Two of the most prominent buildings owned by the late Detroit developer Michael Higgins — one perhaps best-known for a mural featuring whales — have gone up for sale.
Toronto-based brokerage Colliers International inc., which has a downtown Royal Oak office, has the listing for the Broderick Tower at 10 Witherell St. and the Elliott Building at 1403 Woodward Ave.
There is no listing price for either property.
Higgins died in September at age 74, after a decadeslong career in real estate development, leaving behind a portfolio of property around the city accumulated since he was in his 20s, none more prominent than Broderick Tower.
The 34-story high rise, with its 126 residential units and a sometimes-changing mural visible from Comerica Park, opened in 1927 and was designed by Louis and Paul Kamper, according to Historic Detroit, which tracks Detroit buildings and architecture.
A mural of whales was installed by Madison Heights native and College for Creative Studies graduate Robert Wyland, who goes professionally by Wyland, in 1997, but it has sometimes been covered over the years by various advertisements, ranging from Chrysler to Verizon to the Jeep Compass. More recently, there was an ad banner for Dan Gilbert’s Rocket Companies Inc. featuring work by Detroit artist Phillip Simpson and another for Oscar Mayer Lunchable Dunkables, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Higgins led a 23-member group of investors that owned the building after $55 million was spent redeveloping the tower in the early 2010s, opening it in 2012.
Colliers marketing materials say the Broderick Tower is 90% occupied, with units commanding an average of $2,017 per month.
An email was sent to two former associates of Higgins seeking comment Thursday evening.
Two blocks south of Broderick Tower at Woodward and Grand River avenues, the six-story Elliott Building has 23 units that were renovated less than 10 years ago. The units are 83% occupied with average rents of $2,019 per month, the materials say. Gilbert’s Bedrock LLC has a master lease for the first-floor retail and basement.
Tyler Hague, a Colliers executive vice president who leads the brokerage firm’s Midwest Multifamily Advisory Group out of Chicago, said the listings were in the works prior to Higgins’s death in September.
“We have gotten a ton of interest in these assets and expect the process to be very competitive,” Hague wrote in an email to Crain’s. “Both assets are iconic properties that rarely become available and the growth trajectory of downtown Detroit remains very strong. Both assets have a light value-add component to them (where) a new owner can make modest improvements to the assets to grow top line revenue. Their exceptional locations, unique floorplans, and positioning in the marketplace makes them attractive to investors looking for growth opportunities.”
Hague said ownership would “prefer to sell them as a package but we would consider selling them separately as well if the pricing was right.”
At the time of his death, Higgins had been working on a large redevelopment of the Leland Hotel downtown as well as a mixed-use project in the West Village neighborhood at East Jefferson and Van Dyke.
In addition to those, information provided by his company in September said he had various West Village properties, a 25-unit condominium building on East Jefferson and vacation condos in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands; Aspen, Colo.; and Bay Harbor in northern Michigan that are all occupied or leased as rentals by property managers.
The company-provided information also says Higgins had owned various restaurants over the years.
