City gets into loft development at a bargain price

By Charles Sercombe

Imagine being able to live in a finished loft here in Hamtramck that’s also loaded with top-of-the line appliances.

Seems pretty nice, eh?

But it gets better. You can own one of four of these lofts for the insanely low price of $40,000. The only catch is, they’re not for sale yet.

All of this is possible because the city was awarded a $15 million grant from a national Neighborhood Stabilization Program. It’s actually from the tail-end of Obama’s stimulus plan.

The city will be using most of the money to rehab abandoned vacant housing and to build new ones. The grant will also cover the partial redevelopment of the former Shoppers World.

One of the housing improvements includes a loft project that went broke. Veterans Lofts was a project that developer Chris Bray attempted to complete a few years ago, but then the 2006 housing meltdown occurred.

“He tried to market it for awhile, but he couldn’t do it,” said Community & Economic Development Director Jason Friedmann.

At one time the building was listed for $230,000. Eventually a bank took ownership, but then even the bank walked away from it.

The loft, at Jos. Campau and Goodson, was then picked up by the city for the bargain price of $44,000 – basically the cost of taxes owed.

Friedmann said the city will spend $360,000 to finish the project.

When they go on the market, Friedmann said the units will sell for $40,000 to $60,000.

Stay tuned. We’ll let you know when they’re ready to be snatched up.

4 Responses to City gets into loft development at a bargain price

  1. James

    October 1, 2011 at 4:29 pm

    Something smells fishy. These lofts were already finished and they were put on the market few years ago. why would the city spend $360,000 to finish what already have been finished. Instead of spending this much why doesn’t the city sells this building as is, I am sure It will be easily sold for $150-200 thousands as is.
    This money would be better off spent on demolishing old derelict housing in the city.

  2. Alex

    October 5, 2011 at 2:50 pm

    Actually, only half of building was renovated with another half to go. I really hope the city completed this project successfully. I was very interested in purchasing this propertty only to find out the city had purchased it after a month of digging. I can’t believe they picked it up for 45K; amazing price.

  3. saundra poe

    December 8, 2011 at 3:19 pm

    Great article. I would like to know how I can get one of the condos.

  4. csercombe

    December 8, 2011 at 3:30 pm

    call jason friedmann — hamtramck’s director of community development — at 313-876-7700, ext. 294

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *