FARMINGTON HILLS, MICH. — Bernard Financial Group has arranged a $5.6 million loan for the refinancing of a 72,607-square-foot office property in Farmington Hills. Dennis Bernard and Joshua Bernard of Bernard Financial Group arranged the loan on behalf of the borrower, Duke & Duke LP. Securian Life Insurance Co. provided the loan.
FLINT, MICH. — Avison Young has brokered the sale of a single-tenant retail property occupied by Dollar General in Flint for $1 million. The 9,774-square-foot building, renovated in 2019, sits on 1.1 acres at 1510 E. Carpenter Road. Chris Maling, David Maling and James Becker of Avison Young represented the seller, Michigan-based Maplewood Partners LLC. The team also procured the buyer, a Minnesota-based family trust. Dollar General has nine years remaining on its lease.
As the nation’s retailers adapt to more curbside pickup and outdoor offerings as a result of COVID-19, what will happen in cold-weather states like Michigan once winter hits? Panelists pondered this question during “Michigan Retail Outlook,” a webinar hosted by Shopping Center Business and Heartland Real Estate Business that took place Tuesday, Aug. 25. “We have tenants that are expanding their outdoor seating and planning ahead for winter by adding covers, plastic vinyl or outdoor heaters,” said Mike McBride, senior vice president of asset management for RPT Realty, which has an office in Southfield, Mich. “We’re seeing them expand for the long term with outdoor equipment.” Joining McBride on the panel were Deno Bistolarides of Encore Real Estate Investment Services, Thomas Litzler of Schostak Brothers & Co., Cynthia Kratchman of Mid-America Real Estate — Michigan, Nathan Forbes of The Forbes Co. and Eric Larson of Downtown Detroit Partnership. Todd Sachse of Sachse Construction moderated the discussion. “Europe has lived with outdoor seating 12 months per year forever,” noted Forbes, who is managing partner in Southfield, Mich. “There have to be ways to keep that outdoor space open during the winter months through temporary heating or other measures. We have to …
DETROIT — Bedrock, the real estate arm of Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert, has hired Kofi Bonner, former Cleveland Browns chief administrative officer, as CEO starting Sept. 21. He replaces Matt Cullen, who left in July. A leader behind some of California’s most recent coastal developments, Bonner has extensive experience in development projects in metro areas. He served as co-chief operating officer at Irvine, Calif.-based FivePoint Holdings, where he led the entitlement and development of the San Francisco Shipyard and Candlestick Communities. Bonner spent the last year focused on real estate development and technology ventures through his Bonner Enterprises. He began his career as the affordable housing developer for Oakland Community Housing Inc. “With his extensive experience leading landmark projects on the West Coast and the years he spent in Cleveland with the Browns, Bonner is the right leader to build on Bedrock’s nearly 10 years of transformational development work,” says Bill Emerson, vice chairman of Bedrock and current acting CEO. Emerson will transition his role back to vice chairman of both Bedrock and Rock Holdings Inc. Since its founding in 2011, Bedrock has invested and committed more than $5.6 billion to acquiring and developing more than 100 properties, including …
DETROIT — Developers Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH) and Develop Detroit have broken ground on a $36.3 million mixed-income development in Midtown Detroit’s Sugar Hill Arts District. Slated for completion in late 2021, the project will occupy what is currently a vacant lot on the northwest corner of John R and Garfield streets. The development will include 68 apartment units, 11,900 square feet of retail space and 164 parking spaces. Fourteen of the units will be set aside for residents who earn 30 to 60 percent of the area median income. The project site is located across from the John D. Dingell VA Medical Center. As such, many of the affordable units be dedicated to homeless veterans. Midtown Detroit Inc. plans to develop an outdoor green space adjacent to the building. In addition to the affordable housing component, the project is significant because it is one of the last designed by Phil Freelon, a celebrated black architect who passed away last year. The project team includes general contractor Whiting-Turner and architects Perkins & Will and McIntosh Poris. VM3 Consulting Corp. is working to engage minority- and women-owned firms as well as Detroit-based workers. Project funding comes from the City of …
HASTINGS, MICH. — Jaqua Realtors has opened a new office at the corner of Jefferson and State streets in Hastings, about 38 miles southeast of Grand Rapids. This is Jaqua’s 10th office location. Three new team members have joined the brokerage at the Hastings office. Jaqua focuses on residential and commercial real estate, as well as vacation rentals and property management.
