Gilbert buys David Stott, Clark Lofts buildings from Chinese investors

[SpartanDawg]

Question: is this the biggest completely vacant building Gilbert has purchased?? This could be his biggest rehab to date I just realized

one Woodward was like 30 or 40% filled... All the empty buildings along Woodward were empty but not nearly the size of the stott... This could be very interesting

and the fact that besides the recent flood, the building is in pretty good shape to be occupied within a year

[ABetterDetroit]

I can't wait to see her exterior clean! There has to be 40 years of dirt on her.

[rex]

excellent news. We need to do a better job vetting these foreign buyers. IDK how this might be accomplished. Do companies exist that investigate the patterns, holdings, records, and history of international investors? If a Chinese investor or any type of investor has a history of purchasing properties elsewhere and a record of code violations, stated intentions that were never fulfilled, they shouldn't be allowed to acquire buildings in Detroit. There has to be a way to legally re-claim properties from absentee international investors who are blighting the city. Just take them. I would say that city council should be responsible to look into these investors but city council cant be trusted. They would love something like that. The opportunity to be bribed by international investors who want to buy cheap properties, not take care of them, and just sit on them until someone like Gilbert comes along and give them several times what they paid.

[Jason]

I prefer local owners in general but other than that it doesn't matter if they're international or not. The city needs to do a better job with slumlords and deadbeat speculators. This is an issue that affects the entire city, from the wealthy businessman whos plans get gummed up to residents whos home or the building across the street is blighted. There's got to be some loopholes or tricks to make it easier for the city to handle this issue.

[Hypestyles]

with the recent deal with the DIBC/Moroun operation, I doubt the city is going to try and play hardball with the more ethically dubious land purchasers.