Demand for Downtown/Midtown housing continues unabated...

[drjeff]

This issue is unusual in Detroit. You have demand for affordable priced housing and then deliver sky high rent prices in renovated vintage buildings. Then on the other hand, you have available units in aging structures in dire need of upgrades for lower rents. So in the end, you're left with a very limited list of affordable units in buildings of good condition. One of the reasons I won't move back to Detroit because I can't find anything that's being built in those "glass and steel condo crap a la mode buildings." I seriously believe there's demand to build several of those downtown.

Looking at the Broderick rents, they're laughable. I pay about the same amount in the $1500-$1600 range on a high floor here on the Mag Mile in Chicago, but at least the shopping, lakefront, restaurants, bars, and proximity to the loop comes with it.

In summary, downtown Detroit rents need to come down, housing quality must go up.

Well, the rent is not too high if people are willing to pay it. It seems they are, so the Broderick owners would be stupid to lower the rent.

[wolverine]

^ That's the problem. It's what also doomed speculative condo development. One success story could be followed by 10 nightmares if new rentals in apartment towers fall short of expectations. The city needs a steady growing supply of new apartments geared toward young professionals out of college with reasonable rents for Detroit's market...$800-$1100 range. No way I'm paying more for a smaller unit in downtown Detroit than what I'm paying here!

[Detroitnerd]

Construction labor is transient. The workers will appear when there's demand.

No, construction labor isn't transient. My father was a construction worker. I come from a long line of construction workers. They haven't been all that transient since the 1910s.

Besides, I'm talking about firms, not workers, and the skills and scope of vision they have. The more specifically you fund tear-downs and build-outs to the exclusion of other projects, the less they even consider rehabs, which aren't funded much and are less profitable.

[Hermod]

No, construction labor isn't transient. My father was a construction worker. I come from a long line of construction workers. They haven't been all that transient since the 1910s.

Besides, I'm talking about firms, not workers, and the skills and scope of vision they have. The more specifically you fund tear-downs and build-outs to the exclusion of other projects, the less they even consider rehabs, which aren't funded much and are less profitable.

In New Orleans after the floods, the locals were complaining that out-of-area construction workers were taking "all the good jobs". During the housing bubble of 1996-2006 here in Florida, the construction work was increasingly done by Brazilians, Mexicans, and Haitians who were not that common prior to the boom.

[Detroitnerd]

In New Orleans after the floods, the locals were complaining that out-of-area construction workers were taking "all the good jobs". During the housing bubble of 1996-2006 here in Florida, the construction work was increasingly done by Brazilians, Mexicans, and Haitians who were not that common prior to the boom.

Well, makes sense. Anyplace where the Carpenters union isn't that strong, contractors would want to bring in people to do the work for less. Maybe that's the goal, then, have carpenters, construction workers and millwrights turned back into the army of itinerant laborers they were in my grandpappy's age.

Thanks, free market.

[Hermod]

Well, makes sense. Anyplace where the Carpenters union isn't that strong, contractors would want to bring in people to do the work for less. Maybe that's the goal, then, have carpenters, construction workers and millwrights turned back into the army of itinerant laborers they were in my grandpappy's age.

Thanks, free market.

The market always operates even if there has to be a "black market" and smuggling to bypass government strictures.

Unions were in an enviable position during the 1940-1970 time frame. The shortage of depression babies [[kids not born during the 1929-1941 time frame) coupled with the wartime and postwar expansion of the economy created a labor market shortage which the unions were able to exploit to extract higher rental rates for labor. Three things caused the collapse of the labor cartels.

1. Baby boomers began entering the labor market in large numbers.

2. Women began entering the labor market in large numbers and entered fields previously closed to them.

3. The failure to control the borders led to an exponential increase of undocumented workers.

The perfect storm of these three phenomena caused too much economic pressure and the force of competition fatally weakened the labor monopoly.

As demand went down due to off shoring and supply went up due to the above factors, rental rates for labor were put under severe downward pressure.

[Hermod]

Well, in my opinion, the great retrenchment of metro Detroit is off to a start. People moving into selected city neighborhoods, the vast oversupply of exurban housing still reeling from the foreclosure crisis, young people driving less and waiting to get licenses. All we need is sensible, modern, rail-based rapid transit in Detroit to speed the trend.

The "magic choo choo to nowhere" will solve all our problems.

[Wheels]

Well, makes sense. Anyplace where the Carpenters union isn't that strong, contractors would want to bring in people to do the work for less. Maybe that's the goal, then, have carpenters, construction workers and millwrights turned back into the army of itinerant laborers they were in my grandpappy's age.

Thanks, free market.

It is actually it's the other way around. Union workers report to their local hall when out of work and can be offered work anywhere in the country.

[wolverine]

No, construction labor isn't transient. My father was a construction worker. I come from a long line of construction workers. They haven't been all that transient since the 1910s.

Besides, I'm talking about firms, not workers, and the skills and scope of vision they have. The more specifically you fund tear-downs and build-outs to the exclusion of other projects, the less they even consider rehabs, which aren't funded much and are less profitable.

Firms yes, but workers will come from anywhere. It's common I'll find workers from downstate Illinois or Ohio, and not unusual we have folks working on projects and coming from Nevada. You claimed lack of skill set in an earlier post, but it's much easier to bring in workers from elsewhere with alot of experience and get the job done faster than expensive training. That is....unless the contract calls for local labor which is common but can be surprisingly difficult to find.