Chinese firm buys old Free Press, David Stott buildings

UPDATE: "Clock Ticking For Chinese On Detroit Building Renovations" [Freep reports]
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"Shanghai-based DDI Group was the highest bidder for both buildings in back-to-back online auctions last month, said said Ryan Snoek, a regional manager for Luke Investments, the buildings’ previous owner.

The DDI Group paid about $9.4 million for the David Stott, 1150 Griswold, and about $4.2 million for the old Free Press Building at 321 W. Lafayette, said Snoek, noting the final prices included a 5% buyers premium.

“They actually beat out Dan Gilbert for the David Stott,” Snoek said this afternoon. “Dan Gilbert was the other bidder.”

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DDI is planning a $40 million to $50 million redevelopment of the Free Press building that would include ground-floor retail and roughly 150 units of rental apartments, according to Snoek. Work is slated to begin early next year and finish by late 2015 or 2016, he said.

DDI Group is considering future residential development in the 38-story David Stott building.

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http://www.freep.com/article/2013101...Stott-Building

sounds like they're gonna get to work on the free press building real soon.. i know it says early next year but i'm guessing probably by next august at the earliest... regardless that's great news..

really hope they put some work into the stott as well and get it filled up

I wonder if this signals a start to a bidding war/more investors other than Gilbert?

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Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

I wonder if this signals a start to a bidding war/more investors other than Gilbert?

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Very well could be. Sounds like he won't be buying anything dirt cheap anymore with more competition. I definitely think this is a good thing though. Although I'm not opposed to Gilbert owning a lot of property, I think it's good to have some diversity in ownership in downtown. Sound like the Free Press building is going to be the first to see work, with all the tax abatement and credits already lined up. It;ll be nice to see that come to life.

I truly hope so mikeg19... because in the past so many developers have seen the bargain prices of Detroit real estate... only to be causing more problems than the solve when they do buy it. I look at previous owners of the Book Tower and now even the owner of the Penobscot... as examples that some folks see bargain basement prices... only to hit reality later on!!

This is a huge step. Detroit is attracting large-scale international developers. If they thought under $10M was cheap, they should have taken a look a few years back...

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Originally Posted by Spartan

This is a huge step. Detroit is attracting large-scale international developers. If they thought under $10M was cheap, they should have taken a look a few years back...

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The only question is how much of which building needs to be demo'd for on-site parking. /sarc

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Originally Posted by bailey

The only question is how much of which building needs to be demo'd for on-site parking. /sarc

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I believe the plan is to demo the Stott and replace that with parking. :rolleyes:

Maybe a parking garage just as tall as the Stott? It would only take 30-45 minutes to get up/down!

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Originally Posted by dmike76

Maybe a parking garage just as tall as the Stott? It would only take 30-45 minutes to get up/down!

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"Detroit builds worlds tallest parking garage, Residents riot."

Slumlords pointing fingers and calling each other slumlords...

Hitting these entities in the wallet is the only thing they will understand. Make them bring the buildings safe and up to code via ordinance enforcement tied to title and if they do not, give them to someone who can. It is time to expect more than just boards on windows.

http://www.freep.com/story/money/201...ings/26195987/

Clearly Uralli never heard that he who is without sin casts the first stone.

Part of me wants to give DDI the benefit of the doubt since they're new to the American market and there's a bunch of issues going on back in mainland China, at the same time, if you know things are in trouble then the smartest thing to do would be to sell the buildings as soon as possible. Even with the water damage, I don't imagine DDI would take that big of a loss if at all. The downtown real estate market is hot.

This DDI group is a total joke, a simple google search led me to an article about expressed skeptism in Nova Scotia over their "Crystal City" project. Some people seem to think its a scheme to redirect public dollars into DDI's pockets. Check out this hilarious video about this project from DDI:

http://www.cbc.ca/player/Shows/ID/2460277208/


Heres the story out of Halifax where the video was pulled from:

http://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/featured/the-ddi-conspiracy-morning-file-saturday-april-18-2015/


The quicker this group is out of town, the better off these buildings will be. The fact they dont want to negotiate for those credits on the Stott tells me everything I need to know, they aren't going to do SHIT...

I would side with DDI on the credits,they were to be used to help rehabilitate the property,the seller already made millions on the sale,it's blantent greed at the expense of a community as a whole.

"The plywood is a sign of moving forward," he said of the boarded windows.

Haha. Yea, my ass.

