DETROIT | Development & Construction: Motown Lowdown

[LMich]

Originally Posted by hammersklavier

That is absolutely dinky as far as retail spaces go.

That this project has any retail given the building type is unusual. I imagine we're using "retail" here loosely; probably better to use "commercial". This will likely end up being office space for a tiny company, maybe even for someone who lives in the building.

[LMich]

Early October update of Little Caesar's headquaters expansion:


The District Detroit


The District Detroit

[Docta_Love]

^ I really love that first picture from the district detroit.

Along with the Book tower the Metropolitan building renovation after 38 years of vacancy and repeatedly facing the wrecking ball is one of my top favorite projects even with the coming new high rise construction factored in.


https://detroit.curbed.com/2017/10/2...ion-power-wash

UBS to open downtown Detroit office

By ANNALISE FRANK
Crain's Detroit Business
October 30, 2017



UBS plans to open an office in downtown Detroit in mid-2018, the company announced Monday.

UBS Group AG's U.S. and Canadian wealth management business, New Jersey-based UBS Wealth Management Americas, plans to lease 13,000 square feet on the connected sixth floors of neighboring buildings at 1515 Woodward Ave. and 1529 Woodward Ave.The two buildings built around 1900 are owned by Detroit-based Bedrock LLC and are undergoing renovations, said John Bush, 60, Michigan market head for UBS Wealth Management Americas.

"The real impetus for us to open a new office in Detroit is to support what's going on in the city," said Bush, a Detroit native who grew up in Garden City. "We really felt like we wanted to have a physical presence downtown to reinforce our vision for this particular area and to reinforce our commitment to the city."

UBS Wealth Management Americas also has metro Detroit offices in Birmingham, Troy, Farmington Hills, Plymouth and Dearborn.

Fourteen metro Detroit employees will move to the downtown office to start, but the office has the capacity to hold another six to eight new staff members, Bush said. It will act as an extension of the other wealth management offices.

....

UBS plans to rent out about half of the office — 6,000 square feet — at no cost to nonprofits and other organizations, Bush said. The space will be called UBS Woodward Gallery. Its design and art will aim to showcase Detroit's history and a hub-and-spoke layout will reflect the city's road system.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...detroit-office

Belle Isle lake to undergo $5 million restoration

By KURT NAGL
Crain's Detroit Business
October 27, 2017



Lake Okonoka at Belle Isle is undergoing a nearly $5 million restoration aimed at improving water quality and recreational access.

"It will tremendously improve the habitat quality much like the environment 200 years ago," said Sam Lovall, project manager for Friends of the Detroit River, which is leading the effort.

Construction began last week and is expected to be complete by fall 2018.

The 24-acre manmade lake at the mouth of Lake St. Clair is a popular destination for fishing and paddling. The crux of the project is putting it "online" with the Detroit River, allowing access for fresh water, which will increase oxygen levels and create Great Lakes fish spawning.



This will be done by replacing a culvert with a 45-foot-wide, free-flowing channel and constructing a new culvert on the lake's opposite end. A bridge for motorists will be built over the channel.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...on-restoration

[LMich]

The restorations done on Lower Woodward have generally been stunning. Even still, I'm surprised by how well the Sanders Building and the neighboring building are turning out in that photo.

[LMich]

The LCA.

Early.

Rob Kohn|Detroit Free Press

Ilitches paying off public arena bonds 28 years early, refinancing privately

By John Gallagher | Detroit Free Press

November 2, 2017

The Ilitch family's Olympia Development of Michigan said Wednesday it will pay off and privately refinance the $200 million in public bonds that helped pay to build Little Caesars Arena.

The payoff comes 28 years ahead of schedule for the 30-year bonds issued by the Michigan Strategic Fund as part of the financing deal to build the arena.

By paying off the public bonds early and refinancing the debt privately, the move strengthens the balance sheet of the Detroit Downtown Development Authority, which in turn gives the DDA more financial leeway to back other downtown projects.

