DETROIT | Development & Construction: Motown Lowdown

[LMich]

Tangentially development related, but between the improving economy, and the treasurer's office keeping folks in their homes by a huge outreach to get people on tax payment plans, foreclosures have plummeted in Wayne County:

Detroit, Wayne County see dramatic drop in foreclosures

By Elisha Anderson | Detroit Free Press

September 19, 2017

City, county and community leaders touted a substantial drop in foreclosures in Wayne County and Detroit at a news conference today.

Property tax foreclosures in Wayne County were reduced from 28,000 in 2015 to less than 7,000 this year, Wayne County Treasurer Eric Sabree said.

“Of the 43 municipalities in Wayne County, this year 12 of them had zero foreclosures,” he said. “And 15 more had 10 or less foreclosures.”

Wayne County created an interest rate reduction program that allows homeowners to enter payment plans and pay delinquent taxes at an interest rate of 6%, which has dramatically cut foreclosures, officials said.

There are about 36,000 people in payment plans currently, Sabree said.

Detroit-specific:

Duggan zeroed in on stats of owner-occupied houses.

In 2015, there were about 6,400 owner-occupied houses foreclosed in Detroit. This year, he said, the number was 786, an 88% reduction in two years.

Duggan said "786 is still too many."

Duggan said ⅔ of the occupied house foreclosures in Detroit this year were cases where a landlord was collecting rent, but not paying the taxes.

The number of overall tax foreclosures in Detroit this year was 6,315, down from 12,552 in 2016 and 24,793 in 2015, city officials said.

“The last time the foreclosure numbers in Detroit were lower was 2008, just prior to the mortgage industry collapse, when there were 4,392,” a press release from the city said.

[animatedmartian]

Bedrock today unveiled a package of four transformational developments totaling $2.1B in investment that will create 24,000 jobs in the city

Freep article.









https://twitter.com/BedrockDetroit

From what I understand, construction will be going on simultaneously for all 4 of these projects within the next 5 years. Though it seems like it's being announced as if these are all apart of the same project. The only thing really new seems to be the One Campus Martius rendering and a wider shot of the ground level of the Monroe Block.

[subterranean]

^God, the Book is so awesome. Glad to see One Campus Martius is finally getting filled in.

[Docta_Love]

Erb Family Foundation grants $1 million for Motown Museum expansion

By SHERRI WELCH
Crain's Detroit Business
September 20, 2017



-Donation will support educational and entrepreneurial incubator space for young artists
-Museum has now raised $10 million or more toward $50 million project
-It plans to begin the first phase of work on the project this fall.

The Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation has made a $1 million grant to Motown Museum in support of its expansion plan.

The Erb Foundation grant will support the development of an education and community engagement space to serve as educational and entrepreneurial incubator for young artists and a home to the Detroit museum's summer camp and other programs.

The new space will allow the museum to share the legacy of Motown Records' entrepreneurship with students, neighborhood residents and community members, John Erb, president and chair of the Erb Family Foundation, said in a release.

With the latest contribution the museum has raised $10 million or more in the year since it announced the $50 million project, with the largest gift of $6 million coming from Ford Motor Co. and UAW-Ford.

As planned, the 40,000-square-foot expansion will house interactive exhibits, The Ford Motor Company Theater, recording studios, meeting spaces, a cafe and expanded retail.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...seum-expansion

[BVictor1]

Originally Posted by Docta_Love

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...seum-expansion

http://www.wxyz.com/news/dan-gilbert...ity-of-detroit

[The North One]

Originally Posted by BVictor1

http://www.wxyz.com/news/dan-gilbert...ity-of-detroit

There's a better rendering of the taller Monroe block in the video, it looks so fucking sleek and elegant, I love the verticle lines.

[Docta_Love]

By the way it would be cool to see some retail space added below the addition on One Campus Martius since it will be right next to the Hudson's tower but that's where the loading docks are located so it may not be possible. Same with the O.C.M. parking garage with the Monroe Block Development across Monroe St. seems like it will feel rather dead along that section. But hey i'm just happy to see these developments not gonna nit pick but it would be cool if they could add even a small amount of space especially on Monroe.

[The North One]

Here it is, it looks so damn good.



Another ground floor shot. This must be the Monroe Avenue frontage.

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/in...250m_from.html

[subterranean]

^ I love it, but a part of me wishes the tall one (Hudson's) looked like this.

Reminds me a bit of the Edythe Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building in Portland with the vertical lines.

[animatedmartian]

Park Avenue Building hits the market several months after the owner has died. No price listing as of yet, but I'd imagine this might get scooped up pretty quick given the activity of the surrounding area.


http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...r-owners-death

[LMich]

Originally Posted by The North One

Here it is, it looks so damn good.



Another ground floor shot. This must be the Monroe Avenue frontage.

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/in...250m_from.html

Those are the old renderings, right?

[The North One]

No

There were renders released similar to the first angle but it was before they increased the height.


http://www.freep.com/story/money/bus...rock/94628514/

[Docta_Love]

Great project hope we see more like it to come!

Vacant school in Detroit's Banglatown to be converted to affordable housing

By KURT NAGL
Crain's Detroit Business
September 21, 2017



-$6.4 million redevelopment
-All 23 apartments to be affordable housing
-18 blighted houses in neighborhood to be demolished


A vacant Catholic school in Detroit's Banglatown neighborhood is being redeveloped into affordable housing under a new $6.4 million project announced by the city Thursday.

The 23-unit apartment building, on Syracuse Street north of Hamtramck, will be 100 percent affordable housing at 60 percent of the median area income.

The Archdiocese of Detroit is selling the Transfiguration School building, vacated in 2005, to Ethos Development Partners and Building Blocks Nonprofit Housing Corp., which will lead the project. Construction is expected to begin in fall 2018 and be complete late in 2019.

The project will be funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, historic tax credits and low income tax credits.

In addition to the redevelopment, the plan calls for the demolition of 18 blighted homes in the neighborhood.

....

Dubbed Banglatown in 2015, the neighborhood is home to many Bangladeshi-Americans and is also one of the poorer ones in the city, where nearly two-thirds of residents live at or below the poverty level, according to the city.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...-to-affordable

[skyscraperpage17]

Unfortunately, this abomination on the Statler site appears to be breaking ground

(From DetroitYES!)

[The North One]

Good that space desperately needs to be filled.

[skyscraperpage17]

Originally Posted by The North One

Good that space desperately needs to be filled.

Ideally, the focus should have been on quality over quantity.

But it's a done deal now. I will proceed with the bleaching of my eyes.

[deja vu]

Originally Posted by skyscraperpage17

Ideally, the focus should have been on quality over quantity.

But it's a done deal now. I will proceed with the bleaching of my eyes.

That proposed 'successor' to the Statler lacks quality AND quantity. Something far more substantial could go in such a prominent spot. Better than nothing I suppose.

[deja vu]

Didn't see this coming - apparently Southfield is throwing in for the Ama-zon / zing Race.

Amazon will get headquarters bid for closed Northland Mall
September 21, 2017
By Paula Gardner | MLive

[LMich]

Originally Posted by deja vu

Better than nothing I suppose.

Ten years ago, I'd have agreed with that statement. Not now. Literally any other developer with control of that site would put up something more substantial, now. Detroit doesn't have to settle, anymore.

[The North One]

I know people love to shit on it but I don't see much wrong with the Statler proposal, it looks fine. I don't care if it's not 30 stories that site doesn't have to be.