DETROIT | Development & Construction: Motown Lowdown

[DetroitMan]

The City of Detroit now has a page setup for the community benefits ordinance. An update meeting on this project will take place on December 14th at Oakland Ave Missionary Baptist Church at 6:00pm. The developer also has a website: www.fisherlofts.com

https://detroitmi.gov/departments/pl...fisher-body-21

[subterranean]

Since embed has been blocked, here's a link to a news broadcast about downtown office space with some minor discussion of the Hudson Tower.

[Velvet_Highground]

It is a bit worrying to be adding so much office space in the Hudsons Tower with the specter of the Ren Cen hanging over the city’s past. There wasn’t much desire for high rise living downtown back in the 70’s & 80’s in Detroit and even nationally high rise living in downtown’s for the most part was pretty depressed.

Perhaps we could end up seeing some more residential conversations of older art deco towers as the market continues to stabilize post Covid. The ground breaking for the Stephen Ross U of M Innovation Center is set for the 14th but the 17 story office building on Woodward that’s part of District Detroit is quite about a date. Setting aside that whole story it’s really great to see the executive plaza being planned as residential more people living downtown will help make up for the 30% less office workers post pandemic.

https://www.freep.com/story/money/bu...g/71742452007/

Speaking of Executive Plaza and empty high rises work on Lee Plaza the only other empty high rise has real work going on.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WSB5IZA9e1U

The demolition of the old American Motors hq and redevelopment went very quickly here’s a clip from 3 weeks ago of a quick drive past by Frankai. From what I heard it’s supposed to be a GM distribution hub for Factory Zero and possibly some light manufacturing space.

[DetroitSky]

Originally Posted by Velvet_Highground

Speaking of Executive Plaza and empty high rises work on Lee Plaza the only other empty high rise has real work going on.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WSB5IZA9e1U

I don't think that's the actual reno underway. I'm pretty sure they don't have all their financing in place. It's probably some kind of stabilization. As far as vacant highrises go, Whittier Towers are still vacant without plans. Other than that, the few tall buildings left without plans are all 12 floors and under.

[Velvet_Highground]

Your likely right it’s stabilization work at Lee Plaza I thought I had heard of another announcement but it must have crain’s from June 30th. That was the last word as far as I can see the injection of state money that went towards closing the $10 million dollar gap. There’s signs of life on certain blocks at Grand River and Grand Blvd Dexter streetscape has been redone and there’s some nice looking single family renovations but Wildemere & Lawton are pretty rough still.

The former Fisher branch YMCA is mostly empty with a treatment center on the ground floor the neighborhood would benefit greatly if a new facility could be built built on vacant land further north while the 10 story Fisher YMCA could be converted into affordable housing with some sort of community focal point. Lasalle Gardens has seen a surge of renovations however it feels a bit like Virginia Park / Boston Edison 10+ years ago.

The ownership of the Whittier has me skeptical that they have the means to do something with the building there’s a event center on the ground floor and the mid-rise is senior housing it kind of seems they’re just sitting on it. Though it does look like they aren’t leaving it to rot and have made some minor improvements if just to keep from getting blight tickets.


https://www.forrent.com/mi/detroit/w...tments/5r04lfq

[DetroitMan]

Midtown building to get Marriott's first U.S. conversion to 'apartment-style' concept

The first U.S. location of Marriott International Inc.’s new foray into what it calls “apartment-style accommodations” for travelers is coming to Detroit.

Bethesda, Md.-based Marriott is bringing Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy to The Plaza, the former Hammer & Nail office building on Woodward Avenue that was redeveloped into apartments by Detroit-based developer The Roxbury Group in 2016. As a result of the change, the 72-unit apartment building is being converted into about 92 units for longer-term travel accommodations. Leases for the existing apartment units will be honored, said David Di Rita, principal of The Roxbury Group.

The conversion is expected to be complete next year and set to involve reconfiguring some of its two-bedroom units.

Di Rita said there has been “a continuing evolution of the marketplace” as he has fielded inquiries from various operators of less traditional apartment/hospitality companies — think Sonder, Roost and Mint House and others — about converting The Plaza, which is just north of Detroit’s Whole Foods Inc. grocery store at Woodward and Mack avenues.

“It’s something we’re starting to evaluate, not specific to The Plaza but to our portfolio generally,” Di Rita said. “In our ongoing relationship with Marriott, they introduced Apartments by Marriott to us as a possibility for somewhere in our Detroit portfolio and The Plaza struck us as a really nice fit.” That includes being 100% residential already as well as the unit layout and site location. Unlike hotels, Marriott Bonvoy properties don't provide amenities like daily housekeeping or meeting spaces, but do offer things such as private bedrooms, separate living rooms, full kitchens, and washers and dryers, the hotel chain says.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-e...d-stay-concept

[DetroitSky]

Community Benefits proposal for $3B development touted as biggest ever in Detroit

Henry Ford Health, the Detroit Pistons organization and Michigan State University unveiled a Community Benefits package Tuesday for their planned $3 billion collaborative development in Detroit's New Center that they touted as the biggest to ever be proposed.

