New York developer misses deadline to give back Herman Kiefer site
Today, the 38-acre hospital campus is still boarded-up — and still one of the last big, high-profile vacant sites in Detroit in need of a savior.
The city says the New York developer fell out of compliance with a development agreement and missed a deadline this week to hand back title to the property.
Detroit officials also want the developer, Ron Castellano, to return title to two abandoned former Detroit public schools buildings that are near the campus — the old Hutchins and Crosman schools.
Castellano's firm, Herman Kiefer Development LLC, acquired the Herman Kiefer campus and those school buildings for $925,000 in 2018. As part of the deal, his firm also gained control over about 115 vacant houses in the surrounding Virginia Park neighborhood at the discount price of $500 to $1,000 apiece, plus another 375 vacant lots.
The city contends that Castellano's firm has been out of compliance with the agreement since last year, and June 4 was the deadline to hand over the properties.
Although the agreement calls for a refund of the purchase price to the developer in the event of such a "reconveyance," city officials claim that the site's unpaid property, water and sewerage bills exceed $925,000, so no money will be returned.
On Thursday morning, June 5, the old hospital and its surrounding campus of red brick buildings appeared completely empty. The Free Press found a security guard and the property's manager outside, and the manager confirmed they have no tenants so far for the buildings.
Luke Polcyn, the city's senior executive for development and economic transformation, said the developer's firm indeed missed this week's deadline to hand over the properties.
More: Hotel operator NoMad chosen for Ford's Michigan Central Station in Detroit
More: Rocket-Redfin deal clears hurdle with shareholders' vote
'That is not what the city bargained for when we did this development agreement,' Polcyn said. 'The expectation was we would have more progress by now.'
Polcyn said he was reluctant to share what the city's next steps will be.
"We're pressing our remedies and intend to enforce the development agreement,' he said.
Castellano didn't return a message seeking comment Thursday that was left with the property manager.
The developer has also struggled to meet the city's deadlines for rehabbing all of the vacant houses that were a part of the deal.
Last year, 44 of the 115 or so houses had to be reconveyed to the Detroit Land Bank Authority, Polcyn said, and over 50 additional houses were transferred over to third-party developers to fix up. Polcyn said Castellano has been credited with rehabbing about 15 of the houses in the deal.
The inclusion of so many houses in the deal was once a point of controversy in the neighborhood, as some residents felt frustrated by the initial pace of the rehab work and how at the time the houses were unavailable for others to buy and fix up.
The controversy eased up as Castellano began working with local partners and community groups to get the houses done.
As for the Herman Kiefer campus, Polcyn said the developer fell out of compliance on two counts of the development agreement:
Failure to invest at least $20 million or activate at least 35% of the property by last year.
Failure to make required annual investments of $2 million per year starting in 2023.
'We demanded reconveyance title to the hospital and schools, because of the defaults," he said.
The Herman Kiefer campus has been vacant since Detroit's Health Department moved out in 2013.
Castellano tried marketing the site as the Creative Commerce Campus Detroit, or C3D, but found Detroit's post-pandemic office space market to be challenging.
Around springtime last year, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan was said to be spotted giving a tour of the site to Detroit Lions President Rod Wood. Crain's Detroit reported that the Herman Kiefer campus was one option under consideration if the NFL team were to relocate its Allen Park training center to a new location.
However, Wood said earlier this year that the team is now in the process of renovating the Allen Park center and has no plans to move.
