More new housing could be headed to Ferndale as further sign of the city’s red-hot housing market. As the Detroit Free Press reported this week, a developer is working with the city to build nearly 100 units near Pinecrest and Eight Mile Road. Now, a different developer is also proposing to build 16 multifamily units on Woodward Heights.
The two development are still in the planning stages. They come as construction is under way on two housing projects on former school sites, both by Robertson Brothers Homes of Bloomfield Hills, totaling 100 new units, plus the 90-unit FerndaleHaus lofts rising on West Nine Mile.
Pinecrest Holdings LLC wants to build 70 single-family homes and 27 multi-family units on roughly 20 acres on the northwest corner of Pinecrest and Eight Mile, just south of Ferndale High School. The single-family homes would have front porches and garages in the rear, either attached or detached. Nineteen townhouse-style homes would feature rear-entry two-car attached garages, and eight affordable, attached ranch-style homes would each feature 1,200 square feet of living space and two-car attached rear garages.
The development would also feature a greenway connector running from Ferndale High School to Eight Mile Road along Pinecrest and preserved wooded areas at the southwest and southeast corners. The homes would have no basements, but would include “bonus spaces” above the garages, according to documents.
The developers have said the single-family homes could start just under $300,000. The Freep reports that the developer has been considering Craftsman, Cottage and colonial architectural styles for the single-family homes, which would range from 1,700 to 2,400 square feet. The architect is Alexander V. Bogaerts + Associates of Bloomfield Hills.
The site, formerly occupied by Hayes Lemmerz, an automotive wheel manufacturer, and chemical supplier Ethyl Corp., is reportedly contaminated with arsenic, lead, mercury, volatile organic compounds and something called polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons. Assuming the project is eventually approved, the remediation work and brownfield tax credit process mean it could be a while before construction gets going.
A couple miles north and east, meanwhile, M&L Property Holdings and Krieger Klatt Architects want to develop multifamily residential units at 1201 and 1225 Woodward Heights. That’s the same site that Anita’s Kitchen was previously thinking of developing for its own commercial uses, so that’s apparently no longer a thing. The property is currently zoned for mixed use.
Developers are proposing to build 16 condo units for sale, including attached garage, plus a surface lot for total of 29 parking space. They’d be stacked, two-story units — eight on the ground floor and eight second-story units. The former would be around 1,100 square feet while the uppers would be 1,600 ft2, all with two bedrooms and two baths.
The units would be similar in design to the 1741 Livernois condominium development near corner of Nine Mile, with similar roof lines, materials and interior finishes, plus brick, glass and metal panels on exterior to echo the industrial buildings across the street.
The spate of development can be seen as good or bad news for Ferndale, depending on where you’re sitting: Good for property values for those of us whose homes were so long under water (cough!), but bad news for those who’d like to find an affordable place to live here.
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