2 vacant buildings transformed into 88 affordable apartments in Detroit

[Airforceguy]

Renovations are complete on two formerly vacant apartment buildings in Detroit’s Piety Hills neighborhood, bringing another 88 units of affordable housing to the area.The Kingsley Arms and Lee Arden apartment buildings at 646 Hazelwood St. and 660 Hazelwood St. join a third affordable housing development, completed in the spring of 2023, as part of what the city describes as a transformation of nearly an entire city block.

Residents have already begun moving into the newly renovated buildings, according to a spokesperson for the project. Kingsley Arms is 60% leased and Lee Arden is 20% leased, the spokesperson said. The development is a result of a collaboration between the city of Detroit, the Local Initiatives Support Corp.’s Detroit office and developer Hazelwood Partners LLC. Hazelwood Partners is comprised of Devon Caldwell and Ryan Zampardo of Inkwell Partners, David Conca of Vera Development and Todd Rodgers of Essential Property Management.

The two buildings had been vacant for more than a decade before undergoing full renovations, including new electric, plumbing and HVAC systems, window and roof replacements, and common area upgrades.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-e...units-complete

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

Beautiful buildings that were in pretty rough condition. Great to see them reactivated! Looks like the white house to the left has also been brought back.

[Zacha341]

^ Yes, the white house on Hazelwood street has been rehabbed though the paint job would have been better if the columns for example had been sanded down and primed first. Check out the lovely summer rocking chairs.

Attachment 43571

[Zacha341]

Nice indeed. Here are few detailed photos of the brickwork, entry way of one building. Very elegant!

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Renovations are complete on two formerly vacant apartment buildings in Detroit’s Piety Hills neighborhood, bringing another 88 units of affordable housing to the area.The Kingsley Arms and Lee Arden apartment buildings at 646 Hazelwood St. and 660 Hazelwood St. join a third affordable housing development, completed in the spring of 2023, as part of what the city describes as a transformation of nearly an entire city block.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-e...units-complete

[Zacha341]

Sadly this property on the same block looks like too far gone for a rehab!

Attachment 43577

[expatriate]

The 2022 street view show this house without the pillars at all, the pediment just being held up by temporary braces. Having gone to the trouble of removing them you would think they would have done a better paint job. It shows another apartment directly across the street that looks like a good candidate for rehabbing as well, assuming it hasn't been destroyed in the interim.

[Rocket]

I was at the ribbon cutting of the one completed in '23 across the street. The Weber I believe?

The mayor was there, along with reps from various welfare/HUD related funding groups, insurance companies and banks.

Sadly, even with free government money, free stuff from DTE [HVAC unit subsidies etc), subsidies for windows etc, most of these buildings will operate at a loss.

I'm very much hoping for the day when the economics are such that people can again build, renovate, and operate buildings in Detroit without 5 kinds of welfare, and even be profitable.

If that happens, we'll finally be able to declare that Detroit is back.

Until then, it's smoke and mirrors.

[Henry Whalley]

Until then, it's smoke and mirrors.

Also, “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.” in "Detroit is back."

[Satiricalivory]

Until then, it's smoke and mirrors.

It's affordable housing dude. Not market rate units. Plenty of similar housing in other cities operate like this. Suburban housing is also heavily subsidized. Your laissez-faire dream is what is smoke and mirrors.

[Rocket]

It's affordable housing dude. Not market rate units. Plenty of similar housing in other cities operate like this. Suburban housing is also heavily subsidized. Your laissez-faire dream is what is smoke and mirrors.

I get that it's welfare housing, and I also get that other cities do it too.

The difference is in the burbs it's a dramatically smaller percentage of construction / renovation. Often nearly non-existent.

[JonWylie]

I was at the ribbon cutting of the one completed in '23 across the street. The Weber I believe?

The mayor was there, along with reps from various welfare/HUD related funding groups, insurance companies and banks.

Sadly, even with free government money, free stuff from DTE [HVAC unit subsidies etc), subsidies for windows etc, most of these buildings will operate at a loss.

I'm very much hoping for the day when the economics are such that people can again build, renovate, and operate buildings in Detroit without 5 kinds of welfare, and even be profitable.

If that happens, we'll finally be able to declare that Detroit is back.

Until then, it's smoke and mirrors.

The guys that own this building are definitely not operating at a loss. It's crazy that people just talk out of their ass like this.

[Rocket]

The guys that own this building are definitely not operating at a loss. It's crazy that people just talk out of their ass like this.

How do you know that?

One of those names in the article is an acquaintance of mine. A year or so ago we were discussing the financing stack for those buildings and I had briefly considered investing, but I couldn't see a return. A few months ago I had lunch with him and asked how it was going, was told the first building is something like 60% occupied and hadn't made a dime. The newer two in the pic above aren't even open yet.

You have more recent info?