DETROIT | Development & Construction: Motown Lowdown

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by DesignerVoodoo

Are you certain about rental rates for downtown? I'm paying 96.25 a square foot here and just got a serious shock. I use to live in the Mies van der Rohe townhouses in 1988 but I can't remember what I was paying then, I guess this just really really surprised me. I want to see downtown be redeveloped with quality buildings too, the conceptual rendering offered is weak at best.

Rent on the Magnificent mile in Chicago is $2.40 / sf. My friend rents a condo in midtown Manhattan for $4 / sq. I think you aren't calculating cost / sqft / month. Downtown Detroit rents are about at where they should be, though there's definitely the opportunity for them to be higher.

[Michi]

It seems like there's a certain "beginners" standard in Detroit. One where you can't expect quality design. That's not to say we shouldn't, but the arguments about ppsf are valid, and a developer taking a chance on Detroit is making a riskier venture, which does not "enforce" higher design standards.

The gated community makes me wonder though. I wonder if this increases the value of rent rates, has no effect, or, in an urban setting, has a negative effect?

[Rizzo]

I think Detroit has proven before it can do good design even on a budget. You can use very inexpensive materials and still have a nice looking building. They could construct that building out of precast with a color and textured finish instead of what appears to be brick and metal and it might come out looking pretty awesome.

[Onn]

Dime Building renamed 'Chrysler House' as automaker creates Detroit office



The Detroit News
Louis Aguilar
30 April 2012

Chrysler Group LLC announced Monday morning that CEO Sergio Marchionne and 70 staffers are moving into Detroit's Dime Building, which is being renamed the Chrysler House in honor of the move.

The name change reflects the Auburn Hills automaker's commitment to downtown Detroit, Marchionne said at a Monday morning press conference. It is the first time in history Chrysler has had a Detroit office, he said.

The company used to be headquartered in neighboring Highland Park before moving to Auburn Hills in 1994. Marchionne will still keep an office at the Auburn Hills headquarters.

"This is such, such a major move," said Dan Gilbert, chairman of online mortgage company Quicken Loans Inc., whose Rock Ventures firm bought and operates the former Dime Building.

Most of the employees are from the Auburn Hills automaker's Great Lakes region sales and marketing organization. Marchionne will maintain his current office at Chrysler's Auburn Hills headquarters, too.

Local developers such as James Van Dyke of the the Roxbury Group, a Detroit-based real estate consulting and development firm that is rehabilitating the David Whitney building in downtown, said the move will help attract other companies. "Other businesses want to be around the decision makers," Van Dyke said last week. "It generates more activity in everything from restaurants to hotels."

General Motors Co. has its headquarters downtown in the Renaissance Center.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...#ixzz1tXLAIlMZ

[Docta_Love]

City in talks with carrier that wants to restore passenger service to Detroit

Suzette Hackney and Matt Helms
The Detroit Free Press
May 4, 2012

Mayor Dave Bing's administration said Thursday that the city is negotiating with a charter carrier that wants to return passenger service to Detroit.

Jason Watt, general manager of the Coleman A. Young International Airport, told the City Council on Thursday that the city has a letter of intent from a carrier interested in re-establishing scheduled passenger travel. He would not publicly identify the company.

Commercial passenger service ceased at the airport in 2000, though private pilots, cargo companies and charter operations still use the facility.

http://www.freep.com/article/2012050...ice-to-Detroit

I am glad to see the possibility of passenger service returning to City Airport. The area around the airport now is in dire need of reinvestment, the area now is more or less a blank slate. This is the areas greatest asset though, if the city's plans are realized and a private firm takes over running the airport and provides much needed improvements. The area around the airport could be redeveloped into a neighborhood catering to the needs of passengers as well as making the area more attractive to high-tech industrial firms. Although an east side areotropolis is still just a far off dream at this point, reestablishing passenger service is a start.

[animatedmartian]

Toronto real estate firm buys historic Penobscot Building for estimated $5-million

By John Gallagher
Detroit Free Press
May 5, 2012



Another major downtown Detroit skyscraper has been sold, and — surprise! — the buyer was not Dan Gilbert.

