GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. — FURN on Leonard, a liquidation furniture boutique, has opened a 4,400-square-foot store at 444 Leonard St. NW in the West Grand neighborhood of Grand Rapids. The boutique sells a variety of furniture and décor items at affordable prices. The space includes a retail showroom and a warehouse in the back. Wesley Emert and Tina Emert of CityWide Real Estate Services assisted FURN on Leonard in securing the lease. Meg Giampapa is the store’s owner.
SAGINAW, MICH. — Mid-America Real Estate Corp. has arranged the sale of Valley Center in Saginaw for an undisclosed price. The 409,000-square-foot shopping center is home to tenants such as T.J. Maxx, HomeGoods, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Burlington, Michaels, PetSmart, Barnes & Noble, DSW, Old Navy, Ulta, Five Below and Dollar Tree. The center is 88 percent leased. Ben Wineman and Daniel Stern of Mid-America represented the seller, an institutional investor. A private family office was the buyer.
DETROIT — National design firm HED has completed the design of the new Detroit office for Warner Norcross + Judd law firm. The tenant occupies the third floor of 2715 Woodward, a Class A building. The law firm’s office features open workspaces as well as 50 private offices as well as a law library, media room, kitchen and reception area. Warner maintains eight other offices throughout Michigan.
SOUTHGATE, MICH. — Dunkin’ has sold its former restaurant building on Eureka Road in Southgate, about 14 miles southwest of Detroit. The retailer is relocating from the 1,809-square-foot building to a different building down the street that features a drive-thru. Michael Murphy, Vicki Gutowski and Tjader Gerdom of Gerdom Realty & Investment worked with Excess Space Retail Services to represent Dunkin’ in the sale. Jordan Jabbori of CMP Real Estate Group represented the buyer, a local restaurant owner that plans to open a new restaurant in the space.
DETROIT — LM Manufacturing, a joint venture between automotive suppliers Magna and LAN Manufacturing, has leased 296,000 square feet of manufacturing space in Detroit’s Delray neighborhood. The tenant is leasing space within the former Sakthi Industrial Campus, which Bedrock acquired in September 2020. The campus includes roughly 529,000 square feet of industrial space, 89,000 square feet of office space and 10 acres of developable land. LM Manufacturing’s lease will commence in May.
HOLLAND, MICH. — JLL Capital Markets has brokered the sale of Felch Street Shopping Center in the Grand Rapids suburb of Holland. The sales price was undisclosed. The 166,100-square-foot shopping center is fully leased to tenants such as Barnes & Noble, Bed Bath and Beyond, Jo-Ann Fabrics, Old Navy, Jonathan Stevens Mattress, Party City, PetSmart, Shoe Carnival, T.J. Maxx and Ulta Beauty. Amy Sands, Clinton Mitchell, Michael Nieder and Matthew Schoenfeldt of JLL represented the undisclosed seller. A private fund based in the Southeast purchased the asset.
GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. — NAI Wisinski of West Michigan has brokered the sale of a 19,972-square-foot industrial building in Grand Rapids for an undisclosed price. The property is situated at 2882 Northridge Drive NW. Andrew Kapanowski and Doug Taatjes of NAI Wisinski represented the seller, Unisource Office Furniture Parts. Max Grover of Moxie represented the buyer, Lumber2Love, a manufacturer of high-quality wood furniture.
The “retail apocalypse” predicated on the pandemic never really materialized. Instead, we’ve seen retail do what it always does: evolve. Much as the rest of the country, metro Detroit’s retail real estate market has evolved and come back in a big way. Tenants on the move As vaccines were adopted and the economy allowed to reopen, the economic rubber band snapped back quickly and stronger than many of us could have predicted. Retailers were dusting off pre-pandemic expansion plans and back to signing leases in 2021. We saw new openings and new market searches from BJ’s Wholesale Club, Burlington, Carvana, Chick-fil-A, Chipotle, Starbucks, Crunch Fitness, Edge Fitness, Gabe’s, iFly, Jollibee, Meijer, Portillo’s, Ross, Shake Shack, Smoothie King, T.J. Maxx, Total Wine & More and Tropical Smoothie Café. 2021 also presented a big void in the Michigan furniture market following the bankruptcy of Art Van (which controlled 30 to 35 percent of the market). Numerous players including Gardner White Furniture, Ashley Furniture and Value City Furniture all quickly snapped up this real estate, immediately increasing their market share. Other categories that continue to seek space include car washes (which has to be one of the most active categories out there …
DETROIT — Innovo has broken ground on a 425,000-square-foot speculative industrial project at Gateway Industrial Center in Detroit. The new building will offer 62 docks, 317 vehicle parking spaces, 100 trailer parking spaces and a clear height of 36 feet. Innovo is also completing improvements to the existing buildings within the 1 million-square-foot business park, which is fully occupied. Sean Cavanaugh and Colin McCausland of JLL will market the new building for lease.
AUBURN HILLS, MICH. — Signature Associates has brokered the sale of a 443,340-square-foot industrial building in Auburn Hills for an undisclosed price. Located at 3600 Giddings Road, the property features a clear height of 30 feet and 375 car parking spaces. Joe Hamway and Greg Hudas of Signature Associates represented the buyer, a partnership between Foundation Capital Partners LLC and Wheelock Street Capital LLC. The duo is now marketing the property for lease. Occupancy will be available in May.
