Invest in Growing Cities: 8 Upcoming Developments in Detroit

Source: Photo by Alex Brisbey on Unsplash

Another year, another round of new developments popping up in the City of Detroit!

What was once a city struggling with blight and depopulation is now such a busy place for construction that it’s quite difficult to keep up with all of it—or when they’re supposed to be completed.

Not to worry, this article will show you the 8 most interesting developments currently happening in the City of Detroit to help real estate investors like you anticipate potential up-and-coming areas.

8 Upcoming Developments in the City of Detroit

Here’s the key: Developments don’t standalone. They rarely do.

In other words, if one building is constructed or remodeled, one block sees an increase in investments. As such, investors like you should keep an eye on developing areas—where you can expect an uptick in real estate values for greater investment returns.

We’ve listed 8 of the most interesting, upcoming developments currently in the works or recently completed in the City of Detroit. Here’s a snapshot of where everything is located:

Source: Google

Let’s get into each of these areas and developments one by one.

1. Ford’s Mobility Innovation District

The first one we’ll look at is the Corktown campus centered around the renovated, iconic Michigan Central Station. This 30-acre area is being developed by Ford to become a “walkable” hub for research and development of their new range of mobility products like self-driving cars and non-gas vehicles.

Source: Google

Ford’s Mobility Innovation District will provide more than a million square feet of commercial space and provide employment for around 5,000 workers. The entire complex is worth $740 million, and Ford is expecting to get $250 million in tax incentives to offset the cost.

2. Love Building

Next is the Core City reconstruction happening in the 25,000-square-foot area at Grand River Avenue and 15th Street. This particular building is a hundred years old and coated with murals, but Allied Media Projects has since bought it for $1 million and is envisioning a hub for social justice organizations.

Source: Google

Once completed, the four-story building will be called the Love Building and will have office space, a deli and a cafe, a multipurpose community room, a park, and an amphitheater. The price for this development is $12.8 million, and we’re expecting move-in to happen in July of this year.

3. Dreamtroit

Another development happening in the Northwest Goldberg neighborhood is Dreamtroit—a mixed-use structure with 81 apartment units and 38,000 square feet of commercial space. The building will sit on the former car factory built in 1908, which is where Ford Model Ts used to come from.

Source: Google

Since then, Recycling Here has occupied the space and will remain in the complex even after the redevelopment. There’s also a coffee shop, a smoothie bar, an events place, and an expansion into the LIncoln Street Art Park. All in all, the project costs $24.6 million.

It’s also good to note that 58 of the 81 apartment units will be available to locals with incomes below the area’s median rate—also with a preference for artists interested in creating “live-make” spaces. Dreamtroit will start to offer residential leases by August of this year, and we can expect the building to be fully operational by October.

4. Osi Art Apartments

One apartment housing complex that’ll be completed by the end of this year is the Osi Art Apartments. This is a 30-unit, four-story apartment at 3820 Grand River Ave. in Woodbridge, where half of the units will be reserved for people with household incomes below $60,000.

Source: Google

The apartment will also have 5,000 square feet of commercial space and is part of the West End Gallery District—where you’ll see a collection of art galleries, restaurants, retail stores, bars, and other housing developments. All in all, the project costs $7 million, which includes investments and financing from the Detroit Housing for the Future Fund.

5. Book Tower

Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock is now working on reviving the long-neglected skyscrapers Book Tower and Book Building since 2016, and will finally reopen the buildings by the end of this year. We’re expecting to see more than 200 apartments across 27 floors, hotel rooms for extended stay by Roost, an indoor-outdoor bar, plenty of new restaurants, and a beautiful events place.

Source: Google

It goes without saying that this redevelopment will undoubtedly liven up Washington Boulevard, especially with the recently-announced ownership and renovation of the Book Cadillac.

6. Milwaukee Junction

Unless you’ve been keeping an eye on the City of Detroit for a while, you might miss out on the developments happening in New Center—the sleepy, post-industrial area just across Woodward that is experiencing a ton of developments and activities in the past years.

Source: Google

For example, businesses like Oak & Reel, Freya, Milwaukee Caffe, Vault of Midnight, and the Gathering have popped up. The Platform has also renovated Chroma (a co-working space), and many lofts and apartments have begun to show up.

We can certainly expect more residential developments in the next few years, the revamping of the Stanley Hong building, and more streetscaping along East Grand Boulevard.

7. East Riverfront

Since we’re already talking about areas that have seen developments in recent years, we can’t skip the East Riverfront—area from Stroh's complex to Belle Isle. This area will likely go through a complete transformation pretty soon, especially now that Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock has bought buildings and land; ole the UAW Training Center and 300 River Place in the past year.

Source: Google

The Parade Company also recently acquired the Brodhead Armory, and has announced ambitious plans for its headquarters and warehouse in the area. The Platform is also selling the site across from Belle Isle where the former Big Boy was, and the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy is working on the Riverwalk connection between Belle Isle and Mt. Elliott Park.

8. West McNichols

Lastly, let’s talk about how West McNichols is experiencing a recent uptick in development thanks to several years of investment in Livernois and its surrounding neighborhoods. Increasingly more buildings are being renovated, new businesses are showing up along the corridor, and we’re certainly anticipating more announcements regarding the development of this area soon.

Source: Google

A few of the recent developments in West McNichols also include the Sawyer Art Apartments that broke ground recently, where its construction for affordable apartments is in full swing. And there’s the Strategic Neighborhood Fund that recently completed its streetscaping project along McNichols.

Plan Ahead, Plan for Success

It goes without saying that real estate investing is a long-term, strategic game. And with that innate nature comes the inevitable need to plan ahead. In other words, to be successful in real estate investing, you’ll have to identify up-and-coming neighborhoods, purchase properties while the prices are low, slowly (but surely) see the area grow, and reap the famed returns of the City of Detroit.

And it all starts with knowing where the growth is happening.

Take your pick from the 8 areas we’ve mentioned above and get to planning your investments! Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments below.