Gilbert teams up with Home Depot, renovating 65 neighborhood homes

**SpartanDawg** · August-24-15, 05:30 PM

http://www.freep.com/story/news/2015...omes/32289463/

who ho says he's only helping downtown? This man is a machine

**DetroiterOnTheWestCoast** · August-24-15, 06:30 PM

Gilbert's no dummy. He knows his investments downtown and in midtown will ultimately languish unless at least some of the city's outlying areas turn around.

I'm looking forward to hearing where these homes are.

**Hypestyles** · August-24-15, 09:02 PM

hopefully some locals get hired to do the work.

**Danny** · August-24-15, 09:28 PM

As Gilberttown grows what is Dan Gilbert trying to do? Trump the black ghetto hoods of Detroit one block at a time. Until the property values skyrocketed and not a single dirt poor welfare and food stamp people in sight. Detroit is back the way it was. Mostly white and diverse. I love it!

YAY DUGGAN!

**Danny** · August-24-15, 09:33 PM

Originally Posted by DetroiterOnTheWestCoast

Gilbert's no dummy. He knows his investments downtown and in midtown will ultimately languish unless at least some of the city's outlying areas turn around.

I'm looking forward to hearing where these homes are.

After five years when he invaded and conquered Downtown Detroit, the long years of Coleman A. Young pre-socialist-communist- Soviet-North Korean-esque dark ages are over. Gilbert came to Detroit with a implemented plan. He's not like Karmanos and Illitches. He's like a younger version of Donald Trump. Dan Gilbert would say, "I own Detroit, I create Detroit out of nothing and made it into something! Detroit is my world headquarters. Try to buy this land, you can't! Because it's mine!"

**mtburb** · August-24-15, 09:35 PM

Will Gilbert take some of the magic he used downtown and use them in the surrounding bombed-out black-populated slums? Time will only tell.

**emu steve** · August-24-15, 10:48 PM

Originally Posted by DetroiterOnTheWestCoast

Gilbert's no dummy. He knows his investments downtown and in midtown will ultimately languish unless at least some of the city's outlying areas turn around.

I'm looking forward to hearing where these homes are.

I'll toss out a prediction of say five or six neighborhoods so that would be 10 - 12 houses per neighborhood.

Neighborhoods which are mostly there but still have isolated areas or pockets of problem homes??

So if a block has 2 or 3 homes needing work, they pick one and hope that the other[[s) gets picked up by an owner or investor or what not.

**Danny** · August-25-15, 12:03 AM

OCP is in town and it's called Quicken Loans.

**Honky Tonk** · August-25-15, 06:28 AM

What does OCP mean [[Medical category)? OCP Oral Contraceptive

**gumby** · August-25-15, 07:04 AM

It is Danny's reference to Robocop. It is Omni Consumer Products. Just ignore his comments most everyone does.

**belleislerunner** · August-25-15, 07:33 AM

If Gilbert/Quicken really want to help - they should convince Home Depot to build a store on Warren/75 in Midtown - by the Fed Bank where Warren Ave is run down. Having a repair store within a 5 mile radius would do more for people investing in their homes/neighborhoods than having to drive all the way to Allen Park, Madison Heights or Harper Woods. The one on 7 mile is too out of the way for midtown/downtown. Plus - it would get all the "passing" traffic - akin to Whole Foods. Everyone at a Tiger game/Lions game/event downtown could easily stop and pick up something.

**mikeg19** · August-25-15, 09:20 AM

Originally Posted by belleislerunner

If Gilbert/Quicken really want to help - they should convince Home Depot to build a store on Warren/75 in Midtown - by the Fed Bank where Warren Ave is run down. Having a repair store within a 5 mile radius would do more for people investing in their homes/neighborhoods than having to drive all the way to Allen Park, Madison Heights or Harper Woods. The one on 7 mile is too out of the way for midtown/downtown. Plus - it would get all the "passing" traffic - akin to Whole Foods. Everyone at a Tiger game/Lions game/event downtown could easily stop and pick up something.

It's one thing to partner with Home Depot to donate time and money to renovate houses in Detroit. It's another thing to ask them to invest tens of millions of dollars into putting up a brick and mortar store. I'm sure Home Depot has done their homework, and if they wanted to open a new store in Detroit, they would have/will at some point. Not everything needs to rely on DG to do the convincing. I find it laughable that the only way you think he can "really help" is to convince them to build a new store. This investment by both companies will help stabilize neighborhoods and hopefully raise comp pricing in the areas they target.

**1953** · August-25-15, 09:51 AM

Kudos to Gilbert for continuing to invest smartly in his hometown, and to Duggan for seizing the opportunity to encourage expanded investment.

1953

**Shai_Hulud** · August-25-15, 10:01 AM

Originally Posted by belleislerunner

If Gilbert/Quicken really want to help - they should convince Home Depot to build a store on Warren/75 in Midtown - by the Fed Bank where Warren Ave is run down. Having a repair store within a 5 mile radius would do more for people investing in their homes/neighborhoods than having to drive all the way to Allen Park, Madison Heights or Harper Woods. The one on 7 mile is too out of the way for midtown/downtown. Plus - it would get all the "passing" traffic - akin to Whole Foods. Everyone at a Tiger game/Lions game/event downtown could easily stop and pick up something.

Not a bad idea, a full size store in the city would be very helpful. The one at 7 Mile and Meyers is small and does not have a lot of items.

As far as neighborhoods, I think Virginia Park would be a good target for this. Most of the houses are still present, a good number are occupied, and there some multifamilys scattered in keeping the density from being super low.