The benefits package would contain about $100 million in new, direct financial contributions to the community and just over $600 million in overall value and specially targeted spending out of the project's budget, according to the development partners.

[X E N O]

Since 2023 is coming to a close, I figure I'd share a recap of some of the current construction and proposed development/renovations in Detroit. There is a lot of good things happening in the city, so I'm sure I overlooked some other projects.

[QUOTE]
Hudson Tower & Block (685ft)


The Residences Water Square (287ft)


Michigan Central Station, currently under renovation (232ft)


The Exchange (209ft)


Bonstelle Theatre and AC Hotel, under renovation & construction (???ft)


Cadillac Square, formerly known as Monroe Blocks (???ft)


Henry Ford Hospital Tower (~450ft)


University of Michigan Center for Innovation (???ft)


2305 Woodward Avenue (340ft)


2200 Woodward Avenue (269ft)


2250 Woodward Avenue (230ft)


2205 Woodward Avenue - DCI Residential Building (192ft)


2300 Cass Avenue (???ft)


2300 Woodward Avenue (???ft)


American Building, proposed renovation (???ft)


DCI Incubator, proposed renovation (???ft)


Detroit Life Building, proposed renovation (???ft)


2211 Woodward Avenue/Fox Hotel, proposed renovation (???ft)


2455 Woodward Avenue/Little Caesars Arena Hotel (???ft)

[Rizzo]

Assuming all the projects are completed on schedule, it will satisfy a common wishlist of development almost two decades on the back burner. Crude concept renderings, wistful newspaper headlines, false promises from officials. Never thought I’d see the day of a soaring highrise on the Hudson’s site, a beautifully renovated Michigan central station complex and infill on those stubborn lots around comerica park.

[DetroitSky]

Here's a few projects I photographed yesterday


AC Hotel


Bonstelle Theatre


Capitol Park Lofts addition


Merchants Building hotel project

[DetroitSky]

Mayor Duggan, state & local leaders celebrate groundbreaking of brand new $18M affordable housing project in East Chadsey-Condon neighborhood

Mayor Mike Duggan joined community developer MiSide Community Impact Network, along with state and local leaders to celebrate the groundbreaking of the Campbell Street Apartments, a brand-new affordable housing development located on long-vacant land at 5800 Michigan Avenue. The development will provide the East Chadsey-Condon neighborhood with 39 units of deeply affordable housing in its first phase of construction.

The new $18M mixed-use development will offer a range of 1 to 3-bedroom units, 20 of which will be reserved for households with incomes up to 40% area median income (AMI), with the other 19 reserved for households with incomes up to 60% AMI. However, thanks to project-based housing vouchers from MSHDA as part of the development agreement, no resident will have to pay more than 30% their income on rent. An additional 40 units are planned for the second phase of this project, which is expected to be fully completed by the end of next year.

“The reason we don’t have tent cities here in Detroit is because we work so hard to create and preserve affordable housing and meet Detroiters where they are,” said Mayor Mike Duggan. “We’re excited for this project to take shape here along Michigan Avenue and thank MiSide for their continued commitment to Detroit.”

This is the only rendering I can find:


Source

[subterranean]

I swear that’s all Mike does is groundbreakings.

[gratiotfaced]

I think we'll be lucky to get the UMCI residential tower and the LCA hotel before decade's end.

Negotiations between Olympia and the stadium authority over the Comerica Park lots have been stalled for months, and based on the completion rate of the first round of District projects, I would not expect those to start anytime soon.

Everything else I think is pretty likely to happen, though.

There might also be a tall 600+ room hotel built between Water Square and Huntington Place.

[seabee1526]

I really thought that we would have heard something about the Huntington Hotel by now.

[DetroitMan]

3 mixed-income developments in Corktown get state incentives

The board of the Michigan Strategic Fund on Tuesday approved incentives for three projects in the immediate area, some of which are additional phases of already in-process developments.
In total, the projects approved for incentives by the MSF on Tuesday account for more than $67 million in new investment and are expected to bring 150 new housing units to the neighborhood. The developers of the three separate projects received approximately $7.3 million in state incentives, largely in the form of loans from the state’s pool of economic development dollars.

Several of the projects awarded funding by the state’s leading economic development mechanism have been in the works for several years.

