Developer tests the market with 23 new home sites near Indian Village


Among the first new speculative homes built at scale in Detroit in decades, sales are underway at a new-build development on the city’s east side.
Detroit-based multi-family apartment developer Greatwater Opportunity Capital LLC is now venturing into the for-sale side of the real estate business with a new project one block east of the historic Indian Village neighborhood. With two homes already pending at full asking price, one currently listed and two more under construction likely to be ready for sale by early summer, the developers have a total of 23 home sites along Fischer Street between Kercheval Avenue and St. Paul Street.The developers acknowledge that the project — estimated at an $8 million-$10 million investment should all 23 houses be built — is something of a market-tester, but is also designed to be replicable around the city, which has ample amounts of vacant land.




“We didn’t know. It was definitely an act of faith,” said Matt Temkin, a managing member and co-founder of Greatwater, when asked about the demand expectations for the new homes. “The neighborhood is great. The goal was to just make [[the product) great.” The current footprint of the project sits along Fischer Street in the East Village neighborhood just outside the Indian Village historic district, home to stately, century-old mansions and the occasional new build. Just farther west is the West Village neighborhood, home to an increasing amount of consumer-facing retail businesses and multi-family developments.

The Greatwater homes are built on property acquired from Hantz Woodlands LLC, a tree farm situated on about 2,000 vacant parcels around the lower east side of Detroit and long owned by metro Detroit businessman John Hantz, who has in recent years been selling off parcels. The push by policymakers, residents and developers for new and increased housing stock in Detroit and around the state has reached something of a fever pitch in recent years. Amy Hovey, who runs the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, has said the state is about 200,000 units short of what’s truly needed.While 23 single-family houses on Detroit’s lower east side may not change that math much, a developer building new speculative houses does mark something of a turning point in the city, said Jed Howbert, another Greatwater co-founder and a veteran of Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s administration.

As the city has mounted a comeback post-bankruptcy, much of the push was around new housing options in Detroit’s central business district and immediate neighborhoods, such as Midtown and Corktown. But like other cities, there’s a “lifecycle” as the development spreads, according to Howbert.
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