Triple Properties, the Toronto-based real estate firm that already owns the Silverdome in Pontiac, bought downtown’s historic Penobscot Building last week for a price estimated to be in the $5-million range.

The seller was Capmark, an investment firm that obtained the title to the Penobscot in a foreclosure action against the former owner, the Northern Group.

[...]

The building is about 45% to 50% occupied with tenants including Strategic Staffing Solutions and Wayne County Friend of the Court.

Bob Mihelich, a broker with Southfield-based CBRE who represents Triple Properties, said Triple’s owner Andreas Apostolopoulos plans to offer office rental rates in the Penobscot of about $10 per square foot — below the general market asking rate of $14 to $20 per foot.

“By doing that it would hopefully draw some people who either want to switch, move, or come downtown,” Mihelich said Friday. “The idea is to lure people in with very attractive rental rates and then (Triple) will spend some money to dial up the suites.”

[...]

http://www.freep.com/article/2012050...xt%7CFRONTPAGE

Pretty good deal for a 47-foot skyscraper.

[Docta_Love]

Pretty good deal for a 47-foot skyscraper.

Well i wouldn't necessarily say that, but for a 47-story skyscraper not a bad deal at all . The article mentions the building needing some renovations, which came as a surprise for me. I had thought that the owners who installed the facade lighting had updated the building, i guess the 50% occupancy rate speaks for itself though. It will be interesting to see what this guy does with the building a healthy Penobscot would be a huge asset for the CBD, hopefully encouraging other outside investors to step into the Detroit office market. Fingers crossed with the Penobscot and the Silverdome (Pontiac is in dire financial straights they could really use the tax revenue generated by a functioning entertainment venue of that size).

[The North One]

Only 5 million?!

There are homes in Oakland county that go for more than that. If they renovate it though that's sure to cost a pretty penny.

[animatedmartian]

Another preservation versus progress fight.

WSU plan to raze building angers some in Midtown
By John Gallagher
Detroit Free Press
May 7, 2012

A long-vacant factory in Detroit's Midtown is the latest flash point in the city's long-running debate over preservation of buildings of historic or architectural significance and efforts to grow walkable districts that retain big-city character.

Wayne State University plans to demolish the two-story American Beauty Electric Iron building, designed by famed architect Albert Kahn, to make way for a staging area for construction vehicles working on a new $93-million biomedical research center at the adjacent site.

Midtowners and preservationists say it should be saved and that too many of Detroit's old buildings have been sacrificed for surface lots. They say American Beauty is important to Midtown's continuing evolution to a walkable, mixed-use neighborhood.

The site at Woodward and Burroughs is adjacent to the old Dalgleish Cadillac dealership that WSU is converting soon to the research center.

WSU officials say American Beauty's demolition will help ensure the preservation and reuse of the Dalgleish structure, also designed by Kahn. They also say the site, after some use as an employee lot, could eventually house an expansion of the biomedical center.

"There's never any intention to make this permanently a parking lot," said Rick Nork, vice president and chief financial officer for WSU. "To me it just does not make any sense to leave that building in place when you're going to be investing $93 million in a state-of-the-art research building immediately adjacent."

[...]

Central to the debate is the larger question of what happens to surrounding cityscape when buildings are demolished. Critics say razing almost any building for a surface parking lot runs counter to the desire to create a densely packed, walkable urban village, a goal for Midtown.

Melanie Markowicz, chair of the nonprofit group Preservation Detroit, noted that two hubs of Detroit's evolving entrepreneurial economy, NextEnergy and TechTown, are located across Cass from the site.

"It's supposed to be this vibrant area of innovation, but somehow it's turning into a land of parking lots, and this would be just another contributor to that," she said.

Markowicz agreed that the American Beauty building is not significant architecturally, being a fairly routine industrial structure of the early 20th Century. But such buildings often make great spaces for loft apartments or small businesses.

"Just because a building is old and doesn't have features that make it a masterpiece like the Guardian doesn't mean we should tear it down," she said.

[...]

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by animatedmartian

Another preservation versus progress fight.

