3/2/21 – Detroit Mastermind Group

Detroit March 2021- Key Takeaways

• Susan Donkers with Global Location Strategies provided a presentation on the process and data for site selection for companies looking to move or open another operation site. GLS quantifies and scores the sites that the company has selected to narrow down the best choice. GLS partners with local businesses to do real estate closings. They offer services and also offer technology products for sale.
• David Hart of Maddin Hauser has stayed busy unwinding litigation from the overheating of the construction sites pre-pandemic. Courts are still not active enough to settle cases.
• Martin Lavelle from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago – Detroit Branch reports that unemployment filings have slowed and that the Reserve expected unemployment rate to be 6%. He sees wage pressures and more businesses are opening up now. Material prices are on the rise and there is likely a 10% drop in office occupancy rates for the next 2 years.
• Phil Seaver of ATA National reports that while commercial building sales are stalled, residential housing sales are up 15%. He advises brokers to go with the market value, not the appraised value.
• Mike Sabrosky of Oliver Hatcher Construction indicates that this past February was the best month in the history of his company for incoming business. He says there is a lot of small office expansion. Steel and pre-cast concrete pricing is very high (up 39%) and the delays on shipments are huge too.
• Nick Maloof of Associated Environmental Services indicates that 2021 is good so far. He gave a warm thank you to Steve Sallen, Dave Dismondy and Mike Sabrosky for shared business deals.
• Dan Stys from Professional Engineering Associates reports that manufacturing is the strongest for their company. There is some mixed-use and a little retail too. His project west of Lansing is still good. They are the busiest they have been in a while. February was up 10% for them. They have a lot of work and many opportunities. Survey standards have been updated.
• John Godwin of Marcus Millichap reports that investment sales are slower and they are looking for more product. There is a strong demand for self storage, but some are looking to exit storage too. There is a consolidation of major malls and he refers to Brad Rosenberg.
• Brad Rosenberg of Mid America Real Estate agrees that there is a big reduction in mall value. While retail is still pretty good, there is not a lot of new construction for retail. Fast food and car washes continue to be active.
• Matt Fenster of Etkin Real Estate Solutions is very busy and says he is glad he is not in retail, but medical has been good. There is a lot of money out there for medical and leasing activty has been pretty good. Surgery centers are popping up because of the new reimbursement on joint replacement rule. U of M, Beaumont and several others are taking advantage of this.