DETROIT | Development & Construction: Motown Lowdown

[robk1982]

My aunt took this pic flying into Detroit last week.

Untitled by kratzrob, on Flickr

[Velvet_Highground]

Very cool!

The Coachman June 2023

https://www.oconnordetroit.com/prope...arriage-house/

*Edit; It’s remarkable how much Corktown has evolved over the past year or two. It’s a bit cathartic watching the area add density & height. Before the auto boom shifted into high gear a century ago downtown was slated to expand west along Michigan Ave instead of the broad expansion capped off with the construction of New Center.

The west side of downtown’s skyline is a bit of a mess looking at it from Michigan Avenue, nice to see the area starting to get built up. I’ve seen renderings for the Ralph C Wilson Park with height & density around it envisioned for the future.

[seabee1526]

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?sto...=false&paipv=0

Did they plan on taking this down?

Pochelon Building

[Velvet_Highground]

If I had to make a less than fully informed guess, I would hazard to wager that its fate is tied to plans for perhaps phase 2 of the redesigned Monroe Blocks.

Recent shot of Washington Blvd with the Hudson Tower rising in the background

https://www.trulia.com/MI/Detroit,Downtown/

[DetroitSky]

Architecture firm McIntosh Poris posted this project on their Facebook page today:

Situated in the heart of Corktown, 1350 Michigan Avenue consists of the transformation of the 20,000-sqft Spaulding Building and a 60,000-sqft ground-up residential development on adjacent vacant land. The existing Spaulding building was once home to a fine furniture maker before being converted into an electrical parts manufacturer in the early 1900s.
MPA is preserving the existing masonry structure and historic character while incorporating ground floor retail off Michigan Avenue, 18 walkup units, and six modern rooftop additions and terraces.

Former NBA Star’s Fixins Soup Kitchen to Open Location in Downtown Detroit

A ceremony announcing the opening of the Detroit location of Fixins Soul Kitchen, a full-service soul food restaurant, took place Wednesday, at its future location at 1435 Randolph St., in Detroit’s historic Paradise Valley neighborhood.

The restaurant is scheduled to open in mid-December.

Fixins was founded by Oak Park native, former NBA All-Star, and 55th mayor of Sacramento, Calif., Kevin Johnson (KJ) and his wife, Michelle. He was joined at the opening by Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, landlord and architect Rainy Hamilton Jr., and guests from Detroit’s business community.

[isoamazing]

That's a nice fill-in project

[Velvet_Highground]

A few recent highlights


Helmut Ziewers - (www.ziewersphotography.com) for HistoricDetroit.org


https://www.atproperties.com/2022105...48226-realcomp


https://www.docomomo-us.org/register...ference-center


https://www.etsy.com/listing/1203221...gn0418-detroit

[DetroitMan]

I'm skeptical of this development actually happening, but we shall see....

Developers have ambitious plans for Detroit’s old Mammoth Building

After being abandoned for more than two decades, the old Mammoth building on Detroit’s west side could finally be revitalized.

According to a news release, Mammoth Building Investors (MBI) has proposed the name “GrandRiverTown” for the project and surrounding area.

Built in 1949, the building served as the Federal Department Store until the 1970s. Then in the 1980s, Kingsway Department Stores used the building, which was later replaced with the Mammoth Department Store until its closure in 2000. It has since fallen into disrepair.

In May, Detroit sued the owners of the building, saying that its blight had become a “danger to the public” and that it failed to adhere to city code on numerous occasions throughout the past year. The lawsuit stated that Park High Apartments bought the building in 2002, allowing it to deteriorate. The city pushed for demolition.

The development group MBI has since come in to save the building, announcing plans for the revitalization of the area surrounding the old building at Grand River Avenue and Greenfield Road.

According to a news release, MBI has proposed the name “GrandRiverTown” for the area.

The developers aim to transform the location into a mixed-use facility anchored by a development called “The Experience!” which will include 100 modern apartment units as well as 80,000 square feet of retail space.

