look a bit the same.
Although materials used here seem much better than those of an average box in a suburban mall area.

Honestly, it's a good building.

[animatedmartian]

Originally Posted by mousquet

I find it more awesome than obnoxious, cause the design is ultra symbolic of the function of the building. At least, if that institution actually specializes in pediatrics, which is obviously assumed. You'd better like Lego, though...

Anyway, there's no reason for architecture to always be stuck in conventional codes and conformism. Symbolism like this can be highly interesting too.

The only unfortunate thing about it is that some random Toys R Us boxes you sometimes pass in a suburb planned for cars exclusively might look a bit the same.
Although materials used here seem much better than those of an average box in a suburban mall area.

Honestly, it's a good building.

Psychology, kids are more responsive and feel better with bright colors. I've noticed quite a few children's hospitals are built with splashes of color so it's likely something doctors are in support of.

[Cro Burnham]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

this is how you make money...

Gilbert’s First National Building soars in value

Am i missing something? he paid $8MM, invested $110MM in renovations, and now it's worth $106MM

What Gilbert is doing blows my mind, and the Detroit and Pittsburgh turnarounds are the most exciting US development stories in the last many decades in my opinion.

My beef, I guess, is that the article is overly rah rah and makes out like Gilbert scored a bonanza with this deal when in fact the project is, value-wise, still in the red. Alot less red than any one could have dreamed possible a few years ago, but still red. Hopefully in the next few years the upward value will continue to increase quickly and then Gilbert really will have shown in this case that a major investment like it can pay off.

Anyway, that building is gorgeous. I admire Gilbert so much. I wish we had someone like him in Philly.

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by animatedmartian

Psychology, kids are more responsive and feel better with bright colors. I've noticed quite a few children's hospitals are built with splashes of color so it's likely something doctors are in support of.

Yeah. My oblivious thought. I would give a +10 to this if this forum allowed it.

In my experience, too many doctors still claim to be atheists though, cause they're so used to concrete and materialist pure flesh.
As far as I go, I'm more used to softer things....

You do have to love and pay them a lot, anyway.

[The North One]

Originally Posted by animatedmartian

Not sure how it couldn't be noticed, lol. It's even closer to the street than a lot of the other buildings in the area.

https://goo.gl/maps/3XGc4pSaCGs

Wow, they must have built that shit overnight, because I don't remember ever seeing it. lmfao

Anyway, that's great news for Pontiac, I'm curious to see how things will turn out.

[DecoJim]

Originally Posted by Cro Burnham

Am i missing something? he paid $8MM, invested $110MM in renovations, and now it's worth $106MM

Note also that building earned $7.5 million net profit for the latest fiscal year. According to the story starting in 2011 the building went from about 50% leased to 92% leased last year. Presumably little or no net profit was made in 2011 with the building half empty that year but we can probably assume some profit in the three years prior to latest year.
(-) $8.1M + $110M = $118.1M.
(+) $106M + $7.5M + $? = >$113.5M.
So if the building earned more than about $5M in net profits from 2012 - 2014, then they are already ahead (if he could actually sell the building for that valuation). I do not know the tax situation but presumably there are some credits for historic redevelopment. Perhaps the article could have provided a more complete financial picture assuming that information was available.

Originally Posted by Cro Burnham

Anyway, that building is gorgeous.

It would look even better if they could restore the original cornice.