Latest News

A BIG 2020 IN STORE FOR DETROIT

Detroit as a city has seen huge developments over the last 6 years. Downtown has been transformed, international hotels and stores have opened, a new rail system, a new stadium, a new shopping mall, the list goes on and on. So is the development now finished and is Detroit back to its former glory? There’s no denying that Detroit is on the up and still pushing ahead. In fact, we can expect many more developments over the coming years as it stakes its claim as the beacon city of the Mid West America. At least $3.4 billion in construction projects are currently underway in downtown alone, while another $877 million is being spent in Midtown; $389 million in the New Center; and $353 million in the central business district. That’s $5.1 billion altogether. According to the latest reports, this capital investment will generate 6,000 new apartment units, 1,200 hotel units, and 2.1 million square feet of new office space. Many young professionals are opting to live downtown over the suburbs, as the population in Greater Downtown (including Midtown, Corktown) continues to grow. CNN recently ran an article that aptly summarises the city’s recovery: “Six years after Detroit filed for the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history, the Motor City is roaring back to life, Detroit’s rebound is one of the most underrated stories in the nation.” The revitalisation of Detroit was spearheaded by Quicken Loans’ billionaire founder Dan Gilbert. He has transformed the downtown core, Gilbert’s network of companies employs 17,000 people in Detroit. Since 2009, Gilbert has pumped $5.6 billion into downtown Detroit – his own and borrowed money –and now owns more than 100 buildings in the 7.2-square-mile center. There are so many new developments taking place in Detroit it is hard to choose just a few to mention! But here are some examples of what we can expect in the coming years: Fitzgerald Revitalization Project – This is the most ambitious neighborhood project the City has undertaken. Fitzgerald is near the University of Detroit Mercy and is surrounded by some of the best school and universities in the whole of Detroit. This neighborhood has hundreds of beautiful brick properties and a boatload of character but is in need of rejuvenation. There are big plans for new parks, landscaped pathways, new street lighting, new roads and other developments to get this area back to its former glory. 2. Gordie Howe International Bridge – This is a new bridge that will connect the USA with Canada. It is named after Canadian-born, Detroit Red Wings legend Gordie Howe and will be 1.6 miles long, costing an estimated $5.7 billion. 3. Michigan Central Station – In the next three-to-four years, Ford Motor Company will build a campus for mobility in Corktown at an estimated cost of $740 million. The campus will include the old DPS Book Depository, renovated into offices, retail, and residential, and the renovation of the long-vacant Michigan Central Station. 4. The Mid – The Mid will be the biggest development in Detroit north of Mack Avenue since the 1920s. Initial plans call for a 25-story, 228-room hotel with luxury condos making up the top nine floors; a 30-story mixed-use, multi-family development with 250 apartments and first-floor retail; and a 12-story building with “co-living” spaces. 5. Hudson’s site – The new Hudson’s will total approximately 1,000,000 square feet (not including underground parking for 700 cars), with 330 residential units and 240,000 square feet of office space at a cost of over $900 million. 6 . The Monroe Blocks – Covering the area between Campus Martius and Randolph along Monroe, the project as initially announced would add a 35-story office tower plus residential at a cost of $830 million. 7. Fiat Chrysler Plants – At the Connor Creek Industrial Center, the automobile company will spend $1.6 billion converting its Mack Avenue Engine Complex to produce next generation Jeeps, and $900 million to retool the Jefferson North Assembly Plant. It estimates that these upgrades will bring 5,000 new jobs to Detroit. 8. East Riverfront – The Riverfront is already a popular destination in Detroit, but numerous projects will make it more accessible and attractive to visitors. Expect redevelopment of vacant warehouses and land, increased residential and retail, streetscaping along Jefferson Avenue, a new greenway, an urban beach, and the Riverwalk extending to Belle Isle. These are just a snippet of some of the new developments taking place in the every changing city of Detroit, so much progress has been made. All of these changes have had a positive impact on the housing market, as we have seen that property prices have risen in the last six years.The Detroit metro area has experienced year-on-year increases in employment every month since June 2010 so this has pushed up the rental market. When Realtor.com released their list of the US hottest property markets, Detroit came among the top 20 and, according to Zillow, whilst house prices have continued to grow since 2011 they are still a huge way of their historic norms. This suggests that there is still significant space for growth and the possibility for property appreciation to continue for some time. If you would like to see our latest Detroit inventory please email invest@globalinvestmentsincorporated.com