Additionally, the building would include two restaurants, as well as a facility for education and entertainment with a Family Entertainment Center and a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) center.

https://www.metrotimes.com/news/deve...lding-33817002

[Velvet_Highground]

Yeah this proposal does seem a bit sketchy. The property is under court order to be redeveloped or demolished, now all of a sudden “Mammoth Building Investors” come swooping in to save the day. There’s no details about the group I can find other than they “came in to save the building”.

Grand River between Southfield & Evergreen is catching up to Livernois as one of the most vibrant commercial districts in the city. Certainly in the outer neighborhoods, there are precedence for redevelopment of this kind at 6 & 7.

I’d like to see this happen but almost seems too good to be true, wait and see indeed.


Didn’t notice this project going forward on the border of Grosse Pointe & Jefferson Chalmers. I imagine the city is pissed at GP for the unilateral moves it’s made over the years. Building a shed in middle of Kercheval was a dick move. Though the authorization GP gave its water & sewer development to start discharging raw sewage overflow into Lake St Clair via fox creek & its island communities is another matter altogether.

The city has put a lot of resources into Jefferson Chalmers and it’s starting to pay dividends especially along Jefferson. The city just won its battle with FEMA to get the (River) flood plain designation removed. Initially the suggestion was to block off fox creek at the river, ruining the water quality & recreational access.

There’s nothing special about the building that was being torn down I’m getting the feeling that this situation is being used to set a precedent for border cooperation. Unfortunately it’s coming at the expense of a project that will do good for the area.

Detroit green lights demolition of building at heart of performing arts center controversy
The city sued a nonprofit last month for razing the structure without a permit

Detroit filed a lawsuit against the Urban Renewal Initiative Foundation last month after it began razing the former Grosse Pointe Park Department of Public Works building without a demolition permit.

The building, which is partially located in Detroit and Grosse Pointe at the corner of East Jefferson Avenue and Alter Road, is being demolished to make way for the A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Center for the Performing Arts.

In the lawsuit, the city alleges the nonprofit is moving forward with plans to construct the center without getting permission from the Detroit Historic District Commission (HDC) to build on the Jefferson-Chalmers Historic Business District.

City officials authorized the demolition last week after the nonprofit “provided an engineering report showing that the structure remaining as it is poses a hazard and needs to come down,” said David Bell, director of the Detroit Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department.

The authorization, however, does not mean the Urban Renewal Initiative Foundation can begin building the performing arts center. The nonprofit needs approval from the HDC, which has not taken up the issue.

Without permission from the commission, it’s illegal to modify the land because it’s designated as historic

Under the nonprofit’s plan, the group would build the performing arts center and an adjacent art gallery, with a parking lot and loading dock on Detroit’s historic land.

[DetroitMan]

Tax credits boost more low-income housing projects in Southeast Michigan

Among the projects in Detroit to receive LIHTC in this most recent funding round are a long-planned second phase to the Midtown West development just east of the John Lodge Freeway and in between Brainard and Selden streets in the Midtown/Cass Corridor area. The $1.3 million project will have 33 LIHTC-financed units. The developer is Procida Development Group LLC out of the New York City area.

Other Southeast Michigan projects receiving funding, according to the Whitmer announcement:

• A $1.5 million, 63-unit development by Avalon Nonprofit Housing Corp. and Ann Arbor Housing Development Corp. at 121 Catherine St. in Ann Arbor;

• $1.3 million for the Cabot Apartments in Detroit with 84 units developed by Trice Development Company LLC and Cove Investments;

• $1.3 million for 60 units for seniors at the John Grace Arms, a former school building in Southfield. The project is a collaboration between Southwest Housing Solutions Corp. and the Southfield Nonprofit Neighborhood Corp.;

• MHT Housing Inc. and Renovate Detroit LLC received just less than $1.2 million for 49 units in Detroit's North Corktown neighborhood;

• $1.5 million for 70 units for the first phase of Park Meadows Village in Detroit by RAD Conversion Specialists LLC and Resurrection Community Development Corp.