As I stated previously, I'm not particularly happy with WSU's track record of preservation. And I don't understand why they want to provide space for staging construction vehicles. Why? When you stage construction in urban areas, you simply place all the trailers and materials on a scaffold over top of the sidewalk. Or utilize a vacant building next door for storage and project offices.

I think WSU needs to be held accountable for this decision, and we should expect to see some report as to the options they pursued and their reasoning behind this demolition.

Sometimes I wish Detroit would have the same alderman and ward system as Chicago. Public officials that are always accessible by the general population and give citizens a voice in guiding development....even against strong corporations, developers, and public institutions. If there was enough citizen concern voiced through one of these public offices, I feel we would have both the American Beauty and Biomedical Buildings.

[LMich]

This article is a few weeks old, but apparently, Gateway Marketplace (formerly the pretentiously named Shoppes at Gateway) up near 8 Mile and Woodward will begin construction on the 17th. I know, I can't believe it, myself. lol

Jonathan Oosting | MLive.com

Gateway Marketplace to break ground next month with plans for Detroit's first Meijer store

By Jonathan Oosting | MLive.com

April 26, 2012

Developers of the long-planned Gateway Marketplace are expected to break ground next month near Woodward and 8 Mile in Detroit, launching construction on a retail hub slated to include the city's first Meijer grocery store.

Mayor Dave Bing and Gov. Rick Snyder are expected to attend the groundbreaking ceremony on May 17.

...

[Michi]

Originally Posted by LMich

This article is a few weeks old, but apparently, Gateway Marketplace (formerly the pretentiously named Shoppes at Gateway) up near 8 Mile and Woodward will begin construction on the 17th. I know, I can't believe it, myself. lol

Pet Peeve: the word "SHOPPES"!!!!
Just as bad: "CENTRE"

Nothing says a trashy development like spelling words wrong in order to be "fancy", especially since there's nothing fancy about oversized parking lots accessed by ugly, high-speed surface streets designed to get cars PASSED any attempts at quality economic development. High profile intersection, but with those key words to market the place, I worry about the quality. Gotta start somewhere, I guess.

[LMich]

Hey, I've always said that since it's out at 8 Mile and Woodward, I couldn't care less about the design. I've come to expect very little of the vast majority of the new architecture in a place like Detroit. This is far enough from the core (literally at the edge of the city) that I'll excuse a lot so long as they start sprucing up the area around the ridiculously abandoned State Fair neighborhood.

Where'd you get Centre from, though?

[animatedmartian]

Speaking of Meijers, according to Detroiturbex, Redford Highschool has been sold and is also on the way to being demolished.

In other demolition news...

Detroit to raze nursing home, WSU sites
BY CHRISTINE MACDONALD THE DETROIT NEWS MAY 8, 2012





[...]

Karla Henderson, a group executive for Mayor Dave Bing, said the city will spend $4.4 million to raze the facility this summer along with the former Wayne State University Shapero Hall, an eight-story high-rise off Interstate 375, and a handful of smaller commercial buildings across the city.

Large commercial demolitions are rare in Detroit, which instead has focused scarce funding on demolishing about 4,300 dangerous houses since 2010. The money for Arnold Nursing Home and the other buildings comes from leftover federal grants, Henderson said.

[...]

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...#ixzz1uXu3gtRN

I've always wondered about the WSU building. It's directly next to Lafayette Park and seems like an ideal spot for new residential high rises.

[LMich]

I always figured Shapero Hall would be renovated. Too bad to see it go. We know the site's going to site empty for years.

The demolition of Shapero Hall may be more complicated. Some neighbors are celebrating the move, but the owner's lawyer argued the demolition would be "an egregious waste of city funds."

"It displays an incredible amount of hubris for the city and others in the community to insist the building come down," said Margaret Andrews, an attorney for owner Dennis Kefallinos, who is fighting the city's plan. "It is 100 percent structurally sound."

The eight-story building is windowless and the first floor is boarded. Kefallinos originally wanted to turn it into a hotel when he bought it in 2007 from the university for $2.3 million, records show. But the plan was stalled in part by zoning issues, Andrews said.

He now wants to develop studio lofts, she said.

