Holy Shift! What We Know About Detroit’s Commercial Real Estate Development.
A Detroit-based commercial real estate developer is shaking up what’s shaking in popular Detroit neighborhoods. Here is what we know.
Commercial real estate developer O’Connor Real Estate is moving fast to take advantage of Detroit’s growth and strike while the iron is hot, leaping at new opportunities to cash in on the big Detroit comeback. Just last week, Peter Cummings of development company, The Platform, pulled the plug on two mixed-use projects that would erect hundreds of residential homes in up-and-coming neighborhoods.
In a statement from The Platform’s president, Clarke Lewis, "We've completed a strategic review of our portfolio and decided to sell several properties, which allows us to focus on our core assets with the greatest potential.”
O’Connor, a fellow Detroit-based brokerage firm, just listed four development sites that total about nine acres for sale. This queus the end of Cummings’ plans for the 4.34-acre Dequindre Cut site, formerly the Joe Meur restaurant – a site originally bought by The Platform in 2017, intended to be a multifamily and retail/commercial mixed-use development, although the work was never initiated. The second, a one-acre project at the Baltimore Station; the third, a 1.1-acre site formerly known as a Big Boy Restaurant in Islandview and fourthly, a 3.1-acre open land between the old Joe Louis Arena and Riverfront Towers.
While under The Platform’s direction, Baltimore Station’s second phase of construction was underway before a screeching halt in 2019 when a contractor replacement was to take place. The work on this project never recommenced and the structural steel we saw installed was removed two years later. The Big Boy Restaurant building was set to be developed as a 10-or-so-story site with about 240 new apartments and 11,000 square feet of retail. Those plans also paused when former president and CEO, Dietrich Knoer, who proudly led the development of this project, left the firm in October 2019.
In October 2023, The Platform sold a prime Woodward Avenue office building and six parcels of land for roughly $18 million. This year, the company has also sold 79% ownership of the Fisher Building, a parking garage, and two parking lots in the New Center area. The remaining 21% is now owned by The Platform and Michigan State University Federal Credit Union at approximately 50%/50%.
Eastern Market and Milwaukee Junction neighborhoods are two of the fastest growing and most sought-after districts in the downtown Detroit area. In fact, about ten years ago, the E&B Brewery Lofts (situated above the Red Bull House of Art) rented for only $800-900 per month for a 1,000 square foot open spaced industrial style apartment. Now, these Eastern Market prime location lofts rent for more than double – and even though they boast a lot of old school charm, these are not new development or even updated units.
Detroit holds a special place in our heart, as a fellow Midwestern grit-to-grind metropolis. We’re curious what will unfold in these desirable spaces and excited about opportunities to get involved in the construction of new buildings amidst the motor city’s revival.