Nearly 20 years since its last Major League Baseball game, the old Tiger Stadium grounds at Michigan and Trumbull are proving to be a hot address for new Detroit apartments and condominiums.

Developer Eric Larson said Thursday that in the two weeks since he opened leasing for his 111-unit apartment building on the former stadium site, called The Corner, more than 25% of its apartments have pre-leased and many businesses are interested in its 12 ground-floor retail spaces.

In addition, 20 of the 34 townhouse-style condominiums planned for the site have sold in the past six months. The condos project, known as The Towns @ The Corner, is a joint venture between Larson Realty Group and builder Robertson Brothers Homes.

While both projects are still under construction, their first renters and condo buyers are expected to move in in June.

"There has been tremendous interest," Larson said.

Even though Tiger Stadium was demolished a decade ago, the residents of these new buildings will still see a lot of baseball in their backyard.

The Detroit Police Athletic League’s new baseball field opened last year with the same location and dimensions as Tiger Stadium's long-gone field. Known as the Corner Ballpark and the Willie Horton Field of Dreams, PAL's field is also used for local high school and college games.

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Because of those late teen- and college-age sluggers, some netting will likely be installed to protect apartment and condo dwellers from errant baseballs, such as the recent rightfield home run that smashed a bedroom window in one of the condos.

Condo prices

Prices for the new three-story, two-bedroom townhouse condos start at $408,000 and can exceed $600,000 for units with rooftop patios and top-of-the-line finishes. All of the condos come with two-car garages and Neighborhood Enterprise Zone tax abatements.

Most of the condos have yet to be built. However, the first buyer will move next week into one of the two finished model units. Six more condos are expected to be ready for occupancy this summer, with the rest completed next year, said Dominic Alessi, a sales manager with Robertson Brothers homes.

“Out of the 20 sales, most of them are first-time home buyers, and nine or 10 already live in the city," Alessi said.

Several of the buyers are Ford Motor Co. employees or contract engineers, who already work at the automaker's new Corktown neighborhood site or anticipate working in Ford's redeveloped Michigan Central Station office, scheduled to open in 2022.

Asking rents

A full 20% of The Corner's 111 apartments will be offered at "affordable" rents for those with below-average incomes. The market-rate rents will generally range from about $1,000 per month for studio units to $1,600 for one-bedrooms to $2,350 for a two-bedroom units, according to The Corner's website.

Elton Park opening, too

Across from the old Tiger Stadium site, an additional 151 rental apartments are nearing completion. That project, called Elton Park, encompasses five newly constructed buildings plus the former Checker Cab building and belongs to the Soave Real Estate Group.

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The first Elton Park tenants moved in early this year and dozens more are moving in now or this summer.

Rents at Elton Park range from $1,300 per month to $2,400 per month, with the project's three-story row houses going for about $3,200 per month, a project spokesman said.

More condo options

Further afield, there are two other new condo projects in Corktown that are starting to take shape: The "Bagley 10" three-bedroom condos at 1336 Bagley St. and the "North Corktown 11" two-bedroom condos at 3303 Cochrane.

Prices range from $599,000 to $725,000 at the Bagley 10 and from $315,000 to $384,000 at North Corktown 11.

Among the new Corktown projects, North Corktown 11 is notable for its sub-$400,000 asking prices.

"Most of what we see coming to the market today is positioned at the very high end, with big price tags that most can't afford," said Todd Sykes, vice president of new development for Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices/The Loft Warehouse. "North Corktown 11 is aimed to fill that gap."

Oversaturation?

Outside Corktown, two high-profile luxury condo developments were canceled earlier this year: a proposed 83-condo building at the edge of downtown called The Ashton and the 53-unit Cass & York in Midtown.

Nevertheless, Larson, president of Larson Realty Group, said he believes there are still enough willing renters and condo buyers to fill the new housing that is coming to Corktown.

"We still are in a situation where there is less product throughout the greater downtown being delivered than there is demand," Larson said.

ContactJC Reindl at313-222-6631 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @jcreindl. Read more on business and sign up for our business newsletter.