DETROIT | Development & Construction: Motown Lowdown

[The North One]

Great pics, sun is out today perhaps you should take more.

[animatedmartian]

Fairly large development for the near east side. Hopefully the move will be positive for both locations

Homeless shelter leaving Midtown for east-side site





One of Detroit's most-visible homeless shelters plans to move out of the city's Midtown area to a new, greatly expanded facility on the city's east side within the next two years.

The Neighborhood Service Organization plans to build a $20-million homeless services center, tentatively called the Sanctuary, on Mack just east of Gratiot, with construction scheduled to begin at the start of next year.

NSO President and CEO Sheilah Clay told the Free Press the three-story, 100,000-square-foot facility includes 75 one-bedroom apartments in supportive housing that provides social services for people moving out of homelessness, in addition to shelter space and on-site health care, substance abuse treatment and other amenities.

...

http://www.freep.com/story/news/loca...site/97439642/

[animatedmartian]

There is a complex of buildings at the site where Gilbert is proposing the new jail, so I imagine the cost to demolish what's there now is not included in the cost stated in the article.

Gilbert offers a new jail, courthouse to open way for soccer project



Billionaire developer Dan Gilbert's Rock Ventures has made Wayne County an offer for the downtown site of the current unfinished jail where he wants to build a soccer stadium and entertainment district.

Rock Ventures is offering to build the county a new, "state-of-the-art, consolidated criminal justice center" that includes the construction of new adult and juvenile detention facilities (Divisions 1 and 2) and a new criminal courthouse (replacing the current Frank Murphy Hall of Justice). The proposal also calls for the transfer of the Gratiot Avenue site to Rock Ventures where it is planning a $1-billion commercial development.

Wayne County estimates the completion of the jail on Gratiot Avenue and renovations to the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice will be $300 million. Rock Ventures said in a news release that it is prepared to build the county a new, high-tech criminal justice complex at an estimated cost of $420 million, in exchange for the transfer of the Gratiot Avenue property and a credit for the savings a new consolidated criminal justice complex will provide.

“Today, the County received a proposal from Rock Ventures as an alternative to completing the jail at Gratiot. We will withhold further comment on the offer until we’ve had the opportunity to review it,” Jim Martinez, director of communications for Wayne County, said in a prepared statement.

Rock Ventures is proposing to build the new criminal justice complex at East Forest Avenue, east of I-75, and approximately 1.5 miles north of the Gratiot Avenue site. Gilbert has expressed interest in the jail site soon after construction was halted on the complex in 2014 after cost projections put the complex at about $90 million over budget. Since its been idle, the unfinished site has cost the county taxpayers about $1.2 million a month.

....

http://www.freep.com/story/news/loca...site/97570484/

[photoLith]

Originally Posted by skyfan

The Scott Mansion has made some awesome progress.

Whenever people say a building is too far gone I want to show them this photo from now on. Incredible work.

[mousquet]

^ Agreed, this is well executed. It must be a bit expensive to to do this right, given the size of the building that's not so large by contemporary standards/habits.

Keeping frequently following their development news simply because I want their town back to real prosperity, I think what they call "City Modern", some contemporary development planned over an area called Brush Park will be particularly interesting, at least in my opinion.

http://www.citymoderndetroit.com/

This should anchor fine quality contemporary design over there, which is more than necessary.

[animatedmartian]

Changes over the past couple of years via Detroiturbex. Includes completed projects and on going renovations.



































Source: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Detroitu...58956344138072

[subterranean]

YES. I'm really excited about Detroit.

[hammersklavier]

Detroit is seriously starting to get its mojo back again. This is very good news.

[dc_denizen]

Great pics. What are they building in the last picture?

[The North One]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

Great pics. What are they building in the last picture?

It's the sales center for the Brush Park development.

[Warrenite84]

...will upload pics shortly, sorry

[Warrenite84]

Great photos Animatedmartian!

[Warrenite84]

...