**TTime** · August-25-15, 12:25 PM

Originally Posted by gumby

It is Danny's reference to Robocop. It is Omni Consumer Products. Just ignore his comments most everyone does.

At least a few of the parallels between Robocop and what has happened downtown are hilariously undeniable. It seems that science fiction really does have a tendency to become science fact...well other than the robots killing people in the streets.

**old guy** · August-25-15, 08:26 PM

Originally Posted by gumby

It is Danny's reference to Robocop. It is Omni Consumer Products. Just ignore his comments most everyone does.

I don't ignore his comments. I don't agree with a lot of them but he simply has a unique perspective.

**mwilbert** · August-25-15, 11:44 PM

Originally Posted by belleislerunner

I. The one on 7 mile is too out of the way for midtown/downtown.

I'm sure it is out of the way in some kind of psychological sense, but it is literally straight up the Lodge and then a mile north up Meyers. 10 minutes, maybe, from New Center, maybe a minute or two more from Virginia Park. Even from Brush Park it shouldn't be more than 15 minutes. This just doesn't seem like a major problem for people living in downtown or Midtown. I think nothing of going there, and it takes me almost ten minutes to get there from the University District because it is all surface streets with a fair number of stops.

**ABetterDetroit** · August-26-15, 06:15 PM

And one more thing... We have already started and its happening now.

http://www.freep.com/story/news/loca...ions/32393791/

**Scottathew** · August-26-15, 06:26 PM

Moroun TALKS about doing good things. Gilbert actually DOES them.

**DetroiterOnTheWestCoast** · August-26-15, 08:06 PM

Targeting nicer neighborhoods and doing some nice rehabs is a great idea, but the numbers and details make no sense at all. Something is missing.

"Quicken is donating $5 million toward the effort, and that money will cover any shortfalls between what the Detroit Land Bank spends to rehab the houses and the actual sale prices. If homes sell for more than the cost of repairs, the excess money goes back into the program, said land bank spokesman Craig Fahle."

$5,000,000/65 homes = $76,923 per home.

The first house is on the auction site, with an opening bid of $45,600, and it lists a rehab investment of $60,821, a difference of only $15,221. If it is bid up, the "shortfall" would be even less. Is the $5,000,000 covering something else as well?

**123456789** · August-26-15, 08:56 PM

Originally Posted by DetroiterOnTheWestCoast

Targeting nicer neighborhoods and doing some nice rehabs is a great idea, but the numbers and details make no sense at all. Something is missing.

"Quicken is donating $5 million toward the effort, and that money will cover any shortfalls between what the Detroit Land Bank spends to rehab the houses and the actual sale prices. If homes sell for more than the cost of repairs, the excess money goes back into the program, said land bank spokesman Craig Fahle."

$5,000,000/65 homes = $76,923 per home.

The first house is on the auction site, with an opening bid of $45,600, and it lists a rehab investment of $60,821, a difference of only $15,221. If it is bid up, the "shortfall" would be even less. Is the $5,000,000 covering something else as well?

I took it as the $5,000,000 was a pool of money that would be continually replenished with proceeds from home sales. This program should be able to continue on past the starting point of 65 homes if they continue to break even on construction costs.

**ABetterDetroit** · August-26-15, 09:00 PM

Originally Posted by DetroiterOnTheWestCoast

Targeting nicer neighborhoods and doing some nice rehabs is a great idea, but the numbers and details make no sense at all. Something is missing.

"Quicken is donating $5 million toward the effort, and that money will cover any shortfalls between what the Detroit Land Bank spends to rehab the houses and the actual sale prices. If homes sell for more than the cost of repairs, the excess money goes back into the program, said land bank spokesman Craig Fahle."

$5,000,000/65 homes = $76,923 per home.

The first house is on the auction site, with an opening bid of $45,600, and it lists a rehab investment of $60,821, a difference of only $15,221. If it is bid up, the "shortfall" would be even less. Is the $5,000,000 covering something else as well?

Fair point. Maybe they are only referring to the first homes they have all ready selected. With Gilbert's track record of putting under utilized buildings back into great shape and into the filled with people business there is no reason to look at this as anything but good.

**DetroiterOnTheWestCoast** · August-26-15, 10:16 PM

Originally Posted by ABetterDetroit

Fair point. Maybe they are only referring to the first homes they have all ready selected. With Gilbert's track record of putting under utilized buildings back into great shape and into the filled with people business there is no reason to look at this as anything but good.

I definitely look at it as good, I'm just trying to figure out how its working. It could be typical sloppy reporting, because the $5,000,000 should be able to rehab and sell way more than 65 homes; they could rehab and give them away for that amount. It would be nice if indeed this is just a start.

**Shai_Hulud** · August-27-15, 08:21 AM

This is nice. If I have time, I will go view the two houses this weekend. I viewed the one on Prairie before although it's not fresh in my memory.

My concern is whether or not these houses will have the same affliction as the rest auctioned by the land bank. People with credit cards and little else bid astronomical amounts, have no hope of coming up with the money, and then the houses are re-listed a couple of months later.

**Shai_Hulud** · September-01-15, 10:53 AM

I didn't make it to view these houses but judging from the pictures it's a decent renovation with Home Depot finishes. All the mechanicals are updated so I imagine most people would be satisfied with owning one of these homes.

There are a few questionable choices such as covering the entire house in carpet when most of it had hardwood floors in a good condition and the removal of some leaded glass windows, but overall a nice job.

This is the before http://auctions.buildingdetroit.org/.../18509-Prairie

and this is the after http://auctions.buildingdetroit.org/...etails/2007468

Not sure if the other property was previously listed, so far, I'm not able to find it on the website.