DETROIT | Development & Construction: Motown Lowdown

[LMich]

There was a lot more pressure and red tape on the Hudson block being a city-owned property, of course. Anyway, I don't doubt much of anything from developers in the city, anymore. I think the attitude in Detroit went from "Why?" to "Why Not?" quite a few years ago, now. And I'm talking both the public and private sectors. So, I'm not all that skeptical of the proposal.

That said, they are talking about the SW corner of Woodward and Grand. Isn't this corner slated for renovation and redevelopment of the existing storefronts, or am I thinking of the block across the street? I'd much rather they work around the streetwall, and there is a fairly sizeable surface lot just behind these buildings. Feels like they could use the whole western half of the block for a tower and leave the streetfront alone.

[Docta_Love]

^ Yeah i agree, as a general rule for Detroit development if there's an alternative to "tearin' that shit down" it should be taken because Detroit's lost too much as is. As on cue...

150 apartments, retail possible for historic WJBK-TV building in New Center
By KIRK PINHO
6-15-17
Crain's Detroit Business



About 150 residential units are being floated for the historic former WJBK-TV Studios Building in the New Center area.

The building, constructed in 1956 at 7441 Second Ave. at Bethune Street, is two stories and about 41,000 square feet, according to CoStar Group Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based real estate information service.

Halcor Group, a real estate company headquartered in Calgary and with an office in Torrance, Calif., presented Wednesday night to a city board concepts that include an addition to and conversion of the building. As presented, it would include up to seven stories of residential space built to the west behind it.

The Detroit Historic District Commission took no action on the possible project Wednesday night, said Richard Hosey III, a board member.

The building is "the only intact example of a 1950s television studio left in the city," according to an application for addition to the National Register of Historic Places, which was approved last year, the Detroit Free Press reported.

The popular shows "Sagebrush Shorty" and "Sir Graves Ghastly" were produced there. The building was designed by John Volk, who was the architect for properties for the Vanderbilt, DuPont, Ford, Dodge and Pulitzer families, the application says.



There would also be first-floor retail space. The apartments would be a mix of studios, one- and two-bedroom units, according to a document provided to the historic commission.

Detroit-based Kraemer Design Group is the architecture firm on the project, which is referred to as Studio Live, the document says.

Details like the possible development cost are not known, nor are the construction timeframe or the financing structure.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...uilding-in-new

[hammersklavier]

Originally Posted by animatedmartian

Philly developer says he has closed on New Center property; 35-story high-rise possible

Nothing official, but supposedly a decision would be made on what to put there in four to six weeks. Seems kind of quick relative to most Detroit projects. It's been how many years waiting on the Hudson's site to move?

I'm not so optimistic about achieving that floor height, but I think a pretty significant development could occur there either way.

Don't expect jack shit from a Grasso. They're developers in name only.

[deja vu]

Heard about this on the radio this morning:

Program to give small Detroit neighborhood businesses help with facade improvements
by Katrease Stafford , Detroit Free Press
June 14, 2017

A new program aimed at helping existing Detroit neighborhood businesses who weathered the city's hard hit economy was announced Wednesday by Mayor Mike Duggan and the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation.

Motor City Re-Store is an offshoot companion program to the Motor City Match and will provide up to $500,000 every three months in matching grants to existing business owners and their landlords for facade and other exterior improvements. 

The Motor City Match gives $500,000 every quarter to startups and businesses expanding to new locations in the city.

...

[animatedmartian]

Originally Posted by LMich

There was a lot more pressure and red tape on the Hudson block being a city-owned property, of course. Anyway, I don't doubt much of anything from developers in the city, anymore. I think the attitude in Detroit went from "Why?" to "Why Not?" quite a few years ago, now. And I'm talking both the public and private sectors. So, I'm not all that skeptical of the proposal.

That said, they are talking about the SW corner of Woodward and Grand. Isn't this corner slated for renovation and redevelopment of the existing storefronts, or am I thinking of the block across the street? I'd much rather they work around the streetwall, and there is a fairly sizeable surface lot just behind these buildings. Feels like they could use the whole western half of the block for a tower and leave the streetfront alone.

This development only includes the one corner building on the SW corner and the parking lot behind it. The developer has said that he's open to simply renovating the building as it is and/or just developing the parking lot behind it. But he's also open to demolishing the building if it's makes sense to do so.