DETROIT — Hotel Indigo Detroit has opened following a $10 million, two-year renovation. Located at 1020 Washington St. in the heart of downtown Detroit, the hotel features 241 renovated guest rooms and more than 1,700 square feet of meeting space. The décor pays tribute to Detroit’s music history as well as the original mid-century design of the building, which first opened as a Howard Johnson Motor Lodge in 1966. A new restaurant known as The Trolley Room will open at the hotel at a future date. Pyramid Hotel Group manages the property. Detroit-based Kraemer Design Group provided the architecture, interior design and furniture specification services for the project. In response to COVID-19, the hotel is deep cleaned with hospital-grade disinfectants. Guests are required to wear face coverings and social distance in public areas. Hotel Indigo Detroit was previously branded as a Holiday Inn Express & Suites. Glenmont Capital Management LLC acquired the property in 2018. The hotel remained open as renovations were completed.
JACKSON, MICH. — Senior Living Investment Brokerage (SLIB) has arranged the sale of RidgeCrest Health Campus, an assisted living and skilled nursing community in Jackson, approximately 75 miles west of downtown Detroit. Built in 2010, the community features 50 skilled nursing beds and 40 assisted living units. Totaling 54,696 square feet, the property was more than 90 percent occupied at the time of sale despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The seller was a regional owner-operator with communities across Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky. The buyer was a Michigan-based company looking to grow its portfolio within the state. Ryan Saul of Senior Living Investment Brokerage (SLIB) facilitated the sale. The price was not disclosed.
HOWELL, MICH. AND CHILLICOTHE, OHIO — Stan Johnson Co. has brokered the sales of two Walmart Supercenter-occupied properties in the Midwest on behalf of Dayton, Ohio-based developer RG Properties. Daniel Herrold and Campbell Black of Stan Johnson represented RG Properties, the seller, in the transactions. The first property totals more than 214,000 square feet and is located at 3850 E. Grand River Ave. in Howell, about 38 miles southeast of Lansing, Michigan. Brandon Duff of Stan Johnson represented the buyer, Consolidated Tomoka Land Co., which purchased the asset for $20.6 million. The second property spans 204,184 square feet and is located at 85 River Trace Lane in Chillicothe, about 48 miles south of Columbus. It sold for approximately $11 million to Agree LP, an institutional investor. Both buildings were constructed in the 1990s and sit on roughly 20 acres.
By Garrett Keais In my 25 years in commercial real estate, I’ve never seen the economy — and our industry — come to a standstill the way it did this spring after the coronavirus hit. With so much uncertainty in the market, Detroit’s office sales and leasing activity slowed considerably. But as the last decade has shown us, if ever there was a city that could take a punch and get back up swinging, it’s Detroit. Comeback before the virus Fueled by a strong economy and low unemployment, America’s “Comeback City” was posting first-quarter 2020 office vacancy rates as low as 7 percent in one central submarket, according to Cushman & Wakefield research, and seeing rising property values and rents before the coronavirus hit. It was a striking change from a decade earlier, when the Detroit area was struggling after the Great Recession. Unemployment was 3.7 percent in February 2020, compared with 17.2 percent in June 2010, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The city’s GDP had climbed steadily over those years. Tech giants like Quicken, Google, Twitter, Microsoft and Amazon moved to the city’s central business district, boosting downtown office occupancy and helping to diversify the local …