$20 million redevelopment part of changes coming to Milwaukee Junction

At lot has been happening in Milwaukee Junction of late. The Platform has begun construction and redevelopment of several buildings in the neighborhood, Town Partners has acquired 10 properties since 2014, and a mini-commercial district has started to form that includes the cocktail bar Kiesling, which opened last year.

Now another real estate firm, Method Development, made a major commitment in the area after announcing last week that it would purchase five properties, all in the same city block.

Method estimates that redevelopment of the buildings, totaling over 100,000 square feet of space, will cost $20 million. Crain’s Detroit Business reports that the properties were purchased for $4.5 million.

At four stories and 56,000 square feet, the light-industrial Rusas Printing Building on St. Antoine is the largest of the five purchases. The other four, including the three-story, 24,700-square-foot Maurice Fox Building, are on East Grand Boulevard.

“We love the Motor City and we’re excited to help breathe new life into this up-and-coming neighborhood,” said Amelia Patt Zamir, principal of acquisitions and development at the Bloomfield Hills-based firm.

Crain’s reports that construction will begin on the Rusas building in the first quarter of 2020. The ground floor and mezzanine, which are still fairly intact and had a tenant prior to Method’s purchase, will become an event space. The upper floors will be office space.

The Maurice Fox Building will become a mixed-use building with ground floor retail and 20 industrial-style lofts. The rest of the projects are still in the design phase, but Method hopes to have all projects completed by 2023.