But yea, both sides of Woodward are expected to get renovated storefronts according to Midtown Inc.

[animatedmartian]

New $6 million building with 36 apartments proposed for Midtown
By KIRK PINHO Crain's Detroit. June 15, 2017.



Detroit-based developer is planning a 36-unit apartment building on West Willis Street between Second and Third avenues on what is a vacant lot.

The project, proposed by Richard Hosey III and two others, is at 655 W. Willis St. and would be four stories tall with nine studio apartments, 18 one-bedrooms and nine two-bedrooms, according to a document provided to the Detroit Historic District Commission.

The HDC board granted conditional approval to the project Wednesday night, Hosey said. Designs presented to the board could change.

Development costs are $6 million. Partners include Jason Jones of Tekton Development and Southfield-based SG Cos., Hosey said.

The project is expected to begin in spring 2018 and be completed by summer 2019.

It is in the Willis-Selden Historic District, which according to the Detroit Historical Society consists of Willis, Alexandrine and Selden streets from Woodward Avenue to the east and Third Avenue to the west.

....

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...ed-for-midtown

[LMich]

Originally Posted by animatedmartian

This development only includes the one corner building on the SW corner and the parking lot behind it. The developer has said that he's open to simply renovating the building as it is and/or just developing the parking lot behind it. But he's also open to demolishing the building if it's makes sense to do so.

But yea, both sides of Woodward are expected to get renovated storefronts according to Midtown Inc.

That's good to hear. I suspect that's why they are going so tall, then, because they only have parcels instead of the whole block.

[animatedmartian]

Originally Posted by hammersklavier

Don't expect jack shit from a Grasso. They're developers in name only.

I was kind of afraid of that since I couldn't find much info on what they've done in Philly. My expectations are kind of dampened until more concrete information comes out about this New Center project.

[animatedmartian]

Introducing Beacon Park. It officially opens next month though the restaurant won't be open until the fall.











Clean Book Tower cameo.



http://www.dailydetroit.com/2017/06/...w-beacon-park/

[subterranean]

Just got back from Detroit. Stayed in the Whitney on Pride weekend. Detroit is looking so good. It still stands in stark contrast to this disneyland I find myself in now, but wow. Unbelievable.

My only real complaint at this point is trying to find a coffee shop or breakfast/brunch before 8:00 AM is nearly impossible.

Aside from that, another general observation was how many women and groups of women I saw out alone at night dressed to the 9s. They were everywhere. Even when I was living half-time in the West Village back in 2014/2015, I rarely saw that. I guess the safety perception of downtown is increasing.

[Docta_Love]

^Glad you were able to make it back in town subterranean, i was just talking to my friend who works at the Whiskey Parlor about basically the same thing last night about how downtown has basically become the new "Birmingham" of the metro area. It really does seem like every time i go downtown there really are exponentially more and more people.


Not a hundred percent sure actually if there talking about the city which i believe they are but then they mention msa stats so its a lil confusing but if the city of Detroit itself is ranking 16th in the U.S. than that's a good and well over due sign since the metro area's been ranking in the top for a while now and was even number one for a couple years.

Detroit cracks the list of fastest growing tech towns in the U.S.
BY ROBIN RUNYAN
JUN 15, 2017
Curbed Detroit



We know that the thought of the relatively low rent in Detroit is appealing to many searching for jobs. A study by ABODO found the Motor City attractive because of its rent, and we’ve seen that Detroit may be a good city for women in tech. Now, Detroit has been named as the 16th fastest growing tech town by job search site Ziprecruiter.

The job search engine looked through their database of 8 million jobs to capture year over year growth in tech jobs by Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and the top jobs in tech by MSA. It then ranked the top 20 areas and included:

The top 5 tech jobs in each MSA.
The median salaries for early and mid-career tech workers in each MSA (via PayScale),
Median rents and home sales prices for each MSA (via Trulia).
Detroit came in just behind Denver and ahead of Tampa.

