The Leland To Be Renovated

[emu steve]

Per Crains. That building has good bones and the renovation shows more and more that there is reason to renovate buildings with 'good bones' and a good location. Good for downtown.

I kind of surprised this didn't happen years ago.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article..._medium=social

[hybridy]

nice to hear existing tenants are not getting the boot, but i doubt their rent won't increase

[rex]

about time. 15 years ago I hated going upstairs.

[K-slice]

Definitely long overdue! Hopefully we see the spaces like the lobby and ballrooms restored to their former glory.

Wonder if they're planning to have the parking deck take up the rest of the block or what. It would be cool to see another rooftop pool area like a-la DCA.

[Bigdd]

So, $120 MILLION divided by 339 "affordable, market-rate apartments".

That equals another $354,000. PER UNIT,... over and above what they already have in the building to date.

Um, yeah,.. the rents will have to go up. I'm going to guess somewhere in the range of $2,300 - $2,800 a month.

[Malcove Magnesia]

It's great news for the Leland building, but none of the news stories I've seen explain what the story behind this is. I can't imagine Higgins has that kind of money under his mattress.

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

So, $120 MILLION divided by 339 "affordable, market-rate apartments".

That equals another $354,000. PER UNIT,... over and above what they already have in the building to date.

Um, yeah,.. the rents will have to go up. I'm going to guess somewhere in the range of $2,300 - $2,800 a month.

There is also a 650 space parking deck included in the project. According to the article, one of the funding sources is Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits which will have strings attached, and "approximately 20%" will be for affordable housing so there certainly should be an "affordable" component to this.

[casscorridor]

I was about to say "there goes Downtown" if City Club was closing. That place is an institution! Good thing they will remain.

[rex]

about time. 15 years ago I hated going upstairs.

Im mistaken. Meant the Park avenue Hotel

[Atticus]

So, $120 MILLION divided by 339 "affordable, market-rate apartments".

That equals another $354,000. PER UNIT,... over and above what they already have in the building to date.

Um, yeah,.. the rents will have to go up. I'm going to guess somewhere in the range of $2,300 - $2,800 a month.

I don't think the ghosts in the Leland are going to be able to fork out that kind of rent. Hauntings might go away after the renovation.

[Gistok]

C.W. and George L. Rapp [[known as "Rapp & Rapp") were among the big 4 Movie Palace architects [[along with C. Howard Crane and 2 others). They designed the Leland House a year after they designed the [[1926 opened) Michigan Building and Theatre nearby... both in a French/Italian Renaissance style. The 4000 seat Michigan Theatre was their 3rd largest commission, since the Rapp Brothers covered the USA with movie palaces in the glories of royal France, and the Michigan Buiding was 13 stories tall, with arguably the largest vertical marquee ever installed on a theatre facade.

Sadly the Rapp Brother's last commission was the gutting and modernization of the Fisher Theatre in 1961, where enough retired Rapp & Rapp employees were gathered together to do their final commission, from Chicago... their hometown.

The Rapp Brothers were famous for their Chicago Theatre, their Oriental Theatre [[Ford Center) there, and the still closed Chicago Uptown Theatre on Chicago's north side.

Some of their other famous commissions were the Broadway Paramount Theatre [[gutted from the Paramount Building in 1963)... and the Paramount Building that housed it... still located on New York's Times Square.

One of their most beautiful theatre's was restored in 2015... the former 3600 seat Loew's Kings Theatre in Brooklyn... for $93 million...

https://www.google.com/search?q=Loew...w=1536&bih=734

[emu steve]

There is also a 650 space parking deck included in the project. According to the article, one of the funding sources is Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits which will have strings attached, and "approximately 20%" will be for affordable housing so there certainly should be an "affordable" component to this.

Are there any other new development in the adjacent blocks on Bagley?

Aren't there a few vacant blocks adjacent to it?

[Maof]

So, $120 MILLION divided by 339 "affordable, market-rate apartments".

That equals another $354,000. PER UNIT,... over and above what they already have in the building to date.

Um, yeah,.. the rents will have to go up. I'm going to guess somewhere in the range of $2,300 - $2,800 a month.

Hubby has a friend that has lived there for quite a few years. "Currently" pays $600/month.

[southen]

I was always hopeful that they might build more residential fronting Beacon Park but it is good to see this move forward regardless. I hope that garage is well designed and features some ground floor retail so it isn't too dead a block.

[3WC]

Doubt if it will happen.

Assume almost $10 million for the parking garage at, say, $ 15,000 per space, probably low, the balance of the budget would be $110,000,000..

Conventionally financed [[w/o regard to the use of your tax dollars and mine) $110,000,000 amortized over 30 years [[360 months) at 5% interest per annum, principle and interest pmts per month will be $590,000, or, $1741.90 per apartment.

The old rule of thumb [[w/o regard to Detroit's ridiculously high real estate taxes) is that operating costs [[principle, interest, r.e. taxes, and insurance, assuming tenants pay their own utilities) should be 50% of the rent.

Therefore, using those drive - by economics, your rent projections, Atticus, appear to be a little low. I'd say rents have to be $3500 per month, a highly unlikely target, assuming the use of your and my tax dollars reduce the costs quite a bit.

How does the forum feel about supporting projects like this financially, with our tax dollars?

[SammyS]

So, $120 MILLION divided by 339 "affordable, market-rate apartments".

That equals another $354,000. PER UNIT,... over and above what they already have in the building to date.

Um, yeah,.. the rents will have to go up. I'm going to guess somewhere in the range of $2,300 - $2,800 a month.

Sounds about right but on the high end. I would guess about $1.50/sqft + cost to run utilities such as elevators, security etc.
If the market can bear that, which I’m sure it can, than why not.

[SammyS]

How does the forum feel about supporting projects like this financially, with our tax dollars?

If it means attracting high rent paying professions downtown, then I’m all for it.

[emu steve]

I want to know why the project is so expensive, even with a parking garage.

How many units? One toilet per unit?

[Hypestyles]

what do the typical units look like inside now? is there a spec design for how they'll look after renovations?

[emu steve]

I'm still flabberghasted by the 120M price tag.

Here is a short bit about a 120M project in the article about building a 20 story residential building by Comerica.

"According to Crain's, the new residential option is being constructed in the same vein as another Cordish Companies project in Kansas City, Mo., called the Two Light Tower project. That $120-million development is 24 stories." [[FREEP)

So the renovation of Leland costs as much as a new 24 story building in K.C.????

[JTburner]

Has there been any movement here?