[Warrenite84]

Here are a few I took on Feb. 16:
Metropolitan and Wurlitzer Renovations

Little Caesar's Arena


Dan Gilbert's David Stott Building getting extensive brick repair




New micro apts, and Kresge Building Renovation


Farwell Building's new façade


New Shinola Hotel going here on Woodward


Book Tower gets a well needed bath

Major repair needed on the decorative trim


This will look even more amazing when the renovation and cleaning is complete!




Capitol Park


Brush Park and CBD...


P.S. Thanks for the posting help animatedmartian!

[animatedmartian]

Awesome update dude. Those are some pretty nice closeups of David Stott and the Book Tower.

[animatedmartian]

The headline is kind of clickbait-y but it's good sign that the market is stabilizing rather than overheating. With so many new units coming online this year it should be no surprise that rents will level off and vacancies increase a bit for higher end apartments, at least for a short time. No doubt once it warms up and we get into spring, those vacancies will probably fill up quick. I wouldn't worry unless new proposals this summer start falling off.

Could Detroit soon have too many new apartments?
JC Reindl , Detroit Free Press. February 19, 2017.



After several years of apartment scarcity in and around downtown Detroit, supply is starting to catch up with demand, prompting some building owners to offer rent deals and to shorten waiting lists.

Hundreds of new market-rate rentals have opened in the city's downtown and Midtown since last fall with hundreds more planned to open this spring.

Until recently, hunting for apartments in greater downtown Detroit often involved joining waiting lists because new developments sometimes leased out within days of opening. But the latest batch of newly opened buildings show significant vacancies several months after move-in day. Meanwhile, some popular older buildings that once had months-long waiting lists now have a handful of vacancies.

This deceleration raises questions about the depth of the residential market in Detroit and the trajectory of the city's continuing revival.

Local development experts point to the average 98% occupancy rate last year for residential buildings in greater downtown and say the inventory deluge doesn't mean that the housing market is getting saturated or that the surge in new construction since 2013 was all a bubble.

Rather, the residential market could be entering a new phase: one in which the arrival of more new amenities such as restaurants, retail stores, the coming Little Caesars Arena and QLINE streetcar service will, in the near future, make Detroit an even more sought-after place to live.

....

http://www.freep.com/story/money/bus...tate/97640058/




Speaking of proposals that have fallen off, there's been no news for Staler City Apartments since last summer.



Last I read, the then CEO of Village Green, Jonathan Holtzman, sold the company to another company but retained all the real estate. This proposal is now apparently called City Club Apartments, and Mr. Holtzman said last year in June that this project would get going by late 2016. It's now mid-February 2017 and the lot is still fenced off and bare. With the apartment boom going on, this one sticks out as being pretty delayed and, at this point, I'm wondering if it's dead completely, still the same, or will actually end up redesigned and possibly bigger than originally proposed.

[ethereal_reality]

Amazing photographs Warrenite84. My jaw dropped at all the exquisite details.

[EGrant]

Originally Posted by animatedmartian

Speaking of proposals that have fallen off, there's been no news for Staler City Apartments since last summer.

I used to be in the school of thought that any new construction was good construction and we shouldn't be picky. But we've seen a lot of new, creative development in the past 2 years, and building that unimpressive Village Green proposal would be a complete waste of prime real estate. I hope they reconsider or let someone else develop this site.

[Warrenite84]

I agree. Detroit's layout includes several sites that are best utilized by nothing less than a 25 floor aesthetically pleasing office or residential massing. Something like what Vancouver does so well. The empty Campus Maritus lot, Monroe Block, Hudson's site, the lots on Grand Circus Park that once held the Statler Hotel and Tuller Hotel come to mind. Some on this forum want to spread a wide swath of 5 storey buildings but that would be a waste of the highest and best use for several of these sites.

Woodward Avenue to New Center would be best utilized by taller buildings along the avenue and shorter buildings further away, IMHO. The 5 storey stick built developments recently built are nice but somewhat waste its prime location.

[PHL10]

Wow, great photos! Glad to see so many of these treasures being brought back to life.