I think the best part about the article was that this local guy that reps the group states that they are planning on renovating the Free Press building, then the Clark lofts, and finally the Stott in that order. Yet, for some reason, the water main issue at the Stott has forced DDI to delay renovations scheduled for the Free Press building? I'm calling bullshit on this. These guys don't have a single intention on doing squat with these properties. Shame DG got outbid by these guys on the Stott. Hopefully these buildings are put up for sale quickly and taken over by someone with the intention of actually doing something with them.

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Originally Posted by Richard

I would side with DDI on the credits,they were to be used to help rehabilitate the property,the seller already made millions on the sale,it's blantent greed at the expense of a community as a whole.

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No doubt its greed, but its the price of business. If they are serious, they pay the weasel his 500k for his millions in tax credits and vow to never do business with said guy again. Or you walk away from millions over pride? To me it indicates they are not serious about the project. It's almost insulting they went and bought this tower and 2 others with no prior business dealings in the city. You have to understand how these Chinese "investment firms" typically operate, which is really a huge pool of smaller Chinese families looking for quick paydays. It's led to newly constructed "ghost" cities in China.
DDI knows better, they are part of a dirty game themselves...

The only way I excuse their behavior is if they are naive and got caught up in the hype of cheap real estate. In which case they should admit to overextending themselves and sell the building. Accounts of their behavior after the recent "flood" inside the Stott doesn't give me much faith. According to reports at the scene, some people of apparent Chinese decent were at the scene watching, but no statement from"DDI"... No accountability=bullshit....

I'm waiting for Duggan to drop the hammer on that Chinese ASS!

You are making it sound like your issue is either thier nationality or because they are an outsider,if DG wanted the property he would have bought it.

Vacant building/blight laws with actual teeth is what's needed. Start with any building over 4 stories tall has to meet code period or the fines will be large. The fact that this state didn't actually do something about this years ago shows the incompetence in Lansing to fix problems. By now Michigan should have learned the lessons of empty buildings and the negative effect on the surrounding community and have the toughest laws in the country to address this issue.

there should be strict city ordinances on maintaining buildings in usable shape, instead of letting speculators buy them then allow them to fester and become decrepit. It's sad.

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Originally Posted by ABetterDetroit

Vacant building/blight laws with actual teeth is what's needed. Start with any building over 4 stories tall has to meet code period or the fines will be large. The fact that this state didn't actually do something about this years ago shows the incompetence in Lansing to fix problems. By now Michigan should have learned the lessons of empty buildings and the negative effect on the surrounding community and have the toughest laws in the country to address this issue.

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I'm curious why you refer to the "state"? I have to agree with city ordinance/code enforcement being the answer.

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Originally Posted by Dbest

This DDI group is a total joke, a simple google search led me to an article about expressed skeptism in Nova Scotia over their "Crystal City" project. Some people seem to think its a scheme to redirect public dollars into DDI's pockets. Check out this hilarious video about this project from DDI:

http://www.cbc.ca/player/Shows/ID/2460277208/


Heres the story out of Halifax where the video was pulled from:

http://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/featured/the-ddi-conspiracy-morning-file-saturday-april-18-2015/


The quicker this group is out of town, the better off these buildings will be. The fact they dont want to negotiate for those credits on the Stott tells me everything I need to know, they aren't going to do SHIT...

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Pretty scary stuff.

One Chinese company wants to build a massive trade center for.North American buyers of consumer goods. Tax credits, Immigration sweet deals and other BS to follow. One suburban mayor west of Montreal [[Vaudreuil) refused. He didn't like the part about a ghetto of a1000/rich Chinese. The city of Longueuil.is.warmer to it. Still scary. They were also refused inCancun Mexico for the site of a Latin American trade mall roughly twice the size of the Montreal one.
http://m.huffpost.com/ca/entry/7035832

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Originally Posted by Richard

You are making it sound like your issue is either thier nationality or because they are an outsider,if DG wanted the property he would have bought it.

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Nice try Richard. Ever heard of a carpetbagger? I dont discriminate, hate them all..

I see in the paper that "DDI" stands for DongDu International.

There's a joke hiding in there somewhere. ;)

"One Chinese company wants to build a massive trade center for.North American buyers of consumer goods."

Having lived and worked in Detroit for a few decades, I can distinctly remember when Manny Moroun was peddling the same moonshine - announcing that he was going to transform his newly-purchased Michigan Central Station into a World Trade Center;

I seem to have heard every story too many times and I'm jaded now about trade centers - among other things - I think its another term for either no plan or no plan that the public should be made aware of. From the Detroit Free Press:

"The station has been owned by Moroun, a trucking mogul and owner of the Ambassador Bridge, since 1995.
Many ideas have been floated on what to do with the depot, including a 2001 proposal by Moroun to make the station an international trade and customs center"