Contact JC Reindl: 313-378-5460 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on X @jcreindl
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Developer misses deadline to give back Herman Kiefer site
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Canceled home sales surge as fed-up buyers and sellers walk away
As homebuyers and sellers remain locked in a standoff, more and more are deciding it's easiest to just walk away when negotiations falter in today's stuck-in-place housing market. Buyers, many of whom are struggling to afford record-high home prices but feeling emboldened by having more inventory to choose from, are proving increasingly willing to end contract negotiations when they disagree with sellers over things like presale repairs. Read more: Why are home prices so high right now? A portion of sellers, meanwhile, have hefty equity positions and low mortgage rates that leave them in no rush to move. When contract negotiations hit roadblocks or they can't get the price they want, many sellers simply pull their homes off the market. These impasses have driven canceled deals and pulled listings to their highest levels in years, helping to keep home sales muted this spring. Sales of existing homes slumped to a seasonally adjusted average annual rate of 3.93 million in June, new National Association of Realtors data shows, a nine-month low in what's typically the housing market's busiest season. Last month, 57,000 deals — 15% of all homes that went under contract — fell through, the highest share of canceled deals in June going back to 2017, according to Redfin. The brokerage cited factors like financially stretched buyers and ongoing economic uncertainty for the spike. Delistings, where sellers take their homes off the market without a sale, are also on the rise. They jumped 47% in May from a year ago, outpacing recent inventory gains, according to This move suggests that many sellers would rather stay put than adjust to current market dynamics. Repair face-offs In Louisville, Ky., Realtor Bob Sokoler has seen more deals fall apart as those sellers who can 'afford to wait it out' butt heads with leery buyers stretched thin by high prices and mortgage rates near 7%. 'There are a lot of unrealistic expectations,' Sokoler said. Recently, he's struggling to save a sale that stalled in contract negotiations over roof repairs. After his sellers cut their price and accepted an offer of $315,000 on their home, the buyers said they'd need a new roof to close the deal. When an inspection revealed a few popped nails — a minor repair — on a roof with seven to 10 years of life left, the sellers said no. Neither side wants to budge. Without a new roof, the buyers are threatening to walk away, but the sellers' final offer is a $1,000 credit for fixes, far from the $10,000 or more a replacement typically costs. 'We're stuck in a quandary here,' Sokoler said. The jump in scuttled deals reflects a clear difference between two types of sellers in today's market, said Danielle Hale, chief economist at One group is highly motivated to move and willing to make price cuts and other buyer concessions to secure a sale. But the other is comprised of holdouts who are able to wait if market prices don't meet their expectations. 'Both positions are reasonable,' Hale said. 'It just depends on your personal situation, what you need from your housing situation, and what's driving your motivation to move.' Sign up for the Mind Your Money weekly newsletter By subscribing, you are agreeing to Yahoo's Terms and Privacy Policy While the spike in delistings is significant, more sellers are proving willing to make price cuts to get a deal done than exit the market altogether. Even at today's higher levels, delistings make up a single-digit percentage of active inventory. Price cuts are much more common, with more than 20% of listings taking one in June. Read more: Ask a real estate agent — Is the housing market less competitive now? Sunbelt spikes Canceled deals and delistings tend to be most prominent in parts of the country where buyers have more leverage due to higher inventory levels. In June, Jacksonville, Fla., led the nation in contract cancellations, with 21.4% of deals falling through, according to Redfin data. Phoenix, Miami, and Riverside, Calif., meanwhile, had the highest levels of delistings relative to new listings in May. In Phoenix, 30 homes are delisted for every 100 new homes that come to market. All three cities also rank in the top 10 nationwide for contract cancellations and saw 18% or more of deals fall out of contract last month. As more sales fail to reach the finish line, Mark Hiller, a Realtor in Niceville, Fla., is getting pickier about the sellers he's willing to represent. Home prices in Florida's panhandle, where he works, are down around 7% from their early 2022 peak, but the decline was gradual and uneven across different cities and price points. Some sellers still aren't aware and want to test the market by listing at top dollar. 'This isn't the market to do that,' Hiller said. 