[subterranean]

Well that was probably not great for the MSF in the long-run, e.g. lost interest.

[animatedmartian]

So, no new soccer stadium, but the jail is still being moved up 75 opening up land near Greektown for redevelopment.

Plan for MLS stadium scrapped; team would play at Ford Field
By BILL SHEA. Crain's Detroit. November 2, 2017.




Detroit's bid for a Major League Soccer expansion team has abandoned its effort to build a stadium on the unfinished jail site downtown, and instead intends to use 64,500-seat Ford Field as the team's permanent home.

The abandoned 15-acre jail project site owned by Wayne County is still targeted for redevelopment, just without soccer.

An expansion soccer team playing inside the massive pro football stadium would buck MLS' preference for its new clubs to have soccer-specific stadiums, but adds the wealthy Ford family to the joint expansion effort led by billionaires Dan Gilbert and Tom Gores.

Crain's broke the news Thursday that Ford Field, home to the National Football League's Ford-owned Detroit Lions since it opened in 2002 at a cost of $500 million, would be at least a temporary home for the proposed MLS team in coming years. A statement from the expansion effort's backers made clear that Ford Field is now the preferred home for the team.

....

"From the time we started working on the Gratiot site, we have always been focused on the importance of a great mixed-use development at the gateway to downtown Detroit, soccer was just a potential component of our vision," said Matt Cullen, the top Gilbert aide and Rock Ventures principal handing the real estate portion of the soccer bid. "But once we better understood Ford Field's unique attributes, including the recent renovations and a bowl design that is perfectly suited for soccer, we decided to change course. We have made clear to the county that we are still fully committed to moving forward with our proposal to build out a new criminal justice complex on Warren and I-75. We are also fully committed to a mixed-use development on the Gratiot site that will be an economic driver for our community."

In remarks directly to Crain's on Thursday, Cullen said the MLS team would enter into a lease to use Ford Field, and some capital improvements such as new locker rooms and others would have to be made to accommodate soccer. No details are yet available on costs or design.

“Obviously Ford Field was in consideration from the beginning, but really it was over the course of the last serveral months, understanding all that the Ford family had done with the field and spending time with Rossetti on the unique characteristics,” Cullen said.

...

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...-at-ford-field

[LMich]

I'm finding more disappointed than I thought I'd be, particularly since this was one of the few projects I thought at best would happen further out in the future. I realize that American football stadiums are just about the only kind of stadium easily reconfigured for soccer. But at the same time, the region will be lucky if they average half of Ford Field's capacity, which will mean a lot of creative banners and curtains to block off all of the empty seating. Just visually and for the crowd experience I'd rather them have a better fit in a purpose-built stadium. Heck, just move them to WSU's stadium if that's the case. That's not even to mention how incredible the proposal was for the MLS stadium.

I know Gilbert and Gores' spin on this, but I really kind of wonder what happened behind the scenes for them to have decided to give the idea of a new stadium?

[skyscraperpage17]

Originally Posted by LMich

I'm finding more disappointed than I thought I'd be, particularly since this was one of the few projects I thought at best would happen further out in the future. I realize that American football stadiums are just about the only kind of stadium easily reconfigured for soccer. But at the same time, the region will be lucky if they average half of Ford Field's capacity, which will mean a lot of creative banners and curtains to block off all of the empty seating. Just visually and for the crowd experience I'd rather them have a better fit in a purpose-built stadium. Heck, just move them to WSU's stadium if that's the case. That's not even to mention how incredible the proposal was for the MLS stadium.

I know Gilbert and Gores' spin on this, but I really kind of wonder what happened behind the scenes for them to have decided to give the idea of a new stadium?

Most likely because Wayne County is dragging their ass on a decision with the jail site and the MLS is ready to make a decision on awarding franchises. It's been over a year (and counting) since Gilbert offered to take over the site.