Developments such as those approved by the MSF on Tuesday — with units built for a variety of income levels — typically leverage multiple layers of financing in order to come to fruition.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-e...ate-incentives

[DetroitMan]

New details revealed on $3B development set to transform Detroit's New Center

More details are out about the planned $3 billion collaborative development in Detroit's New Center area involving Henry Ford Health, the Detroit Pistons and Michigan State University.

The development, which encompasses six projects concerning health care, apartment construction and medical research, still needs to get various city and state-level approvals in the coming months. Possibly the final community benefits meeting is scheduled for Tuesday. Even so, two of the six projects are scheduled to break ground next year. These latest specifics on each project are found in the developers' newly submitted proposal for a future tax-capture incentive known as a Transformational Brownfield.

The largest of the six — a $2.2 billion Henry Ford Hospital expansion — isn't seeking any incentives or tax breaks.

The other projects — totaling $773 million in anticipated costs — are a joint Henry Ford/MSU medical research center, three residential projects and a new parking garage. For those five, the developers are seeking at least $287 million in tax breaks and incentives over 35 years:

• A local and state-level Transformational Brownfield tax capture, valued at $232 million over 35 years.
  
• Property tax abatements valued at $55 million.
  
• A potential, unspecified amount of federal low-income housing tax credits.
  
• A potential, unspecified amount of federal historic tax credits.

Henry Ford Health currently owns all of the land for the six project sites and would continue to own all the land once the projects are done.

But Henry Ford intends to enter into 49-year ground leases with Pistons-related entities for the three residential project sites. Meanwhile, the Pistons entities would construct and own the new buildings that go up there.

Henry Ford Hospital expansion

The $2.2 billion, 1.1 million-square-foot expansion would build a new 21-story hospital tower along with new operating rooms and a new emergency room. All patients rooms at the hospital would become private rooms, while the total patient bed count would stay 877.

The expansion and tower would go across from the existing hospital along West Grand Boulevard, on land occupied by an office building for the Henry Ford-owned health insurer Health Alliance Plan. That building would be torn down. In addition, a new 1,500-space parking garage for the hospital and new service buildings would be built.

Construction could begin in "early 2024," a hospital spokesperson said, depending on how quickly Detroit City Council approved the plans.

Henry Ford + MSU Medical Research Center

This $393 million, eight-story research center would be a joint project between Henry Ford and MSU and be built at 6175 Third St. It would contain just over 325,000 square feet. An entire floor would be occupied by the Nick Gilbert Neurofibromatosis Research Institute, where medical research would happen on neurofibromatosis, a genetic condition that led to Gilbert's death in May at age 26. The research center is projected to have 558 direct permanent full-time jobs, paying an average wage of about $137,800 a year. Of those jobs, 195 would be existing jobs that relocate from Henry Ford's One Ford Place headquarters building, which contains an existing research facility. The project could break ground as soon as May 2024 and be finished in the second quarter of 2027.

One Ford Place redevelopment
A Pistons-related organization would develop three apartment buildings with a total 662 apartments.

The first such project, costing $190 million, would redevelop Henry Ford's One Ford Place headquarters, 6005 Second Ave., into 403 mixed-income apartments. There would be 181 studio units averaging 565 square feet, 168 one-bedroom units (averaging 718 square feet) and 43 two-bedroom units (averaging 1,070 square feet).

The developers have applied for a spot on the National Register of Historic Places and hope that the building will qualify in 2024. The nearly 627,000-square-foot building dates to 1918 and was designed by architect Albert Kahn as a factory for the Burroughs Corp. It underwent a 1968-1970 Brutalist-style renovation and later was acquired in 1992 by Henry Ford Health.

The Pistons' proposed redevelopment also envisions 17,060 square feet of new commercial space in the building. All told, there would be 98 new permanent jobs created, mostly from future commercial tenants.

Construction could begin in April 2027 and finish in the second quarter of 2029, according to project documents.

725 Amsterdam

A new six-story, $79-million apartment building with 154 mixed-income units is planned for 725 Amsterdam St. on what is now a surface parking lot. There would be 75 studio apartments (averaging 514 square feet), 69 one-bedrooms and 10 two-bedrooms. There also would be retail space.

Construction would start in the second quarter 2025 and take two years to finish.

675 Amsterdam

This six-story, $54 million apartment building would be constructed at 675 Amsterdam and contain 105 mixed-income units. There would be 55 studio units (averaging 493 square feet), 40 one-bedrooms and 10 two-bedrooms, along with retail space. Construction would begin in the second quarter of 2027 and finish two years later.