Detroit, MI

Growth in tech jobs YoY: 81.1%

Top tech jobs:

1. Project Manager

2. Software Engineer

3. Quality Engineer

4. Systems Engineer

5. Application Engineer

Early Career Median Pay: $59,600

Mid Career Median Pay: $94,400

Median rent: $750

Median home price: $57,000

https://detroit.curbed.com/2017/6/15...tech-jobs-list

[LMich]

It's the MSA (repeats it quite a bit in just the excerpt you posted; "Detroit" is the Detroit MSA), but most new tech jobs in the metro are coming to and/or being grown in downtown and midtown Detroit.

[animatedmartian]

In more frustrating news...

Olympia confirms plans to demolish Hotel Ansonia, Atlanta Apartments on Cass
By KIRK PINHO. Crain's Detroit. June 19, 2017.

Hotel Ansonia


Atlanta Apartments


427 Henry St.


664 Charlotte St.


Demolition permits have been filed for three early 20th century apartment buildings and a 70-year-old house, including two buildings rumored in recent weeks to be facing the wrecking ball from Detroit-based Olympia Development of Michigan.

The permits to demolish the Hotel Ansonia at 2447 Cass Ave. and the Atlanta Apartments at 2467 Cass Ave., both located at the Fisher Service Drive, were issued Friday, according to city records. A demolition permit was also issued Friday for the vacant apartment building at 427 Henry St. west of Cass.

And a house at 664 Charlotte St. between Second and Third avenues is also slated to come down, according to documents filed with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

The DEQ documents, called "notifications of intent to renovate/demolish," say demolition is expected to begin June 29 and end Aug. 31. All four buildings are owned by Olympia, the documents say.

......

The Hotel Ansonia and Atlanta Apartments are not in a local historic district, although Detroit City Council member Raquel Castaneda-Lopez on Monday formally requested that the buildings be included on an interim basis in the Cass Avenue Local Historic District.

The interim designation would last a year while a study is conducted to determine whether the buildings should be added to the district on a permanent basis. Also during that time period, all applications for permits to do work on the two buildings would have to be referred to the Historic District Commission.

....

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...nta-apartments


Of course, Olympia says they're too expensive to renovate but I think we all know better.

[The North One]

Email Council members: http://www.detroitmi.gov/Government/City-Council

Sign the petition: https://www.change.org/p/city-of-detroit-councilmembers-prevent-the-demolition-of-the-hotel-ansonia-and-atlanta-apartments

Slimy Olympia has gotten away with this for too long.

[LMich]

I really do hope someone is able to stop this, but they are redeveloping so many other properties, I fear they've innoculated themselves a bit.

[Docta_Love]

Originally Posted by LMich

I really do hope someone is able to stop this, but they are redeveloping so many other properties, I fear they've innoculated themselves a bit.

Yeah unfortunately i don't think there's much hope, with the Illitch's redeveloping the United Artist's building, the American Hotel, the Eddystone ext. it would be hard to stop unless someone else wanted to buy the properties for a fair price and then redevelop them in a short time table. While i really don't like this i'll accept it as long as the whole 5 neighborhood "District Detroit" is built basically as envisioned, however it pain's me to say it.

Here's a good example of why unless the District Detroit plan proceeds forward at a good pace with the over all plan at the very least its bad business to be tearing down apartment buildings in the city that aren't in that bad of shape. Detroit needs to save the absolute most of its historic it possibly can, while if the District Detroit development if completed will be a game changer for a downtown that is already undergoing "game changing" developments, however tearing down abandoned buildings without a reason and plan for usage in the short term should appear to anyone who has been watching whats been going on over the past 20 years downtown as just plain wrong, at the very least .

Report: Detroit area needs more than 15,000 new apartments by 2030
BY ROBIN RUNYAN
Curbed Detroit
JUN 14, 2017




It may seem like Detroit has added many new apartments in the past few years. Between 2011 and 2016, we’ve seen an additional 412 apartments in the metro area each year. But in order to keep up with current trends in immigration, fewer homebuyers, and an aging population, a new report says the Detroit area will need 15,467 new apartments by 2030.

That averages to about 1,105 a year.

The report, commissioned by the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) and the National Apartment Association (NAA), found that nationally, 4.6 million apartment units will be needed in that time. Detroit is ranked #33 out of 50 in terms of need.

