New Life for the Studebaker Building on Piquette in Milwaukee Junction

Piquette Avenue, arguably the Silicon Valley of the early auto industry, is heading toward becoming quite the residential showcase if all falls in place.

Following on the news of the planned renovation of Fisher 21 comes this news of the repurposing of the Studebaker property next to the Piquette Ford Model T birthplace plant. The "Piquette Flats" development is being done by The Platform, who just completed Chroma on the on E. Grand Blvd. and Beaubien, so that bodes well.

As many know the other part of the former Studebaker property, across Brush and which burned down some years back, is the current site of a large recently-built veterans housing structure named Piquette Square.

Milwaukee Junction continues to heat up and are other lesser projects stirring there such as the recently completed Elaine Lofts at Edsel Ford and St. Antoine.

Attachment 42126

Progress as of Nov. 9, 2023.
Attachment 42881

Love to see it but it looks to be a very pared down version of what they were looking to do just a few years ago.

https://www.in-formstudio.com/piquette-place/

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Originally Posted by Lowell

The source article is behind Crain's paywall, but it appears the $37.3 M amount is a typo. I can glean from the URL that the project cost is around $373. [/platform-proposes-373-million-apartment-redevelopment-former-studebaker-building?utm_source=crain-s-breaking-news]

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37.3M is not a typo

Land $ 5,900,000
Renovation/Rehabilitation $ 25,541,803
Soft Costs $ 5,838,133
Total Capital Costs $ 37,279,936

Brownfield plan has all the deets
https://2nq1rd1ofg7sy5ck73amt9qv-wpe...nal_6.2.22.pdf

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As currently envisioned, the 108,000-square-foot building at 411 Piquette St. would be converted into units available at 70 percent to 120 percent of the federally-designated Area Median Income. There would be 72 studios, 87 one-bedrooms and three two-bedrooms as part of the project, currently being referred to as Piquette Flats. Units would range from 380 to 723 square feet.

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This is good news, if it all comes to pass, which it should.

Places like Milwaukee Junction and Brush Park are very accessible to Downtown and Midtown, WSU, DIA, Woodward, Grand Boulevard, etc.

Picquette/Beaubien not as close to Downtown as Midtown is, but with the Q Line tram and the refurbished roadworks along Woodward, it's still relatively central and convenient.

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Originally Posted by hybridy

Total Capital Costs $ 37,279,936

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So an average of $230,300 per unit [[before cost over-runs).

And if we ignore the three 2-bedroom units at 900 sq ft, the studios are 380 sq ft and the 1-bedrooms are probably 680? They don't say.


So the units will average about 530 square feet and cost the builder $230,300 each to build. Ok.


And if 411 Piquette LLC. were to finance the build with a typical package of 25 year loans at 7%, just their P&I payments would be over $1,700 a month per unit.

So they'd need to charge $1,900 or more for 530 sq ft units?

Is that the market here now?

The Crain's article says they will rent for "70 percent to 120 percent of the federally-designated Area Median Income"

And recommended is spending no more than 30% of your gross on rent, so that means they believe the median income of Detroiters in that area is $72,000 a year.


I guess the question I would have is, 'Do people in Detroit that make $72k a year decide to live in 530 sq ft micro apartments?'

I guess we'll see. It's supposed to be an up and coming area. There's a Bucharest already between it and Woodward.

Might be time to invest in some fixer-upper apartment buildings.

It is interesting to know that what is called the Studebaker Building on Piquette will be restored and used for residences in the booming New Center area. This building has a long history and was not always known as the Studebaker Building. Detroit entrepreneurs Bryan Everett, William Metzger and Walter Flanders, in the first decade of the late century, realized that there was a coming boom in vehicle production. They started their own firm to produce EMF vehicles and began building their factory on Piquette in 1909. They did face a shortage of capital.
Studebaker, a wagon maker in South Bend, had a national distribution network and realized it might be time to switch to motor vehicles. Apparently, their executives were reluctant to shut down their profitable wagon production so they looked around for other firms to manufacture motor vehicles they could sell through their nationwide sales network. Everett, Metzger, and Flanders saw an opportunity and that is how Studebakers came to be assembled in Milwaukee Junction. The EMF firm was not
successful so Studebaker continued to produce cars on Piquette Street. After World War I, Studebaker built the massive plant that still stand south of downtown South Bend. In the Depression decade,
Studebaker tried to market a low-priced car. They named it the Rockne in honor of the football coach at a South Bend college that once had a reputation for success on the football field. The final Rockne was assembled in 1933. I have read that Rockenes were produced in the EMF factory but there are other reports they were only assembled in Studebaker’s Walkerville plant across the Detroit River..


