JC Reindl

Detroit Free Press

A penthouse loft in Detroit's fast-revitalizing Corktown sold for more than a half-million dollars on Thursday, one of the highest sale prices for a residence in that neighborhood, once home to Tiger Stadium, and the latest sign of hot demand for market-rate housing in the city's greater downtown.

Listing agent Jim Tumey of the Loft Warehouse said the sale closed Thursday with a local buyer with a mortgage. The $531,313 price tag for the 1,290-square-foot loft was a record for Corktown, based on its $412 price per square foot, he said.

The total price was also well above the approximately $300,000 that the two-bedroom, two-bathroom loft last sold for in 2014, even though it's more or less in the same condition.

Tumey attributed the appreciation to greater downtown Detroit's strengthening housing market and how most new high-end developments have been rental properties — not for-sale condos. New listings in the Corktown neighborhood have been particularly rare.

"People are now a lot more sure of the Detroit market," he said. "I think a couple of years ago it was still on the fence."

While two other Corktown condos sold this year for higher dollars amounts, they were much larger residences. One was a 6,000-square-foot loft at 1535 Sixth St. that sold for $633,000 in July after originally asking an atmospheric $1.4 million. The other was a 5,700-square-foot loft in the same Sixth Street building — originally an appliance factory — that snagged $625,000 in May after hitting the market at $700,000.

The newly sold loft is on the fourth floor of Grinnell Place Lofts at 2003 Brooklyn, just off Michigan Avenue. It features exposed hardwood floors, exposed brick walls and industrial-chic furnishings. The guest room is on the first floor, the master suite on the second, and a stairway leads to a private terrace on the roof. There also is a balcony.

Formerly the Grinnell Brothers Piano Factory, the redeveloped building opened a decade ago as Grinnell Place Lofts. News stories from the time reported starting prices at $165,000 for the 34 condos.

The downtown-area housing market has been on the upswing in the past five years, driven largely by single young adults and older empty-nesters. The city experienced a small boom and bust in condos before the recession, but many of those projects were forced by financial reasons to convert to rentals in the downturn and only in the past two years have begun converting back.

A new high-end condo building called the Selden is set to break ground early this fall at 438 Selden Ave., the former site of an abandoned apartment building and next to the well-known bar Honest John's.

Developed by the Ferlito Group, the planned building would have 12 condos about 1,180 square feet in size and priced around $429,900 to $489,900. There also will be ground-floor restaurant or retail space and a rooftop terrace for the residents.

Plans for another luxury condo building were recently announced for the west side of downtown and would feature an indoor pool and rooftop patio. The price range for those 83 units has yet to be announced.

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