“Nationally and here in Detroit, we’re experiencing fundamental shifts in our housing dynamics, as more people are moving away from buying houses and choosing apartments instead. Detroit is experiencing modest population growth, which could increase in the future if recent manufacturing gains continue. The rental stock is older here, and over half of renters are housed in older, more affordable apartments. Demand for additional apartments in the Detroit metro area is expected to be positive but erratic going forward,” said Deborah Oaks, President, Detroit Metropolitan Apartment Association.

Detroit itself has seen a boom in apartment building renovation and construction. We’ve mapped many of the projects underway, and many more are in the works. The report suggests that Detroit needs a wide range of apartments and at all price points. For this study, they considered an apartment as a rental unit within a building that has five or more apartments.

https://detroit.curbed.com/2017/6/14...partment-needs

True North, a Quonset hut community, opens for residents
Quonset huts are back in Detroit

BY ROBIN RUNYAN
Curbed Detroit
JUN 16, 2017
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHELLE & CHRIS GERARD



With the vast amount of land in Detroit, there’s room for innovative housing and development. True North, which has sprung up over the past year, is one of those truly unique ideas.

Last summer, we started hearing that a few Quonset huts were being built off of Grand River and 16th. We visited in the winter, as many started to rise. Since then, people from around the world have shown interest in this little community and now, they’re housing new residents.

Curbed recently toured the new community with developer Philip Kafka, as landscaping and final touches are underway. Some of the spaces will be dynamic and activated, while most will simply be residences. They’ve planted 30 trees and more wild grass and a clay court is yet to come. Of the residences, all seven are occupied or will be rented shortly. One of the huts will be rented out as an Airbnb, while the largest one (the tall one with the ladder) will have a gallery space and an apartment above it.



Kafka says that once the news broke of the development, they had over 150 inquiries about it. When people who haven’t seen it drive by, he says, they stop to look. He says he’s happy with how democratic the design is, and wanted a sensible development that’s good for everyone. Could there be more on the way? Possibly. For now, they’re learning from the building of this development and what could be improved in the future.

https://detroit.curbed.com/2017/6/16...-north-detroit

[The North One]

It's not exactly "hopeless" A council member filed an interim designation for the buildings and there's a ton of people upset about it. It's getting lots of attention.

The Hotel Ansonia and Atlanta Apartments are not in a local historic district, although Detroit City Council member Raquel Castaneda-Lopez on Monday formally requested that the buildings be included on an interim basis in the Cass Avenue Local Historic District.

The interim designation would last a year while a study is conducted to determine whether the buildings should be added to the district on a permanent basis. Also during that time period, all applications for permits to do work on the two buildings would have to be referred to the Historic District Commission.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...&view=homepage

[The North One]

Not exactly development related but impressive nonetheless. Jack Ma's conference in the city "Gateway '17" has started. Alibaba's first large-scale event in North America.

Alibaba is coming to Detroit to sell small businesses the Chinese dream
Josh Horwitz
June 19, 2017

Alibaba is selling the Chinese dream this week—in Detroit.

The Chinese e-commerce giant is pulling out all the stops to impress America at Gateway ’17, its biggest-ever public event in the United States, which starts Tuesday, June 20. At the two-day conference, founder Jack Ma is scheduled to take the stage for a June 21 keynote in which he’ll discuss the opportunity for US small businesses to tap into China’s growing middle-class. That will follow a more intimate discussion on opening day about his personal story and entrepreneurial drive, moderated by acclaimed interviewer Charlie Rose.

The mayor of Detroit and the lieutenant governor of Michigan will be there. Even Martha Stewart will show up, giving a fireside chat titled “Exporting the Martha Stewart Lifestyle.”

The goal of it all? To show how Alibaba can help small- and medium-sized businesses make money and create jobs—1 million, specifically, as Ma committed to in January.

“The Chinese market presents tremendous opportunities for U.S. small businesses and farmers to grow their businesses, and in turn, create more U.S. jobs,” Ma wrote in an open letter announcing the event.

It’s a noble cause. But people knowledgeable about e-commerce in China suggest the event is also, at heart, about something else: boosting Alibaba’s political positioning.

https://qz.com/1006682/at-alibaba-ga...ll-businesses/

[animatedmartian]

Orleans Landing is not yet completely done but the streets are open and residents have been allowed to move in to some of the buildings.

• Video Link

[subterranean]

I'm fairly happy with the way that turned out. It will look even better once the trees have grown.