As Corktown booms, pickings are slim for would-be residents

As the former Michigan Central Station and the broader Corktown neighborhood prepare for a moment in the sun tonight, local real estate professionals are also looking at the challenges and opportunities for increased housing in the area.

The Corktown area just west of downtown Detroit will be in the spotlight in the coming weeks as Dearborn-based Ford Motor Co. opens the restored 500,000-square-foot former train station, expected to house some 1,000 high-tech automotive workers by the end of the year, and thousands more in the years to follow.

A sold-out concert Thursday night featuring the likes of Diana Ross, Big Sean and Jack White officially kicks off the public opening of the building, which had been closed for 35 years.

Given the anticipated density of workers in the Michigan Central district, which includes Newlab in the renovated Book Depository building, demand for housing should accelerate in the already hot neighborhood, said Ryan Cooley, owner of residential brokerage O’Connor Real Estate, headquartered in Corktown. A veritable condo and apartment boom has already been underway for years.

“With those kinds of (employee) numbers, and people wanting to walk to work, I think that would be pretty enticing for people,” Cooley said of the expected demand for residential options. “That’s certainly the hope.”

The vibrant city neighborhood with its numerous eating, drinking and music venues has already been a draw. The opening of Michigan Central and the surrounding district only heightens the appeal.

 

Leasing activity for rental properties in the Corktown neighborhood has also been strong, according to local estate executives, and the supply of for-sale properties — particularly condos — remains low.

With roughly 10 condos in the neighborhood on the market, and only a couple of single-family homes, the incoming wave of Ford workers who might wish to live within walking distance of their office will find minimal options. And with what Cooley says is a soft market for land sales, he doesn’t anticipate a rush of new residential development in the immediate neighborhood.

“We’re also not having a lot of conversations with people (in the Corktown neighborhood) that are asking us to go ahead and list their place … I’m not having those conversations at all right now,” Cooley said. “I don’t think inventory is going to be changing anytime soon.”

With regard to condos currently listed in the immediate vicinity around Ford’s new campus — most of which are listed by Cooley’s brokerage — would-be buyers will have just a handful of options.

At present, those condo options include a 700-square foot, one-bedroom unit asking $300,000 in The Coachman development on Bagley Street, as well as a 2,130-square-foot, three-bedroom condo just to the east in the Bagley 10 project, and carrying an asking price of $839,500.

James Tumey, a sales agent at O’Connor Realty, will host an open house this afternoon ahead of the concert for an available 2,000-square-foot, two-bedroom condo on 11th Street priced at $569,000.

Also available is a 5,600-square-foot penthouse condo owned by Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist. On the market for a year, the property has undergone a number of price reductions, most recently late last month, with a 6% drop to $1.6 million.

However, as Cooley notes, many newcomers to the area will be more inclined to “dip their toe” in first and opt to rent in the neighborhood before buying.

Still, in that scenario, would-be lessees will find minimal options.

Cooley said his brokerage does a handful of leasing, mostly on behalf of condo owners or small-time landlords, and the rentals brokered by the firm tend to go quickly, attracting multiple interested parties.

On a larger scale, the Perennial Corktown apartment and retail development with 195 units — most market rate but with some subsidized — along the south side of Michigan Avenue just west of Trumbull opened late last year. The building is more than 70% occupied, according to a Crain’s analysis of the development’s leasing website.

The project’s lead developer, Farmington Hills-based Hunter Pasteur Homes, declined an interview request, but a spokesperson said principals there are satisfied with the pace of leasing thus far.

For market-rate units at Perennial Corktown, studio units start at $1,650 per month and larger two- and three-bedroom units lease for up to $5,000.

Construction is underway on an additional phase, a renovation of a nearby building with completion expected next spring. More retail is also moving into the building’s ground floor in the coming months.

Another apartment development called The Brooke at Bagley and 16th streets just to the south of Michigan Central, is expected to open its doors to residents in the coming weeks. 

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