Meanwhile, the Orchard Village Apartments in northwest Detroit that broke ground Thursday is a $15.7 million development by CHN Housing Partners and Detroit Blight Busters. All of the units will be for residents with qualifying income at 30%-60% of the area median income, and expected rents will be between $492 and $915, according to a release from Duggan's office.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-e...using-projects

[seabee1526]

I guess we all knew this would happen

https://www.freep.com/story/money/bu...e/70557063007/

[DetroitMan]

New Latin coffee shop and cantina ‘Encarnacion’ planned for Detroit’s West Village

The owner plans to open a coffee shop called “Encarnacion” in the next few weeks and then launch a Latin street food cantina in the same building shortly after.

“I want to be able to bring some of the food staples that we have, that are casual bites, that you can find in any streets of the countries that we come from – the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Venezuela,” he says. “And our coffee beans are going to be strictly Latin American.”

Initially, he says he didn’t plan to name the coffee shop after himself, but one day he stumbled upon the definition of his last name “Encarnacion,” which he says means “a spiritual being taking the shape of a human,” and felt that it resonated with people’s relationship to coffee, which wakes you up and makes you feel alive.

He claims he was not a coffee drinker at all until he went back to college in 2014 and says he needed it to get through school and “being an adult.” Living in Miami at the time, he fell in love with Cuban cortaditos.

In July 2019, Encarnacion moved to Detroit, partially because of his work flipping houses, and found a home in West Village a few months later.

During the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, he decided to take a class on how to make latte art using a French press, which is when the idea of opening a coffee shop first sparked. Now, he has built up a small following on Encarnacion’s Instagram page showing his time learning about the art of coffeIn April 2021, Encarnacion purchased a building at 8016 Kercheval Ave., but the journey to actually opening the cafe’s doors has been difficult, which the owner says has mainly been due to an increase in costs because of inflation.

“We have been pretty much self-funded and it has been quite of a ride since we purchased our own building,” he says.

Finally, now, most of the necessities for the space have been sorted out, apart from an elevator to make it accessible and a kitchen hood, which he says he should be able to get in the coming months.

“Our space is going to be a dual concept. We’re going to have two countertops, two POS systems, one is going to be the coffee shop and the other one is going to be the cantina,” Encarnacion says. “There are going to be some visual differences there, so you might feel like you are in two separate places depending on where you site making.

Encarnacion hopes for the inside of the shop to have an intimate, cozy atmosphere, mixing West Village’s “vintage-ness” with modern design.

Encarnacion says he moved to Detroit from Miami because he felt the city had a “window of opportunities,” with lower costs. He still feels that way and says he often complains to local Detroiters that city residents aren’t taking advantage of investing in their hometown.

“I think Detroit is a bag full of opportunities,” he says. “We have probably 10 years worth of opportunities to just lose the fear and go and I’m super excited with what’s happening as far as the investment infrastructure. I think Detroit, for those who are willing to give it a chance, is going to be a very rewarding city.”

https://www.metrotimes.com/food-drin...llage-33877076

[DetroitMan]

United Artists development gets $5M in additional state funding

An ongoing redevelopment project in downtown Detroit received more than $5 million in additional state funding.

Those working on the redevelopment of the United Artists project — which broke ground in March 2022 — say the added tax increment financing, approved Tuesday by the board of the Michigan Strategic Fund, was always intended to be part of the capital stack.

That funding was not initially sought when the project received previous incentives in 2020 — a $7 million loan — because of the complex financing nature of the deal, according to Dan Duggan, a vice president at Southfield-based Bernard Financial Group, which worked on the financing for the nearly $73.5 million project.

On Tuesday, the MSF board — administered by the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and which controls the state's economic development dollars — approved a request by Detroit-based Bagley Development Group LLC to amend the terms of the 2020 loan to match the Detroit Economic Growth Corp. and will defer payments during the remainder of the original 28-month interest-only period of the loan, according to a briefing memo from the MEDC.

Additionally, the state is further supporting the project by greenlighting more than $5.32 million in Brownfield Tax Increment Financing, a type of incentive that allows the developers to recoup some of their costs.

Developer Emmett Moten with Bagley Development Group declined to comment for this report.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/econom...-state-funding

[DetroitSky]

Godfrey Hotel opens new location in Detroit

Detroit's newest boutique hotel is now officially open.