Besides, it would be a tall order to have construction for a brand new stadium started and completed by 2020 at this point.

[subterranean]

It could be temporary just to get the bid.

[The North One]

Gilbert obviously just wants the land, which is good, another stadium downtown would have been ridiculous. Gratiot deserves a mixed-use, pedestrian friendly project. And now we don't have to worry about the old police HQ anymore.

[deja vu]

From one failed stadium to another...

The end really is near now for the Silverdome... I was quite young, but do have memories of going to Lion's games here with my dad, seeing Barry Sanders...still no concrete plans for what will be next for that property. Hopefully something positive for the Pontiac community.

Pontiac Silverdome set for December demolition after farewell event
By Dana Afana | MLive
November 3, 2017

Demolition will soon begin for the long-blighted Pontiac Silverdome. A demolition permit for the former home of the Detroit Lions has been issued and the process will begin on Dec. 3, with a partial implosion of the mechanical equipment platform atop the 400,000-square-foot stadium, said Pontiac Mayor Deirdre Waterman...The entire demolition process will take about a year, according to the mayor's office...

[animatedmartian]

For some reason I had a daydream about the Silverdome site possibly being included with Detroit's Amazon bid similar to Northland Mall. There's certainly enough space to do something creative with easy freeway access but the area itself is probably pretty far from Amazon's amenity requirements.

Still, there's a lot of office/industrial parks in that area so I'd imagine the Silverdome site would end up as an extension of that.

[Docta_Love]

I was musing on the idea that nixing the new mls stadium opens up most of the 15 acres on the fail jail site to be offered to amazon as another ready to build site with some level of planning already done. It's also possible the timing could also have more to do the the upcoming election causing the county to drag the thing out till after as not to create new downtown vs neighborhoods tensions. It's impossible to know Gilbert & Gores are thinking, it could be possible that with the Hudson & Monroe bock developments being planned before the amazon bowl sweepstakes it could be necessary to open up more land to meet expected demand. One thing that has been mentioned a few times is the desire of amazon to have a core city campus it may be that just like the mls if they come to Detroit its downtown or nothing so the need open up more space downtown.

Who knows though until we hear more about the future plans for the fail jail site any ones guess is as good as mine, it's exciting to try and connect the dots because of the timing though.

[Docta_Love]

There's a lot of excitement in some circles about the reopening up of the jail site for development it's a key link point that connects eastern market with greektown and then greektown with the monroe block development and campus martius. As for what to expect something mixed used is a very good guess to make but as the and high rises were envisioned before so it wouldn't surprise me if 5 acres of the area at least is dedicated to high rise space just as before but with a large residential component now perhaps.

Soccer stadium reversal opens up 'blank slate'

By KIRK PINHO
Crain's Detroit Business
November 05, 2017



....

The 15-acre Wayne County Consolidated Jail site offers a rare combination of location and scale, a prized one-two punch in downtown Detroit development.

And now it's effectively a blank slate following the Dan Gilbert and Tom Gores bombshell that they plan to have their hoped-for Major League Soccer team play in Ford Field instead of building a new stadium on roughly two-thirds, or 10 acres, of the county-owned jail site at Gratiot Avenue and I-375 at the foot of the central business district.

What exactly would go there if Gilbert, the founder and chairman of Quicken Loans Inc. and Rock Ventures LLC, and his lieutenants can hammer out an agreement with Wayne County to build a new criminal justice complex elsewhere is a mystery.

When the MLS plan was unveiled in April 2016, the project was said to include the stadium plus three high-rise towers 18 to 28 stories tall with office, residential and hotel uses flanking it. But Matt Cullen, principal of Rock Ventures, said Thursday that those plans were preliminary and that no formal determination had been made about the mix of uses or the density of the project.

....

But whatever goes there if Gilbert develops it will tie in with his planned projects sprinkled around the downtown core. And the development team has an additional 10 acres to play around with in its vision for the site.