'I've said no to more listings this year than I have in the past five years.' He's looking for listings from sellers with strong motivation to move, like service members being deployed from the area's multiple military bases or sellers seeking more space for a growing family or a smaller house after a divorce or a spouse's death. Even cities that have long had hot housing markets are showing some signs of shifting now. Craig Harris was prepared for a quick sale when he listed his condominium in Grand Rapids, Mich., in April. Like many Midwestern cities, Grand Rapids has spent years in a seller's market, and he'd previously sold a condo after garnering multiple offers in under 24 hours. But this time, his unit sat. One prospective buyer expressed early interest but backed out, and a small price reduction garnered a few more showings but no offers. After six weeks, Harris, 32, took it off the market rather than cut the price further. He'd like to relocate to a different neighborhood on the outskirts of Grand Rapids, but doesn't have an immediate need to make the move. He and his real estate agent are trying to piece together when and why the market turned. Their theories include higher mortgage rates, tariff and economic jitters, and a growing buyer wariness toward condo fees, though his are relatively low at about $200 a month. 'I've kind of just resigned to the fact that I will stay in this condo for as long as it makes sense to, financially and economically,' Harris said. 'Whether that's another year or another three years, I think that's just up to what the market decides.' Claire Boston is a Senior Reporter for Yahoo Finance covering housing, mortgages, and home insurance. Sign up for the Mind Your Money newsletter
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Canceled home sales surge as fed-up buyers and sellers walk away
As homebuyers and sellers remain locked in a standoff, more and more are deciding it's easiest to just walk away when negotiations falter in today's stuck-in-place housing market. Buyers, many of whom are struggling to afford record-high home prices but feeling emboldened by having more inventory to choose from, are proving increasingly willing to end contract negotiations when they disagree with sellers over things like presale repairs. Read more: Why are home prices so high right now? A portion of sellers, meanwhile, have hefty equity positions and low mortgage rates that leave them in no rush to move. When contract negotiations hit roadblocks or they can't get the price they want, many sellers simply pull their homes off the market. These impasses have driven canceled deals and pulled listings to their highest levels in years, helping to keep home sales muted this spring. Sales of existing homes slumped to a seasonally adjusted average annual rate of 3.93 million in June, new National Association of Realtors data shows, a nine-month low in what's typically the housing market's busiest season. Last month, 57,000 deals — 15% of all homes that went under contract — fell through, the highest share of canceled deals in June going back to 2017, according to Redfin. The brokerage cited factors like financially stretched buyers and ongoing economic uncertainty for the spike. Delistings, where sellers take their homes off the market without a sale, are also on the rise. They jumped 47% in May from a year ago, outpacing recent inventory gains, according to This move suggests that many sellers would rather stay put than adjust to current market dynamics. Repair face-offs In Louisville, Ky., Realtor Bob Sokoler has seen more deals fall apart as those sellers who can 'afford to wait it out' butt heads with leery buyers stretched thin by high prices and mortgage rates near 7%. 'There are a lot of unrealistic expectations,' Sokoler said. Recently, he's struggling to save a sale that stalled in contract negotiations over roof repairs. After his sellers cut their price and accepted an offer of $315,000 on their home, the buyers said they'd need a new roof to close the deal. When an inspection revealed a few popped nails — a minor repair — on a roof with seven to 10 years of life left, the sellers said no. Neither side wants to budge. Without a new roof, the buyers are threatening to walk away, but the sellers' final offer is a $1,000 credit for fixes, far from the $10,000 or more a replacement typically costs. 'We're stuck in a quandary here,' Sokoler said. The jump in scuttled deals reflects a clear difference between two types of sellers in today's market, said Danielle Hale, chief economist at One group is highly motivated to move and willing to make price cuts and other buyer concessions to secure a sale. But the other is comprised of holdouts who are able to wait if market prices don't meet their expectations. 'Both positions are reasonable,' Hale said. 'It just depends on your personal situation, what you need from your housing situation, and what's driving your motivation to move.' Sign up for the Mind Your Money weekly newsletter By subscribing, you are agreeing to Yahoo's Terms and Privacy Policy While the spike in delistings is significant, more sellers are proving willing to make price cuts to get a deal done than exit the market altogether. Even at today's higher levels, delistings make up a single-digit percentage of active inventory. Price cuts are much more common, with more than 20% of listings taking one in June. Read more: Ask a real estate agent — Is the housing market less competitive now? Sunbelt spikes Canceled deals and delistings tend to be most prominent in parts of the country where buyers have more leverage due to higher inventory levels. In June, Jacksonville, Fla., led the nation in contract cancellations, with 21.4% of deals falling through, according to Redfin data. Phoenix, Miami, and Riverside, Calif., meanwhile, had the highest levels of delistings relative to new listings in May. In Phoenix, 30 homes are delisted for every 100 new homes that come to market. All three cities also rank in the top 10 nationwide for contract cancellations and saw 18% or more of deals fall out of contract last month. As more sales fail to reach the finish line, Mark Hiller, a Realtor in Niceville, Fla., is getting pickier about the sellers he's willing to represent. Home prices in Florida's panhandle, where he works, are down around 7% from their early 2022 peak, but the decline was gradual and uneven across different cities and price points. Some sellers still aren't aware and want to test the market by listing at top dollar. 