Developer makes progress on Detroit home rehabs, but struggling with Herman Kiefer ca

A New York developer whose Detroit plans came under scrutiny has made progress in rehabbing dilapidated houses, although he is still struggling to find uses for the massive and deserted Herman Kiefer Hospital campus.

Developer Ron Castellano struck a deal with the city in 2015 to redevelop the old Herman Kiefer campus and rehab about 115 nearby Detroit Land Bank houses in the Virginia Park neighborhood. The campus is north of Henry Ford Hospital and visible from the Lodge freeway.

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Castellano has until February 2025 to rehab all the houses, and to 2029 to find occupants for the old hospital campus. If he misses those deadlines, he potentially may have to give properties up. Two years ago, Castellano narrowly made a deadline for rehabbing an initial batch of 15 houses. At the time, some in the neighborhood criticized the city's deal with him and pushed for a chance for residents buy some of the houses under his control. [[The city had given Castellano the right to buy the houses for $500 to $1,000 apiece, plus $925,000 for the Herman Kiefer campus.)


In a recent Free Press interview, Castellano said he is now working with local partners and community groups to finish the remaining rehabs and get the completed houses sold or rented out. Between his own operation and those of the new partners, more than 40 houses are now done, undergoing rehab or are slated for rehab, he said.


He and a business partner, Darius Smith, plan to showcase one of their rehabs on Pingree Street this fall in an episode of the "In With The Old" streaming series on HBO Max and the Magnolia Network. Castellano, who also has a Detroit residence, said he is on track for one of the deal's midway deadlines to rehab 20 houses by Nov. 30 — not counting the initial batch of 15.


As for the massive Herman Kiefer campus and its 11 buildings, Castellano said he has fielded a lot of inquiries, but has yet to score many commitments from prospective occupants. The 38-acre hospital campus also includes two nearby former Detroit public schools: Hutchins and Crosman schools. The campus has been vacant since Detroit's Health Department moved out in 2013. Castellano tried marketing the overall site as the Creative Commerce Campus Detroit, or C3D, but Detroit's post-pandemic market for office space has been challenging.

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https://www.freep.com/story/money/bu...k/70701651007/

He is not Nicole Curtis, but taking a real estate risk to save and rehab over 115 Detroit dwellings and get Herman Keifer Hospital Campus on the historic map.

Good luck with that.

It’s tough to see a viable reuse for the hospital buildings. Light manufacturing similar to Dakota Integrated Systems would seem to be the way to go on a freeway fronting site of that acreage. Hard to go wrong with jobs.

That whole deal without knowing the details does not even make sense.

Why would you enter into an agreement with the city with conditions,in order to purchase 115 land bank homes,at a set cost that equals what you would have paid for them at the sale without any further obligations to the city?

Unless the city said,you can see these properties before they come available to the general public and pick and choose,which would be wrong.

In the bigger picture the sales price of $900k for that property is irrelevant.

The city could have said,show me your development plan,and when your funding is approved and you are ready to go,the property is $1 as a conditional sale.

Kinda like they are doing with the fisher stamping plant.

But they can say,instead of the $900k you will not be eligible for tax capture,which would mean as soon as the property is developed it immediately goes on the tax rolls.

I am originally from Minneapolis/St. Paul ,in the mid seventies I bought a 6 story apartment building from the city that was not all stripped out for $1 from the city,the only condition was I had to have my father co-sign the papers because I was 16 years old.

One could argue that the Twin Cities are pretty much functioning as a city should,with the exception of the current downturn do to the coddled crime element.

The $900k sales price in the taxpayers eyes is meaningless compared to it being developed now,and putting tax revenue into the city coffers now,not 30 years from now.

This thread is actually a tentacle of the property tax thread,cause and effect.

The state gave the CCP the money to set up a base in Michigan,instead of furthering their agenda they could have used 1/4 of those funds and leveled this place and put up a chip factory for free to that manufacture of local or American origins and have people a reason to move there or find a good career job.

Not to go political but that is why our cities are like this,because we spend more time coddling foreign investment then we do investing in our own citizens.

The amount of factories being established in Mexico by American companies is insane,the city and state has the workforce and land to be doing that there and the only answer we have is to make deals with the Chinese?