Who would have thought that we would live to see the conversion of Fisher Body #21 and the oldEMF factory into residences in an increasingly populated and upscale New Center neighborhood of Detroit

What is an EMF vehicle?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-M-F_Company

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Originally Posted by renf

It is interesting to know that what is called the Studebaker Building on Piquette will be restored and used for residences in the booming New Center area. This building has a long history and was not always known as the Studebaker Building. Detroit entrepreneurs Bryan Everett, William Metzger and Walter Flanders, in the first decade of the late century, realized that there was a coming boom in vehicle production. They started their own firm to produce EMF vehicles and began building their factory on Piquette in 1909. They did face a shortage of capital.
Studebaker, a wagon maker in South Bend, had a national distribution network and realized it might be time to switch to motor vehicles. Apparently, their executives were reluctant to shut down their profitable wagon production so they looked around for other firms to manufacture motor vehicles they could sell through their nationwide sales network. Everett, Metzger, and Flanders saw an opportunity and that is how Studebakers came to be assembled in Milwaukee Junction. The EMF firm was not
successful so Studebaker continued to produce cars on Piquette Street. After World War I, Studebaker built the massive plant that still stand south of downtown South Bend. In the Depression decade,
Studebaker tried to market a low-priced car. They named it the Rockne in honor of the football coach at a South Bend college that once had a reputation for success on the football field. The final Rockne was assembled in 1933. I have read that Rockenes were produced in the EMF factory but there are other reports they were only assembled in Studebaker’s Walkerville plant across the Detroit River..


Who would have thought that we would live to see the conversion of Fisher Body #21 and the oldEMF factory into residences in an increasingly populated and upscale New Center neighborhood of Detroit

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I never thought I'd see the renovation of that Fisher Body plant and I still don't. Every time I drive by there on the expressway, I keep thinking that renovation is pretty ambitious. Of course, not in the same stratosphere as the Packard plant but still pretty ambitious. If it ever gets completed or even halfway done, I'll be shocked.

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Originally Posted by softailrider

I never thought I'd see the renovation of that Fisher Body plant and I still don't. Every time I drive by there on the expressway, I keep thinking that renovation is pretty ambitious. Of course, not in the same stratosphere as the Packard plant but still pretty ambitious. If it ever gets completed or even halfway done, I'll be shocked.

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Based on instagram acquaintances it is still wide open to explore. You would think that if they were serious about the renovation they would have security there to prevent trespassing.

I hope it works.

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Originally Posted by southen

Based on instagram acquaintances it is still wide open to explore. You would think that if they were serious about the renovation they would have security there to prevent trespassing.

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When they posted the article they wrote it was proposed,they did not say it was a done deal [[FB21).

They are trying to sell it to the public first,remember when the guy said he was going to put a night club in there and it was written up as a done deal in the paper?

They have to present the idea to the city first,then see how much they will get in incentives,then figure out how much it will cost,then find funding.

The difference in what the taxpayers will be expected to put up will be the difference in what the funders say is the cut off to where it makes it feasible.

Right now if projects are already in the funding pipeline they should be okay,anything new is going to be in a precarious situation.

Like they say,nothing is finial until the shovels hit the dirt.

Strictly speaking, is this Studebaker building redevelopment located in New Center, or Milwaukee Junction? I always thought Beaubien/Picquette was a part of New Center, but maybe it's Milwaukee Junction if we're being precise or pedantic?

former Studebaker Sales and Service Building it owns in the city’s Milwaukee Junction neighborhood into 162 workforce apartments.

https://www.theplatform.city/studeba...ts-apartments/

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/bu...ct/7614791001/

Use this map to show the Milwaukee Junction neighborhood and others throughout the city:
https://detroitmi.gov/webapp/interactive-district-map

I was very pleased to see significant progress being made on the Studebaker site lofts, aka Piquette Flats, when I passed by on Friday.

Attachment 42881

Thank you for posting. 25 years ago, who would have thought that
this stretch of Picquette Street would have evolved into an area of
moderately up scale housing for the people employed in the New Center
area and in downtown Detroit?