'This isn't the market to do that,' Hiller said. 'I've said no to more listings this year than I have in the past five years.' He's looking for listings from sellers with strong motivation to move, like service members being deployed from the area's multiple military bases or sellers seeking more space for a growing family or a smaller house after a divorce or a spouse's death. Even cities that have long had hot housing markets are showing some signs of shifting now. Craig Harris was prepared for a quick sale when he listed his condominium in Grand Rapids, Mich., in April. Like many Midwestern cities, Grand Rapids has spent years in a seller's market, and he'd previously sold a condo after garnering multiple offers in under 24 hours. But this time, his unit sat. One prospective buyer expressed early interest but backed out, and a small price reduction garnered a few more showings but no offers. After six weeks, Harris, 32, took it off the market rather than cut the price further. He'd like to relocate to a different neighborhood on the outskirts of Grand Rapids, but doesn't have an immediate need to make the move. He and his real estate agent are trying to piece together when and why the market turned. Their theories include higher mortgage rates, tariff and economic jitters, and a growing buyer wariness toward condo fees, though his are relatively low at about $200 a month. 'I've kind of just resigned to the fact that I will stay in this condo for as long as it makes sense to, financially and economically,' Harris said. 'Whether that's another year or another three years, I think that's just up to what the market decides.' Claire Boston is a Senior Reporter for Yahoo Finance covering housing, mortgages, and home insurance. Sign up for the Mind Your Money newsletter Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Americans spend an entire week's worth of pay on rent every month—and in some cities, a full two weeks of income is just going to housing
U.S. median rent has risen from about $824 in 2008 to more than $1,300 in 2025. As rent has increased faster than wages, Americans are spending much more of their income on housing. On average, it now takes an entire week's worth of pay to afford monthly rent. It's hard to imagine today, but about 17 years ago, rent for Americans was less than $1,000 per month. In 2008, the median rent was just $824 per month; today it's more than $1,300—and many major metropolitan areas like New York City and Los Angeles dwarf that figure. Between 2022 and 2025 alone, rents jumped nearly 6%. That also means Americans are spending much more of their monthly income on housing. Although it's generally recommended not to spend more than a third of one's income on housing, many Americans are shelling out much more than that. That's largely due to rent prices rising faster than wage growth in the U.S. A recent Self Financial analysis of housing data from the U.S. Census, Apartment List, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Federal Reserve illustrates how many hours worth of work Americans are spending on housing each month. On average, Americans need to work 38.3 hours to cover their monthly rent, which works out to the average work week. But there's a decent spread on the number of work hours needed to pay for rent across the U.S. Vermont residents need to work 60.2 hours per month to meet the average monthly rental costs, the highest of any state, according to the Self Financial analysis. People living in South Dakota need just 27.6 hours to cover rent, placing them in the lowest spot. Unsurprisingly, New York City residents need to work the most hours to pay rent at 90.2 hours. These are the five U.S. states with the highest number of hours required to cover the average monthly rent: Vermont: 60.2 hours Hawaii: 59.9 hours California: 52.4 hours New Jersey: 50.4 hours Maryland: 50.3 hours And these are the five U.S. states with the fewest number of hours required to cover the average monthly rent: Maine: 32.3 hours North Dakota: 32.2 hours Alabama: 31.4 hours Arkansas: 31.1 hours South Dakota: 27.6 hours See the heat map below, which shows the number of hours required to cover the monthly rent in each state. To see the number of hours, hover over each state. Deeper red indicates a higher number of hours. While this may appear to be a grim outlook for rental housing in the U.S., there is a small glimmer of hope. As of May, median U.S. asking rent had actually dropped about 1% year-over-year, according to Redfin. That's because apartment construction is hovering near a 50-year high, Redfin economists said. 'Even though renter demand is strong, it's not keeping pace with supply,' said Sheharyar Bokhari, Redfin senior economist. 'Many units are sitting vacant for months, which means renters have power to negotiate concessions and landlords have less leeway to keep rents high.' Meanwhile, it's still much cheaper to rent than to buy a home in the U.S. thanks to sky-high mortgage rates nearing 7% and home prices that are 55% higher than at the beginning of 2020, according to the Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index. Take Austin, Texas, for example. 'Many people in Austin are finding that it's a lot cheaper to rent than buy,' Austin real-estate agent Andrew Vallejo recently told Fortune. 'You could buy a home and have a monthly mortgage payment of $3,200, but the same home will rent for $1,900. Unless the buyer has a good amount of money for a down payment, renting is way less expensive.' This story was originally featured on
