[animatedmartian]

Downtown Detroit's rent market nears magic number: $2 per square foot



Since the late ’90s, downtown Detroit landlords have dreamed of the day they could charge apartment renters $2 per square foot. It was a magic number, like a major league pitcher winning 20 games or a lottery jackpot hitting $100 million.

That’s why the 625-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment being offered at The Albert Capitol Park should have a historical marker. The rent is $1,385 a month. That adds up to $2.22 per square foot.

“We are there and it means downtown is about to be supercharged,” said James Van Dyke, a key downtown developer. “No more ridiculously long wait lists to rent something downtown. For developers, no more having to find eight, 10 different sources of financing, because a bank may actually be willing to give a traditional loan.”

It means the skyrocketing rent for downtown apartments in the hot residential areas of Midtown, riverfront, Eastern Market, and Corktown could begin to level off in the next few years. More financing for developers means they build more apartments. More supply means more competitive prices.

If it does level off, renting a place in the trendy parts of Detroit may continue to cost about the same as renting in the trendy parts of Cleveland, Kansas City, or San Antonio, according to a national report on apartment rents in 46 U.S. cities. The average will go up — but it won’t hit anywhere near the level of a New York ($4,100-a-month average) or San Francisco ($2,540).

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The average rent is now in the $1.60-per-square-foot range, developers contend, but the rate is creeping ever higher. The $2 mark already has been met for several penthouse apartments and other top-of-the-line apartments such as The Broderick and Park Shelton.

What makes The Albert distinct is that most of the 127 units will be around the $2-per-square-foot mark — not just some of the the building’s best apartments.

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Magic Johnson development team to host public meeting on plan for Detroit's State Fairgrounds

A development team led by former NBA star Magic Johnson will update the public on plans for the 162-acre, former State Fairgrounds property in northern Detroit at a meeting June 26 at the Northwest Activities Center.

The developers’ original idea for the site along 8 Mile Road and Woodward Avenue near the new Meijer was derided in November 2012 as “big box boring” by community members, who are pushing for some kind of multimodal transit hub to be included.

It is not clear how much of departure the new plans for the site will take.

“It’s a difference without being a distinction,” said Joel Ferguson, one of the site’s developers along with Johnson and former Detroit Deputy Fire Commissioner Marvin Beatty.

Under the Magic Plus LLC moniker, the Development team submitted the only successful RFP for the state-owned land last August. It included 500,000 square feet of retail and housing, including a movie theatre and mixed-use developments.

Ferguson said some buildings are “being moved around” but said he could not comment further on details of the plan until the June 26 meeting.

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Here's an atrocious refresher of that plan that thankfully has been changed. Lets hope they didn't just move the big box retail to some other spot and actually created something that doesn't look shipped in from the fringes of suburbia.



Also, the Detroit Zoo broke ground on a new penguin exhibit. Designed by Albert Kahn & Associates. Oddly enough, it's meant to resemble an iceberg (considering how much new architecture already resembles something with many angled triangular shapes, I wouldn't have known). It'll also have an under water tube similar to the one at the polar bear exhibit.






http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/in...f_detroit.html