“We would love to, and yes, we will be reaching out to see if we can be part of the game with our resources and experience in doing historic rehabs,” Sachse said.
His company has not done building work for the automaker, although he said Sachse Construction has done project pricing for Ford. Sachse also said multiple companies have asked his company to determine a mixed-use redevelopment budget for the train station in the past.
“To renovate that whole building, well over $100 million; it could be well over $200 million. It really depends on what you do with the first floor concourse,” he said, declining to identify which companies asked his to price out their projects.
“The second floor up, there is not very much square footage; the floor plates are pretty small and they are actually in remarkably good shape. The perception that this building is a disaster really is not true. Other than that concourse, where there is a lot of historic decay, but the upper floors are really quite sound.”
A Ford redevelopment of the train station, which opened in 1914, would likely trigger aftershocks in Detroit’s oldest neighborhood, with upward pressure put on real estate values and increased demand for restaurants and new housing.
The area has already been a hotbed of real estate activity, with hundreds of residential units planned by Detroit businessman Anthony Soave and developer Eric Larson. Construction is underway on Soave’s Elton Park project and Larson’s development on the site of the former Tiger Stadium.
“I think they realized Detroit is the place they are going to attract the most talent,” said Jim Ketai, CEO and co-founder of Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock LLC real estate development, management and leasing company that owns more than 90 properties in and around downtown. “I think it’s great.”
Let’s block ads! (Why?)
