Date: 07/29/2004

Housing, retail planned near WSU

Wayne State University's board of governors last week authorized the administration to negotiate development and sale agreements for four properties on the south edge of its campus.

The proposals will create more than 400 housing units as well as parking and retail space.

Construction and redevelopment plans for the four proposals approved by the board are still being completed but should generate projects worth $70 million to $75 million, said John Davis, Wayne State's CFO and vice president for finance and facilities.

The university hopes to complete the sale agreements within two months, he said, without giving projections on the amount the university will net from the transactions.

The projects are:

1. Six acres fronting on Woodward at Forest, former site of the Vernors ginger-ale plant. WSU will lease the property to The Hubbell Group of Detroit and its joint-venture partner, Marquette Property Investment of Chicago. The partners plan 330 apartments, condominiums and town houses; a small parking lot; street and deck parking; and 20,000 to 25,000 square feet of retail space on the ground level, said Larry Marantette, principal of Taktix Solutions L.L.C. in Detroit, which is acting as WSU's representative in the dealings.

2. A 41,300-square-foot warehouse at 55 W. Canfield that was formerly a Detroit Public Schools audio-visual building built in 1926 as headquarters for Graybar Electric Co. Hubbell Group and Marquette Property plan to convert the structure into loft condominiums, Marantette said.

3. A single-story building at 455-488 W. Canfield attached to the Traffic Jam & Snug restaurant and the four-story former Detroit Public Schools warehouse at 441-448 W. Willis. Plymouth-based DeMattia Group and Detroit-based Midtown Development Group have proposed retail, warehouse space and loft condominiums for the building.

"If things go well, it's possible the (loft residential) construction could start on the two facilities at 455 W. Canfield and 441 W. Willis and then on 55 W. Canfield as early as this year," Davis said.

Marantette said renovation of both buildings on Canfield and the Willis warehouse will result in 75 loft condominiums.

WSU did not like the proposals it received for a fifth parcel on the site of the former Detroit Public Schools Children's Museum at 67 E. Kirby, Davis said.

"We've made the decision, for now, to hold that property and look for a use for the university," he said.

June 14, 2004
By Sherri Begin: (313) 446-1694, sbegin@crain.com

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