"If you think about Campus Martius, moving now into the new Monroe (Block) development (to the east), which moves right into Greektown, then this project with MLS and football next door, and the Red Wings and Pistons (on Woodward), this will be a key gateway," he said. "It'll be mixed-use. It clearly will have a lot of entertainment aspects to it. It won't be sort of just a generic office block. We'll be looking at bringing a lot of vitality to the site."

It's not just the jail site itself that's in the works. Gilbert's team has been in discussions with Syncora Guarantee Inc., the Bermuda-based bond insurer that was a holdout creditor in Detroit's bankruptcy, on the former Detroit Police Department headquarters building at 1300 Beaubien St. for a possible redevelopment as part of the broader jail site plan, according to two sources familiar with the matter.


....

"This is great news," said Richard Karp, a Lansing-based developer who has Detroit projects in Capitol Park and along Washington Boulevard, said of Ford Field being the chosen MLS team location rather than the jail property, which has sat languishing since 2013, when construction was halted amid cost overruns.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...up-blank-slate

[LMich]

The soccer stadium plan included residential towers, didn't it? I'd think freeing up that much space on that lot actually makes it less likely that we'll see stuff as tall since they'll feel the need to spread out more of the built space. As far as I can tell, it was the stadium being there that got the architects to think more creatively about the architecture of the non-stadium stuff since it couldn't be generic/traditional with such an interesting stadium. Doesn't seem to me that the absence of the stadium does anything else but make whatever rises there more generic than what was proposed before. I don't think this is a plus, if even it's not a huge minus, either.

Hopefully, it will be something as nice as the Monroe blocks, which is what I could consider a win sans stadium.

[animatedmartian]

Originally Posted by LMich

The soccer stadium plan included residential towers, didn't it? I'd think freeing up that much space on that lot actually makes it less likely that we'll see stuff as tall since they'll feel the need to spread out more of the built space. As far as I can tell, it was the stadium being there that got the architects to think more creatively about the architecture of the non-stadium stuff since it couldn't be generic/traditional with such an interesting stadium. Doesn't seem to me that the absence of the stadium does anything else but make whatever rises there more generic than what was proposed before. I don't think this is a plus, if even it's not a huge minus, either.

Hopefully, it will be something as nice as the Monroe blocks, which is what I could consider a win sans stadium.

Not necessarily. The residential towers took up very little space of the overall design. Most of the development was made up of the towers' 5-8 floor podiums hidden under a rooftop park that connected the podiums to the stadium. Outside of that, most of the land proposed for development was public open space.

Minus the stadium, the rooftop park might not make much sense, but you could still have a handful of towers with big podiums. In fact, it might be better for high rises because now there's no need to cutoff St. Antoine street and create a superblock.


Full size.

http://www.rossetti.com/mls-detroit

Besides all that, the designs presented were only conceptual and weren't likely going to stay the same even if the MLS deal was confirmed.

[The North One]

A midrise project à la Brush Park would be great for the area.

[LMich]

Apparently, this didn't make the local media. Someone supplied it over at SSC. Sure sounds like MLS is saying that cities with purpose-built stadium will get the first look at expansion. I typical corporate fashion, it says quite a bit without visibly displaying much:



Sounds like Gilbert & Co. weren't exactly talking with them behind the scenes about this change.

BTW, can't imagine that area is zoned anything other than the core business district, in which case there is absolutely no reason (and no way) it's going to get developed with mid-rises. That'd be an utter waste of space in the core.

[The North One]

More high-end condos coming to Brush Park
BY ROBIN RUNYAN NOV 7, 2017, 9:17AM EST

It’s hard to think of another neighborhood in Detroit that’s changed as much as Brush Park over the last couple years. It’ll look much, much different in the coming years with the addition of the City Modern development. Now, one building that many may recognize from its shoe artwork from the Heidelberg Project will be transformed into luxury condos.

https://detroit.curbed.com/2017/11/7...son-brush-park