Henderson said in an email the building is "an eyesore, blighted and abandoned structure where criminal activity has occurred including a murder of a 61-year-old man last year." She said Kefallinos "does not have a positive track record as being a responsible property owner."

I had no idea it had been allowed to erode so much. I remember Kefallinos buying the thing, and had assumed that even if the renovation didn't go through the least he would have done is kept it secure.

[animatedmartian]

Here comes Whole Foods.

Whole Foods to break ground May 14
Natural, organic market chain hopes to open spring 2013

By MEGAN KRUEGER | The South End | May 11, 2012

Whole Foods Market will have an official ground breaking ceremony on May 14 at 9:45 a.m for their future Midtown location to celebrate the new chapter for the grocery store chain.

According to Whole Foods website, the future store will be located at the northwest corner of John R and Mack Avenue. The groundbreaking ceremony at the site will include local food and entertainment, according to the groundbreaking invitation on its website, and attendees are encouraged to park in the Wayne State parking structure near the site or in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra parking structure.

The Austin, Texas-based chain currently has five other stores in Michigan, all of which are located in Detroit suburbs as close to the city as Troy and as distant as Ann Arbor.

“We are looking forward to being a part of the Detroit community and all the wonderful things that are happening in the city of Detroit,” Whole Foods said on its website. “There have been many dedicated people working toward this new development for several years, and it is because of their hard work and commitment to Detroit that we are able to open the store in Midtown.”

While the John R and Mack Avenue location is under construction, Whole Foods has opened a temporary location at 3670 Woodward Ave. in the Ellington Building, according to its website.

[...]

http://thesouthend.wayne.edu/index.p..._ground_may_14

[Michi]

Originally Posted by LMich

Hey, I've always said that since it's out at 8 Mile and Woodward, I couldn't care less about the design. I've come to expect very little of the vast majority of the new architecture in a place like Detroit. This is far enough from the core (literally at the edge of the city) that I'll excuse a lot so long as they start sprucing up the area around the ridiculously abandoned State Fair neighborhood.

Where'd you get Centre from, though?

I don't like that you'll settle for lower standards.

These are still places where people live, or at least they should be treated like that when developed. Also, these developments rely on a regional base, so their impact radiates beyond the neighborhood it exists. Ferndale is across the street, Palmer Woods & Woodlawn Cemetary is across the street. Just because the streets traveling through the area suck, shouldn't mean this should be a missed opportunity to improve the economic stability of both the neighborhood and the greater market. This intersection is a node of activity, or at least should be.

Ha! All that over the stupid name of the project. I just pulled out Centre because it's used too much also.

[fishrose]

Originally Posted by Michi

Pet Peeve: the word "SHOPPES"!!!!
Just as bad: "CENTRE"

Nothing says a trashy development like spelling words wrong in order to be "fancy", especially since there's nothing fancy about oversized parking lots accessed by ugly, high-speed surface streets designed to get cars PASSED any attempts at quality economic development. High profile intersection, but with those key words to market the place, I worry about the quality. Gotta start somewhere, I guess.

Nothing says irony like criticizing intentional "misspellings" and then immediately misspelling a word by accident, with emphasis even.

Honestly, 8 Mile and Woodward is surrounded by suburban built densities on all sides. It's already on an island of non-walkability because of the cemetery, fairgrounds, and railroad tracks, not to mention the roads themselves.

Barring the complete reconstruction of Woodward and 8 Mile Road (not happening ever) or the redevelopment of the Fairgrounds as a new urbanist mixed-used neighborhood (probably the least likely outcome at this point) an automobile-oriented shopping center is pretty much the only economically viable retail model for that location. The best we can hope for is that it will be well-served by mass transit.

[hudkina]

I was going to say. It seems like that corner would be the least concern. All that matters is that people who live in the area will have access to a respectable grocery and general merchandise store. They don't need a disneyfied landscape of coffee shops and apple stores.

[Michi]

Haha!

Yah, you can have good suburban design too. Though my responses were just talking about the silly naming of centres, it's as if I'm leading to believe the design of this proposed place will be bad.

The future of this area may have the opportunity to be a TOD. Why not put some of those design elements into it?