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Rising commercial rents are changing the landscape of downtown Detroit.
Nonprofit agencies headquartered there, including United Way for Southeast Michigan Council of Government, are facing rental sticker shock, which could force some to move elsewhere in the city, reports John Gallagher of the Detroit Free Press, who goes on to write:
Downtown Detroit remains relatively affordable by national standards, with office rental rates much lower here than in hot markets like Chicago and New York. But longtime tenants used to bargain prices here are stunned by how quickly costs have risen.
LISC, the Local Initiatives Support Corp., a nonprofit that supports neighborhood redevelopment, until recently was paying about $17 per square foot for office space in the First National Building near Campus Martius Park. But it faced an increase to about $26 per foot in its new lease, LISC director Tahirih Ziegler told the Free Press. That's a 50% jump in cost.
Instead of renewing in the First National, LISC relocated recently to the New Center One building adjacent to the Fisher Building, where it pays close to its old downtown rate.