Parking garage
Henry Ford plans to build a six-story, $58 million parking garage with 804 spaces at 6205 Third Ave. to be used by residents of the three housing developments and workers at the research center. Initially about 10% of the parking spots would be hooked up for EV charging stations. Construction is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2025 and finish in the second quarter of 2027.

https://www.freep.com/story/money/bu...u/71878742007/

[DetroitMan]

Australian company plans large EV battery systems plant in Detroit

An affiliate of an Australia-based iron ore company is planning to create a new plant making electric-vehicle battery systems and components in Detroit’s Milwaukee Junction neighborhood.
The Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority board on Wednesday afternoon is expected to consider transferring a previously approved brownfield reimbursement plan worth more than $11 million to an American affiliate of Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. working to redevelop the site comprised of a large vacant building plus vacant land. The 601 Piquette St. building that until late October was owned by Detroit real estate investor and developer Christos Moisides sits near the former Ford Piquette Plant at 461 Piquette, while the Piquette Square for Veterans, a 150-unit development by Southwest Solutions, is at 317 Piquette. It's also just north of where a Black-led developer group is working on a major redevelopment of the former Fisher Body No. 21 plant.
Brownfield Redevelopment Authority board briefing materials says USA Fortescue Piquette LLC plans at least a $22.3 million investment to turn 601 Piquette into a “high-tech manufacturing” site, with pre-development work to begin early next year. The documents don't specify the type of plant.

However, Fortescue — which is reportedly the world's fourth-largest iron ore miner but is pivoting to green energy — said in a press release in November that it plans to invest $35 million and bring up to 600 jobs in a first phase of a Detroit project, although a site was not identified.


Similarly, Mark Hutchinson, the CEO of Fortescue Metals Group, told Bloomberg in September that it was creating the 400,000-square-foot facility in Detroit, but did not specify a site.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/manufa...-plant-detroit

[deja vu]

Originally Posted by DetroitSky

Here's a few projects I photographed yesterday

Great photos! AC Hotel is going up fast. I like seeing the various innovative construction techniques being employed in Detroit (Exchange, and now this).

[DetroitMan]

U-M Center for Innovation has long-awaited groundbreaking in Detroit

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer joined megadeveloper Stephen Ross and other civic and business leaders for a ceremonial groundbreaking Thursday for a long-awaited academic research center in downtown Detroit known as the University of Michigan Center for Innovation.

The $250 million U-M academic building, expected to take about 2½ years to construct, will be where students can work on university graduate degrees in areas such as robotics, computer engineering, entrepreneurship and sustainability. It also will house job training and certificate programs for the metro Detroit workforce and local nonuniversity students.

University officials, including U-M President Santa Ono, said they anticipate the center becoming a catalyst for job creation, innovation and economic development in Detroit and across the state. “Today will be a day that will have a great legacy for this great state and this great city,” Ono said during the late afternoon event, held inside a large event tent.

The 200,000-square-foot center, or UMCI, is being built on land behind the Fox Theatre on what is now surface parking lots. The Ilitch organization previously owned the land and donated it for the project. Ross, a Detroit native who started New York-based development firm The Related Cos., has been pushing to build the UMCI for about five years. He is donating $100 million for the UMCI; an additional $100 million is coming from the state and U-M is fundraising for $50 million more. Originally known as the "Detroit Center for Innovation," the project was initially proposed for the site of the scrubbed Wayne County Jail project off Gratiot at the entrance to downtown.

It was first announced in 2019 as a joint development involving Ross' The Related Cos. and Dan Gilbert's Bedrock real estate firm. But the Gilbert-Ross collaboration dissolved for unspecified reasons in 2021. And the new UMCI location — and new Ilitch organization partnership — was announced in December 2021.

Several speakers at Thursday's groundbreaking remarked on the length of time it took to get the project underway.

https://www.freep.com/story/news/loc...t/71907672007/

[DetroitMan]

Music Hall expansion plan clears Historic District Commission

The final design, reviewed by the HDC at its Wednesday meeting, includes updates for the building's roof and the decorative screen that will encircle the building. Music Hall President Vince Paul said the project is expected to go before City Council early next year, but it must first secure approval from the city Economic Development Corp. to issue $80 million in tax-exempt 501(c)3 bonds for the $122 million expansion.
The Economic Development Corp. meeting scheduled for Tuesday was canceled, Paul said. The group's next meeting is set for Jan. 9, according to its website.

The 100,000-square-foot, multi-story expansion is slated for construction on the parking lot at the corner of Madison and Randolph streets in downtown Detroit, next to Music Hall.

As planned, it will include a new, contemporary concert venue with capacity for 1,900 people, recording studios, offices for agents and other music industry professionals and a music academy operated by the nonprofit.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/arts-c...-commission-ok