Monroe Block Development

[Atticus]

Update Via the Detroit News today, the drive-in is a go!
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne...et/6630347002/

Can you really blame Bedrock for putting this on hold while the future of dense commercial office space is in question? I for one don't buy into the "new normal" being work from home for one second, but then again if I was about to invest millions of dollars into new office buildings I would be cautions too.

This programing is still going to bring people to the city, generate dollars, and activate a space that has been nothing but a surface lot for decades. Even if you decry the development delay you must agree that this space is in the best hands possible right now.

Going to disagree. This is not a good sign. First you have the Emagine guy saying “this [[drive-in) is going to be profitable”. That means it is likely going to be operating for a while. Even a concept as simple as this has some amount of fixed costs, that are basically paid off over time from the revenue received... with the emphasis on “over time”. The sooner construction starts, the sooner they can’t make drive-in revenue. And while I typically want any downtown business to do well financially, hearing this drive-in will be profitable is actually somewhat depressing to me, because it means construction is not coming soon.

More importantly, just build the thing. The office tower overlooks Campus Martius. It would be prime as prime can be in Detroit, with that location’s visibility. If this new tower can’t profitably sell office space, than all of Downtown is in trouble. I don’t believe that to be the case. Sure WFH may deflate the demand... but a new office tower overlooking Campus Martius should be office space for visibility reasons alone. Holistically, much better to build this as office space, and later convert another lower-visibility existing office space [[in another building somewhere else) to residential use should demand patterns significantly change. And all that will take a few years for things to shake out anyway. But start construction now, and in a few years when construction is completed, the structure would be well timed to meet the post-pandemic economy. Build now, bring construction workers from elsewhere back to Michigan [[and lower long term construction labor costs by increasing worker supply) while everywhere else “waits and sees”, and enjoy the benefits of starting now and not later.