A four-story office building in Detroit’s central business district sold for close to $2 million on May 6. The seller was asking $1.95 million for the 15,000-square-foot property, according to CoStar Group Inc. One of the buyers reported that the Library Street building sold for somewhere between $1.6 million and $2 million. The property was built in 1926 but was completely renovated in 2011.
The office building was sold by Vernier Holdings LLC to a group of investors including the owner of Huth Lynett. The building is currently occupied on the first floor by Blumz, a florist, and an art gallery called Library Street Collective. The third and fourth floors are currently being leased to a Detroit developer. The second floor, a total of 4,000 square feet of space, is empty.
This is the second purchase downtown for Huth Lynett and its investment partners in the last year. In April 2013, the firm and some partners bought a building at the corner of Cass Avenue and West Congress Street that has 18,500 square feet of space. These kinds of real estate transactions are a good sign for downtown Detroit’s commercial real estate market.
There were no brokerage firms used in this deal, and it seems by all accounts that the transaction went smoothly. However, this is not always the case with Detroit real estate transactions. When a dispute over real estate does arise, it is advisable for the business to consult with someone with a thorough knowledge of real estate law who can help buyers or property owners protect their assets and their properties.
Source: Crain’s Detroit Business, “Investors pay up to $2 million for Library St. office building” Kirk Pinho, May. 25, 2014