Ford to invest $1 billion in Avon Lake, Cleveland Plants

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Ford Motor Co. has committed to investing $1 billion in two Greater Cleveland manufacturing plants. It is to invest $900 million in a new product line and other improvements at the Ohio Assembly Plant in Avon Lake. A further $125 million will also be spent on continuing upgrades at Ford’s Cleveland Engine Plant in Brook Park as part of a contract tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers. The auto giant’s plans are set to add 1,500 jobs at the Ford Ohio Assembly Plant, according to Avon Lake Mayor Greg Zilka. “We are pleased that Ford, the State of Ohio, Team NEO, the UAW and the City of Avon Lake have built such a positive working relationship,” Zilka said in a prepared statement. Under the new UAW agreement, the plant will add another vehicle to its manufacturing roster by 2023, which the new workers will help build. Right now, the assembly plant makes F-650/750 Medium Duty Trucks, F-350/450/550 Super Duty Chassis Cabs, E-Series Cutaways and stripped chassis. About 1,740 employees work at the plant, and roughly 1,600 are hourly employees. Ford also plans to add $150 million in upgrades to its Cleveland Engine Plant in Brook Park. “One thing people don’t realize is that we are going to benefit from the trades union people building the facility well before it is open,” Zilka said. “That is a shot in the arm for our City of Avon Lake, as well. Our understanding is that they will either add on to the very large facility they have now or possibly it could be a stand-alone building on the campus. We don’t have that information yet.” But one thing is known: the city will economically benefit from the expansion. He said that while the plant includes parts of Sheffield Lake and Sheffield Village, “the vast majority” of it is in Avon Lake. The mayor said the school district, which receives 80% of local real estate taxes, would benefit from the investment. Zilka said the earliest these taxes would be collected is 2024, but that it is too early to tell the amount. The 1,500 jobs also will generate income tax for Avon Lake. Economic Development Director Ted Esborn said it’s not currently known what that amount will be. However, he said the current 1,700 jobs at the plant contribute much to the city’s coffers. Esborn said the city annually collects $7.5 to $8.5 million in income tax from businesses. “Ford accounts for about 25% of all income tax that Avon Lake receives from businesses, and that’s a roster of over 300 businesses including other large manufacturing employers like PolyOne, Lubrizol, and Thogus,” Esborn wrote in an email. Impact on real estate Unlike other areas of public and private investment, the economic benefits to infrastructure are clear. But not only does investment infrastructure lead to job creation and GDP growth; it also acts as a catalyst, having significant knock-on impact to the surrounding real-estate. City transportation projects, in particular, tend to signal where the next property hot-spot will be. Historically this has been road or rail projects. “The Opportunity Corridor”, which began in 2015, is a boulevard in Cleveland, Ohio, partially open to traffic and partially under construction. The $306 million city investment will connect Interstate 77 and Interstate 490 to the University Circle neighbourhood (the fastest-growing job centre in the region). With these combined investments from Ford and the city of Cleveland (just two recent examples) the short and long term results are sure to be an increase in Economic growth within the city. Economic growth is one of the major factors in Real Estate capital appreciation. Demand for housing is dependent upon income. With higher economic growth and rising incomes, people will be able to spend more on houses, this will increase demand and push up prices. What factors help Ford in this large financial investment decision? The Cleveland area may see its low cost of living finally become a magnet for college graduating techies from its University Circle, alongside other members of what some people call the “creative class.” A new report revealed regions that have or can attract young workers in fields such as engineering, software development and the arts will have the best opportunities to grow their economies. The Cleveland metropolitan area is among a group of large metros with the fastest growth in creative-class workers between 2005 and 2018. Analysis shows Cleveland in fifth place with a 17.3% growth in creative-class workers. Ford understands Cleveland has the correct ingredients in place to attract the workers needed for their expansion. With affordable quality homes and an improving road network and public transport infrastructure, Cleveland’s advantages are now less of a “secret” to young professionals seeking an affordable place to start a career. The announcement of Ford’s $1 Billion dollar investment will be very positive news for people that have already invested in Cleveland Real Estate. For those looking to get involved while the prices and ROI are still one of the best in the whole of the USA, call or email Global Investments today.

