DEGC seeking developer for Capitol Park buildings

[agrahlma]

Any [[new) news on the Capitol Park redevelopment proposals? Per the DEGC timeline, the finalists were scheduled to be notified last Tuesday [[11/1).

Remaining timeline…

• Notification to Finalists –November 1, 2011
• Finalists Interviews by Evaluation Committee Week of November 14, 2011
• Anticipated Final Selection December 15, 2011
• Notification of Selection December 31, 2011
• Board Approvals, if Necessary January 31, 2012
• Negotiation of LOI with Selected Finalists February 29, 2012

.

[Pcm]

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...k-3-finalists#

[louis]

to be honest id rather spend 5 million on small business grants in a consecrated area than 5 million on a grocery store

[Lowell]

Crain's was able to get the view of only one party, but it is worth quoting.

For David Tryba, principal with Tryba Architects [who is partnering with JC Beal who is currently doing the Broderick] , remaking the three buildings is the culmination of a long quest to design a transformational Detroit development.

Tryba's firm has a specialty of redeveloping historic buildings in Denver, New York and Washington, D.C. and he has spent 25 years exploring Detroit for possible projects while in town to visit his wife's family during holidays.

He has teamed with J.C. Beal President Fred Beal in creating Capitol Park Partners LLC and has proposed a plan for a retail and residential development that would go beyond three buildings.

"It's a catalytic opportunity we see here that motivates us," Tryba said. "This is a moment in time, with a new generation of Detroiters who want this deeply. We have the ability to connect the new renters, the workers of that generation."

Their plan for Capitol Park includes developing the Farwell Building into smaller, less-expensive units, the 1145 Griswold building into slightly larger units and the former United Way Building into senior-oriented housing. It will also include a larger retail strategy with local and national companies.

The focus is how to make Capitol Park into a community, he said.

"This is more about building a part of the city than it is about any one particular building," Tryba said.

Financing would be similar to other recent Detroit projects, mixing public and grant-based incentives with equity investors and a limited amount of bank financing.

Were this to happen it would be quite a dramatic turn around for that charming vest-pocket park.

[401don]

The rental portion of the proposal sounds solid but whenever I hear a developer talk about national retailers it sounds pie in the sky. Let's get a few retailers on Woodward first. Unless by national retailers you mean Subway.

[downtownguy]

From Crain's

Surprising some real estate insiders are the well-known developers who submitted proposals but aren't on the short list, including Westin Book Cadillac developer John Ferchill, who had teamed with Quicken Loans Inc. founder Dan Gilbert.

Of all the developers and interested developers in Detroit, who has made more things happen recently except these guys? I think I smell payoffs!!!

[Richard]

From Crain's

Surprising some real estate insiders are the well-known developers who submitted proposals but aren't on the short list, including Westin Book Cadillac developer John Ferchill, who had teamed with Quicken Loans Inc. founder Dan Gilbert.

Of all the developers and interested developers in Detroit, who has made more things happen recently except these guys? I think I smell payoffs!!!

Or just maybe the veil of Detroit being a protected territory is opening up .
Detroit needs to encourage outside investment and job creation .

[corktownyuppie]

It's happening. Real estate valuations are shockingly low no matter how you look at it. Hell, for $300,000, you could buy entire block of homes, rent them out, and still have enough room in the budget for a private security service and private lighting.

Once the city gets its financial house in order, people will realize that Detroit real estate is absurdly undervalued.

[Richard]

Apples to apples speaking is it better to buy in Detroit cheaply or elsewhere for more without spending the extra time to rehab a gutted out building.Keeping in mind that all of these properties coming online are tax exempt for at least the next ten years.The retirement usage will be mostly fed funded.

[stasu1213]

Main problem with the DEGC?

I mean, look at Midtown. Lots of medium-sized buildings, with medium-sized tenants, small tenants, small businesses, medium-sized businesses. They add up to something greater than their sum. It's wonderful to see what's happening in the mid-city area. The few big players, the university or the medical center, aren't bulldozing it like they used to, in fact, they're offering incentives for little people, renters, small businesses, to open in these buildings.

The DEGC, on the other hand, evicts small businesses. They want BIG players, BIG deals, BIG money. And they have all these thresholds you must meet to get in. To my mind, the DEGC represents the OLD way of thinking. What should be in these buildings? How about starting with the recording studio that was in one? Nope, we want BIG businesses, not this penny ante stuff.

In short, they don't want the very same "penny ante" stuff that is building up the mid-city area so successfully...

I think that small businesses make the community. Take a look at Royal Oak, Ferndale, Birmingham, Ann Arbor, Grosse Pointe, etc. Small independent businesses make those communities thrive turning them into destinations. DEGC is a hinderance to the real growth of the city. Many businesses want to open shop in the city but don't want to deal with the DEGC. I had heard that from a much reliable source. Dave Bing is just a puppet who's strings are pulled by the DEGC. Good "key players" were denied a chance to develope the buildings in Capital Park. Dan Gilbert was one of them. An emergency financial manager would probably disband the DEGC and start from scratch.

[Flintoid]

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/in...up_wins_c.html

Tax credits approved for all of these Capitol Park projects!

[MSUguy]

From Crain's

Surprising some real estate insiders are the well-known developers who submitted proposals but aren't on the short list, including Westin Book Cadillac developer John Ferchill, who had teamed with Quicken Loans Inc. founder Dan Gilbert.

Of all the developers and interested developers in Detroit, who has made more things happen recently except these guys? I think I smell payoffs!!!

You smell payoffs, because other experienced developers were picked? I think I smell an idiot

Making the cut is the developer behind the Broderick Tower, Detroit-based J.C. Beal Construction Inc., in a joint venture with Denver-based Tryba Architects. Also on the list, sources said, are the developers behind the Durant Hotel in Flint, Lansing-based Prater Development Ltd. and Lansing-based Karp and Associates LLC.

...

[corktownyuppie]

You smell payoffs, because other experience developers were picked? I think I smell an idiot

Making the cut is the developer behind the Broderick Tower, Detroit-based J.C. Beal Construction Inc., in a joint venture with Denver-based Tryba Architects. Also on the list, sources said, are the developers behind the Durant Hotel in Flint, Lansing-based Prater Development Ltd. and Lansing-based Karp and Associates LLC.

...

In other news, experienced developers express outrage about being passed over for another experienced developer competing for the same project.

[Richard]

So how did they pull off getting tax credits approved before a buyer was in place with a required approved plan of action ?

If that was Sop there would not be a vacant commercial piece of property in Detroit,lt is nice that the buildings will be an asset once again for the city but is it really necessary to shove a big stick up the rear of the rest of the city while doing so?

[downtownguy]

You smell payoffs, because other experienced developers were picked? I think I smell an idiot
...

Thanks for your well reasoned and insightful comment, MSUguy.

[ghettopalmetto]

Can't we just fast forward to the part where George Jackson declares the developers plans "unrealistic", deems all three buildings "structurally unsound", and then wheel-in Adamo to level the damned place?