The Godfrey Hotel Detroit, 1401 Michigan Ave. in Corktown, is a newly constructed building and has 227 rooms, as well as a grand ballroom and a rooftop bar and lounge with a retractable glass ceiling, known as the I∣O Rooftop lounge.

Later this fall, the hotel also will house a new bar and restaurant, Hamilton's, which will offer classic American fare.

[DetroitMan]

Southern-style beer hall known for its fried chicken headed to Woodward and Mack

Cincinnati-based Thunderdome Restaurant Group plans to bring its Southern-style eatery The Eagle Food & Beer Hall to Detroit on Sept. 8. Located at to 3461 Woodward Ave., the restaurant will be a few blocks north of Thunderdome's Bakersfield Tacos, which opened in 2017.

The new Woodward storefront will be Thunderdome's seventh Eagle location, joining spots in Cincinnati, Columbus, Indianapolis, Louisville, Charlotte, Pittsburgh and Oxmoor, Ky.

The menu focuses on house-brined, hand-dredged fried chicken, as well as sandwiches, salads and other comfort food sides. It also serves a variety of craft beer.


"We felt so much love from the city after opening Bakersfield, and we always knew we wanted to bring a second concept to the area," Joe Lanni, co-founder of Thunderdome Restaurant Group, said in a statement.

The Eagle's name and design draws inspiration from the restaurant's original location inside a defunct post office in Cincinnati. The Detroit location will feature a large bar and an abundance of seating, ownership said.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/restau...pening-midtown

[TylerJ]

Originally Posted by seabee1526

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?sto...=false&paipv=0

Did they plan on taking this down?

Pochelon Building

Both buildings are being torn down in addition to the national theater (not the facade). The gargoyles, etc, will be kept and reused in some way. There were thoughts of trying to reuse brick and/or arches from one or both buildings. Nothing set in stone (pun intended).

[seabee1526]

Originally Posted by TylerJ

Both buildings are being torn down in addition to the national theater (not the facade). The gargoyles, etc, will be kept and reused in some way. There were thoughts of trying to reuse brick and/or arches from one or both buildings. Nothing set in stone (pun intended).

And as of right now the only plans are for three low rise buildings, no towers or anything of significant height correct?

[DetroitSky]

Auto insurer opens Detroit office with 60 employees in Bedrock-owned building

Two years after entering the Michigan market, CURE Auto Insurance has opened an office in Detroit.

The office, inside Bedrock's The Icon building on the city’s east riverfront, is the company’s first physical location since it began serving Michigan in July 2021, following passage of the state’s auto insurance reform law. The company says it insures 75,000 motorists in Michigan, with 58% being Detroit residents.

“I think the statistics speak for themselves,” Eric Poe, CEO of CURE Auto said during a livestreamed ribbon cutting ceremony Wednesday. “With 75,000 people joining us in the last two years, it shows the need that our products had. The most important stat I think is that 94% of all the people that buy car insurance from CURE are choosing an option that was introduced under this new law.”

Another Ford acquisition at Michigan Central

While we await the opening of Michigan Central Station (we've seen the revamped Roosevelt Park and Book Depository this year), Ford has bought another property in the vicinity. The company has recently acquired St. Paul's German Evangelical Lutheran Church, most recently owned by Assemble Sound. It does need work and preservation efforts. Ford has plans to restore the steeple, and preserve the 1873 building. Uses for the building have not been determined yet.

Source

Sullivan’s Steakhouse at the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel Set to Open in September

Sullivan’s Steakhouse, which is set to open in September in the first-floor space formerly occupied by Roast at the Westin Book Cadillac Detroit, has been completely renovated with new furnishings, fixtures, and artwork.

The 303-seat restaurant kept the same basic layout, with a 10-seat private room to the right of the lobby entrance, a U-shaped bar, an expansive dining room, and a semi-open kitchen. But all of the furnishings and fixtures are new save for a glass-enclosed wine wall behind the bar, along with four semi-private booths behind the wine wall.


The booths have been updated, and each space is themed to one of the city’s four professional sports teams. In addition, during the season, Sullivan’s will offer 45 seats within a new outdoor patio along Washington Boulevard. An exact opening date was not provided.

