Detroit Developers Scaling Back Ambitions

The Michigan Opera Theatre had hoped to develop a 480-foot high-rise on property it owns in downtown, but after releasing a request for proposals in April 2019, the project has been quiet. This week, that silence turned into an indefinite delay, according to an article by Kirk Pinho.

Erica Hobbs, communications manager for Michigan Opera Theatre, released a statement citing market conditions as the reason for scrapping the development plans.

"Michigan Opera Theatre's April request for proposals said it wants to increase revenue through a ground lease of the property and increase the revenue brought in by its 700-space parking deck built in 2005," according to Pinho.

The defunct 34-story builing would have been built on an 0.8-acre surface parking lot located "next to the Detroit Opera House and the seven-story Detroit Opera House Parking Center at the corner of Broadway and John R streets."

Pinho also notes that several other buildings planned for Detroit's downtown have been either scaled back this month. Earlier this week, "Bedrock LLC CEO Matt Cullen revealed that Dan Gilbert's planned tower on the site of the former J.L. Hudson's department store building would not be the tallest building in the state, as it had been planned for nearly three years." Reports that Bedrock would reduce the height of that project have been public since August, however.  Earlier in the month, developers scaled back plans for The Mid, a $377 million condo project located on Woodward Avenue in Midtown.