WATERFORD, MICH. — SunTrust Commercial Real Estate, part of Truist’s corporate and institutional group, has provided an $18.3 million Fannie Mae loan for the acquisition of Glengarry Apartments in Waterford, a northern suburb of Detroit. The 300-unit apartment complex, built in 1978, was 94.7 percent occupied at the time of closing. Evan Hom of SunTrust originated the 15-year loan with seven years of interest-only payments followed by a 30-year amortization schedule. The loan-to-value ratio was 80 percent.
AUBURN HILLS, MICH. — Demolition work has begun at the Palace of Auburn Hills, the former home of the Detroit Pistons basketball team. The venue, which also hosted concerts, opened in the late 80s and closed in 2017. The Pistons now play at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit along with the Detroit Red Wings. The Palace of Auburn Hills sold to Livonia-based development firm Schostak Brothers & Co. for an undisclosed price last year. Specific future development plans have yet to be released, but the property has been zoned for research and development, technology and office use.
PORTAGE, MICH. — Jaqua Realtors has opened its new office on Milham Avenue in Portage, located about five miles south of Kalamazoo. The new 7,622-square-foot building will be home to the company’s commercial real estate, corporate relocation and property management divisions. It is situated next door to Jaqua’s residential real estate office. The brokerage firm is approaching 45 years in the real estate business.
WYOMING, MICH. — Wolverine Tacos is set to open Wednesday, April 15 in Wyoming, just south of Grand Rapids. The taco restaurant has signed a lease to occupy space at 1740 44th St. The menu will offer a variety of tacos, bowls, salads, soups, appetizers and desserts. Todd Leinberger and Rod Alderink of NAI Wisinski of West Michigan represented the undisclosed landlord in the lease transaction. Carol Johnson is the owner of Wolverine Tacos.
DETROIT — Bedrock has begun pre-leasing The Flats at 2660 John R. Street, the first of five market-rate multifamily properties to be located in City Modern, an 8.4-acre development in Detroit’s Brush Park neighborhood. The first property is home to 35 units, comprised of studios, one- and two-bedroom floor plans. Amenities include bicycle storage, dry cleaning lockers, a package delivery system and third-floor outdoor terrace. Move-ins will begin in April. Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects designed the property. Detroit-based Bedrock is a full-service real estate firm. Since its founding in 2011, the company and its affiliates have invested and committed over $5.6 billion to acquiring and developing more than 100 properties.
Southeast Michigan has enjoyed a decade of prosperity surrounding the revitalization of downtown Detroit led by billionaire businessman and Quicken Loans Founder Dan Gilbert. Detroit has 580 million square feet of industrial space and is projected to see another 5 million square feet by 2021, much of that distribution-focused. In the past decade, Southeast Michigan has become a hub for driverless car technology. Toyota has announced plans to create an autonomous vehicle research facility in Ann Arbor and Ford Motor Co. has purchased the former Detroit train station to create an autonomous vehicle research center. In addition, the state of Michigan partnered with the University of Michigan to convert an old World War II air base into a 500-acre autonomous vehicle testing ground. The American Center for Mobility at Willow Run located in Ypsilanti Township operates as a global center for testing, research, education and product development, and serves companies such as Microsoft, AT&T, Ford, Toyota and Hyundai. The GM strike has recently been resolved, a relief to smaller automotive suppliers. High costs of construction, due to the international trade war as well as labor shortages, have resulted in limited inventory, therefore increasing the value of existing facilities. Construction, leasing …
DETROIT — Stephen Ross, philanthropist and chairman of Related Cos., has announced a $100 million gift to advance construction of the Detroit Center for Innovation (DCI). The project, which will be located on the former Wayne County Jail site on Gratiot Avenue will also be made possible by a contribution of land from Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert. The first phase of construction for the 14-acre project is expected to begin in 2021. Anchoring the project will be a 190,000-square-foot research and education center to be operated by the University of Michigan. Designed by architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox, the center will serve up to 1,000 graduate and senior-level undergraduate students pursuing degrees in high-tech innovation fields such as mobility, artificial intelligence, data science, cybersecurity and financial technology. The initial phase of the DCI will also include incubator and start-up services for entrepreneurs, collaboration space, residential units, a hotel and conference center. Ross has previously given nearly $400 million to the university.
DETROIT — Ciena Healthcare has opened Regency at Chene, a $23 million rehabilitation and skilled nursing center located at 2295 E. Vernor Highway in Detroit. The property includes 46 private suites, 55 semi-private suites and four bariatric suites. Each has a private bathroom. Amenities include three dining rooms, lounges, a café, library, beauty shop and salon. More than 200 full-time and part-time employees will work at the 93,652-square-foot facility.
ANN ARBOR, MICH. — Trinitas Ventures is set to break ground on The One, a 682-bed student housing community located near the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor. The development will offer one-, two-, three-, four- and five-bedroom, cottage-style units. Shared amenities will include a fitness center, business center, game room, resort-style swimming pool, fire pit, private study lounges, basketball and volleyball courts and a shuttle service to campus. A Trinitas-managed investment entity has provided equity financing for the project, and PNC Bank is providing construction financing. A timeline for the development, located at 2601 Pontiac Trail, has yet to be announced.
While there are plenty of news stories touting Detroit’s comeback, it’s the actual 2019 year-end numbers backing up the claims with solid momentum in the office and lending sectors. And the numbers are capturing the attention of national investors, not to mention lenders who were on the bench for years and years. Office occupancy Office vacancy across metropolitan Detroit decreased from 24.5 percent in 2013 to 13.8 percent as of the fourth quarter of 2019, according to national leasing firm CBRE. Asking rates have climbed since 2009 and vacancy rates have dropped. These figures even include the 23 percent-vacant Southfield submarket and the 19.5 percent-vacant Auburn Hills submarket, which with their combined total square footage account for 23.4 percent of the total metropolitan Detroit office market, dragging up the total average vacancy rate. Focusing on the central business district (CBD), the post-recession predictions of a city powering through the real estate cycle are holding true. The total direct office vacancy in JLL’s latest Detroit CBD Skyline report is 7.7 percent. That figure includes approximately 500,000 vacant square feet in the GM-owned and largely self-occupied Renaissance Center (RenCen) complex. Remove the RenCen from the equation, and the Detroit CBD skyline (i.e. …