The Yunion Nonprofit Unveils New Youth Rec Facility in Detroit

After 20 years, The Yunion, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering and uplifting youth, has moved into a new state-of-the-art recreational facility at 1129 Oakman Blvd. in Detroit.

The $700,000, newly renovated, 15,000-square-foot building is a former charter school and allows The Yunion to expand its The Cave of Adullam Transformational Training Academy (CATTA), and other programs and services to metro Detroit youth and families, and house its dedicated staff and volunteers.

“After two years of renovations, we are proud and excited to finally open the doors to our new facility and continue our mission to positively impact the lives of even more youth in metro Detroit,” says Nicole Wilson, executive director at The Yunion. “The Oakman Boulevard community is the perfect location for our headquarters and will allow us to support 800 young boys on CATTA’s waitlist and make a lasting impact.

Crowdfunding Campaign Launched for Lincoln Street Art Park in Detroit

The Lincoln Street Art Park in Detroit will activate a vacant greenspace and create an environmental and educational learning center on its property through the anticipated success of a crowdfunding campaign, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. (MEDC) and local nonprofit Green Living Science announced.

The campaign is being offered through the Michigan-based crowdfunding platform Patronicity.

If the campaign reaches its crowdfunding goal of $25,000 by Oct. 29, the project will win a matching grant with funds made possible by MEDC’s Public Spaces Community Places program.

[TylerJ]

Originally Posted by seabee1526

And as of right now the only plans are for three low rise buildings, no towers or anything of significant height correct?

The recent announcement should include all of the details. Its an office tower, a residential tower, a theater, and a market hall. The residential tower and associated parking garage will be on the land occupied by these buildings.

[DetroitMan]

Long article, but good read...

In the shadow of Henry Ford Health's massive expansion, a blighted neighborhood sees resurgence

While acknowledging Henry Ford's large presence within the neighborhood and on the immediate periphery, the goal is not to be a neighborhood real estate developer and the hospital has been disposing of properties within NW Goldberg for years, Habitz said.

Henry Ford Health came to own land in the area over the years through myriad circumstances, he said.

Now it plans to continue engaging with a number of stakeholders in the area — ranging from small businesses such as Marble Bar to the Motown Museum to Washington's group — to help at the neighborhood level. "I think we can work together to do more streetscape enhancements than what would have happened if not for the campus coming in," Habitz said. "And it means that we're able to save and protect and rehab all the rehab-able buildings that are along that corridor. And we've got enough site control to kind of dictate that the neighborhood can come back to what it once was and redensify according to its historic layout."

Henry Ford officials provided Crain's with a lengthy list of neighborhood-level initiatives in and around its main hospital campus, which includes commercial façade grants to six legacy businesses on West Grand Boulevard, selling vacant homes it owns to investors and residents and developing a vacant lot near its cancer center into a pocket park with chess and ping pong tables for free community use. To Washington's point about depressed real estate values, a Crain's analysis of real estate listings shows that the handful of sales in the NW Goldberg neighborhood in recent months have been in the $30,000 range, largely homes that appear in need of substantial renovations.

But that tide appears to be shifting. For example, Washington and his nonprofit have renovated two neighborhood homes and each have pending sales at prices of $250,000 and $280,000, respectively, according to the listings. The latter is Washington's personal home, while the former is owned by the nonprofit.

Additionally, entrepreneur and developer Carlo Liburdi told Crain's he's acquired more than a dozen homes in the NW Goldberg neighborhood, a mix of single and multi-family properties.

Liburdi, the co-owner of The Kiesling cocktail bar in the nearby Milwaukee Junction neighborhood and an architect by trade, declined to give an overall development cost for his efforts in NW Goldberg. A Crain's analysis of property records in the area, however, show at least four properties tied to Liburdi, largely bought in recent months for between $20,000 and $65,000 each.

One home on Hecla Street, a three-bedroom, 1.5 bathroom property, has been fully renovated and is listed for sale for $212,000.

Hecla, Avery and Commonwealth streets are Liburdi's area of focus, and the investor told Crain's that the recently announced Henry Ford Health expansion to the north served as a partial impetus for his business interests in the neighborhood. But he pointed to other factors as well.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-e...d-neighborhood