Is Detroit a Sleeping Real Estate Giant????

By David Sobelman

Probably not. But there seems to be some opportunity there. There was an article in the Wall Street Journal today, Page A3 by Andrew Grossman, that is headlined, "Retailers Head for the Exits in Detroit." The first three fourths of the article highlight the name brand retailers that have all exited the market in recent years. The news about "Motor City" obviously has not been favorable by any means but it should be known that the last column of the article highlights several success stories in recent years. Family Dollar is expanding, Aldi is "bullish" on Detroit and The Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (they recruit businesses to the area) is still in business.

The moral of the story; real estate is local. The 900,000 people in downtown Detroit still need services to survive. They need grocery stores, coffee shops, shoe stores, and the like. It just matters who the tenants are, where are they located and who do they ultimately serve. Those factors can be applied to Anytown, USA and, most likely, shed light on which retailers can/will survive in any market.