Milwaukee Most Famous

It has now become quite traditional that when Global Investments introduce a new US city for fantastic buy to let investment properties, for a little bit of trivia fun we compile the top 10 most famous people that were either born or grew up in that City. Milwaukee is the largest city in the state of Wisconsin and the fifth-largest city in the Midwestern United States, home of Harley Davidson, Miller beer and many other great US companies. Milwaukee is following in the footsteps of other categorised rust belt cities like Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Cleveland to name a few. These cities have seen large-scale investment, rising house prices and high rental demand and Milwaukee is no exception to this. Global Investments have now started selling in Milwaukee, for more information visit: Milwaukee Investment Property This time around rather than just pick 10 people that most people have heard of I have decided to mix it up a little. Below is the final top 10! Some obviously most people would recognise immediately however some nearly everyone would have never heard of. These others have incredibly interesting stories and they all were either born or grew up in Milwaukee. If you do manage to read til the end then you will have definitely not wasted 5 minutes of your life and will be safe in the knowledge that Global Investments have enriched your brain with completely useless trivia facts that you can without doubt bore someone with one day 😉 So let’s begin…. 10. Eric Benet Eric Benét Jordan (born October 15, 1966), known professionally as Eric Benét, is an American R&B and neo soul singer-songwriter and actor, who has received a total of four Grammy nominations to date for his musical work. Benét was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He attended the Milwaukee Trade and Technical High School. Benét signed a record deal with Warner Bros. Records in 1994 and released his first studio album, True to Myself, in 1996. His second album, A Day in the Life, was released in 1999 and featured his smash hit “Spend My Life With You (featuring Tamia)”. The song rose to #1 on the US Billboard R&B charts (for 3 weeks), was certified gold, and nominated for a 2000 Grammy Award for “Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group”. Impressive enough you would think to reach number 10 on my list however what clinched it was the fact that Eric married actress Halle Berry in January 2001 and anyone that can pull that off deserves my upmost respect and jealousy. Actually I should take him off the list as they divorced in 2005, what was he thinking ?? 9. Mildred Harnack Mildred Elizabeth Fish Harnack. Born in Milwaukee 16th of September 1902 and died on 16th February 1943. Mildred is the first of our list of most famous that most people would have never heard of, however her story and connection to Milwaukee deserves telling and definitely deserves our number 9. Mildred attended West Division High School (now Milwaukee High School of the Arts), In 1926, she was studying and working as a lecturer on German literature at the Milwaukee State Normal School (now the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee). Alarmed by the rise of Hitler and the Nazi regime, Mildred and her husband joined a small resistance group. Their group published an underground newsletter, and fed economic information to the U.S. and Soviet embassies in Berlin. After Germany invaded Russia, the group transmitted military intelligence to Moscow via radio “concerts,” prompting the Gestapo to call them the “Red Orchestra.” The group was discovered and arrested in September of 1942. Mildred Fish-Harnack was initially given six years in prison, but Hitler refused to endorse the sentence and ordered a new trial, which ended with a sentence of death on 16 January 1943. She was beheaded on 16 February 1943. Her last words were purported to have been: “Ich habe Deutschland auch so geliebt” (“I loved Germany so much as well”). She was the only American woman executed on the orders of Adolf Hitler. 8. Golda Meir Golda Meir (born Golda Mabovitch) May 3, 1898 – December 8, 1978) was an Israeli teacher, stateswoman, politician. Meir was elected prime minister of Israel on March 17, 1969, after serving as Minister of Labour and Foreign Minister. The world’s fourth and Israel’s first and only woman to hold the office, she has been described as the “Iron Lady” of Israeli politics, the term was later applied to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. In 1905, In her early years Moshe moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in search of higher-paying work, and found employment in the workshops of the local railroad yard. Golda’s mother Blume Mabovitch ran a grocery store on Milwaukee’s north side. Golda attended the Fourth Street Grade School (now Golda Meir School) from 1906 to 1912. At 14, she studied at North Division High School and worked part-time. Her employers included Schuster’s department store and the Milwaukee Public Library. In 1948, Israel declared its independence and Golda Meir was one of the signers of Israel’s declaration. In 1974, Meir was awarded the honor of World Mother by American Mothers. 7. Jerry Zucker Jerry G. Zucker (born March 11, 1950) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin is an American film producer, director, and writer known for his role in directing comedy spoof films such as Airplane! and Top Secret!, and the Best Picture-nominated supernatural drama film Ghost. Zucker’s early career work started with Jim Abrahams and brother David Zucker. The trio performed in Madison, Wisconsin as a sketch and comedy troupe called “Kentucky Fried Theater”. From there the three went on and together co-directed Airplane! in 1980 and then went on to do Top Secret! in 1984, and Ruthless People in 1986. In 1990, he lent his directorial skills to the dramatic genre with Ghost, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. The Airplane movies were hilarious so definitely earns our number 7 spot. 6. Phil Katz Phillip Walter Katz (November