JC Reindl

Detroit Free Press

Big plans in Detroit for new residential buildings and hot retail stores typically happen in downtown or Midtown. But it may soon be New Center's turn.

Renovation goals are progressing for Detroit's landmark Fisher Building and a neighboring building, including the new possibility of a Restoration Hardware store going in.

Sources familiar with the latest plans say the Fisher Building's new owners are no longer looking to put apartments or condos in the landmark 29-story New Center tower, which currently has just commercial tenants.

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Instead those residential units would go into the 10-story Albert Kahn building, a few steps north on Second Avenue, these sources said.

And discussions have been ongoing between the buildings' owners and Restoration Hardware, the high-end home furnishings retailer, about the possibility of putting a Restoration Hardware in the Kahn's ground floor, although no deals are signed.

The Fisher and Kahn buildings were sold at auction last summer for $12.2 million to a group of development partners. Redico, the Southfield-based real estate firm, says it has sold its stake in the properties to the remaining partners: New York City-based HFZ Capital Group and The Platform, a Detroit-focused development firm belonging to Peter Cummings and Dietrich Knoer.

Redico also recently sold its stake in the Michigan State Fairgrounds redevelopment project in Detroit along 8 Mile. It sold to the remaining partners in that development proposal, which include retired basketball star Earvin (Magic) Johnson, Detroit businessman Marvin Beatty and Ferguson Development.

“With both the Fairgrounds project and the redevelopment of the Fisher and Kahn Buildings, we had the opportunity to sell our interest to our partners and exit early at an attractive return," Redico president and CEO Dale Watchowski said in a news release. "This was a strategic decision, as our corporate objective is to profit from opportunities such as these.”

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Redico plans to continue as property manager at both the Fisher and Kahn buildings. A local spokesman for the remaining Fisher Building development partners declined to comment.

A Restoration Hardware representative did not return a message seeking comment Friday. The company's only current Michigan store is at Somerset Collection in Troy.

Restoration Hardware has been the subject of much speculation in Detroit development circles and even purported media exclusives. There were unconfirmed reports last year that the retailer was opening a downtown store in a Dan Gilbert building along Woodward, but the plans didn't come to pass.

If Restoration Hardware or another retailer does open in New Center in the Albert Kahn Building, the architecture firm Albert Kahn Associates might then relocate its offices to the building's second floor, leaving the upper levels for new residential. The Kahn firm currently occupies the first floor and part of the second floor.

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Heidi Pfannes, business development manager for Albert Kahn Associates, declined to comment Friday about any specifics regarding the Fisher or Kahn buildings or her company's location options.

"We are pretty sure that we're remaining at least in the New Center area," Pfannes said.

Contact JC Reindl: 313-222-6631 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@JCReindl.