Former WJBK-TV Studios building in New Center lists for $3.5M

The Georgian Revival building comes with plans for 145 apartment units and 5,000 square feet of commercial space

By Aaron Mondry May 20, 2019, 11:02am EDT

Just north of the Fisher Building in New Center, the former WJBK-TV Studios building is for sale. The 30,000-square-foot, all-brick building is listed through O’Connor Real Estate for $3.5 million.

The former studio on 2nd Avenue is notable for several reasons. Built in 1956 in the Georgian Revival style, there’s a limestone-trimmed portico at the front entrance, and a frieze and cornice at the top of the two-story building. The only building designed in Detroit by John L. Volk, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

WJBK broadcast shows there for about 15 years, then sold it to a Detroit public television station, which left in 2009.

Ottawa-based Halcor bought the property in 2014. The company then made plans to develop the building and site, adding more height to the original building as well as constructing several new ones. In total, the proposal called for 145 residential units and 5,000 square feet of commercial space.

Purchase of the property comes with development plans.

As to why the company has decided to sell, Halcor, which has several projects ongoing in the city, told Curbed Detroit that, “Given the time frame of this specific project, [we have decided] to deploy the capital on other projects.”

A lot is happening in New Center at the moment, including the near completion of The Boulevard, a major mixed-use apartment building by The Platform.