Time was when it didn’t seem to be much going on in the City of Saline east of North Maple Road, past what was then the high school. In 1985, ground had yet to break for either Heritage or Woodland Meadows Elementary School, no one was thinking Linden Square. The old municipal building southeast of the railroad tracks appeared permanently ensconced. [1,2,3]
Even Saline Journal parent company D² Enterprises only photographed the area from a manned aircraft as tangent to other local news coverage being provided at the time.
Now thirty-three years later, if the photograph above was to be taken today, it would show impressive progress having been made on the Saline Maple Oaks. According to the developer website, all single-family homes and townhouses had been reserved pre-construction as of March 2018. [4]
That deal was done by Swisher Commercial. Long time Swisher agent and broker Tony Caprarese notes that there is “always more time involved” in closing on the sale of vacant land such as this had been. Here in particular, the additional nuance of negotiating lease arrangements related to cell phone tower service access had to be managed. [5,6]
Reflecting back on the last dozen or so years for Saline Journal, he saw 2008 as “the tail end of the Ann Arbor tech boom. Block of space in the 10,000 square foot range were leasing and the market was hot.
“Then the housing crash crept into commercial, and lots of office and industrial space became available. Five-year loans came up for renewal and people needed to refinance with lower property values as interest rates went up. The same thing happened in the income property segment.
“If you wanted or needed property,” he concluded, “that was a good time to buy. But you had to be prepared to take time to get tenants unless you were an owner-occupier.”
That situation started to turn about four years ago. By 2015 most of the foreclosure opportunities had started to dry up. In the last two years, the thirteen brokers with Swisher Commercial have seen record sales.
“The Ann Arbor market is very saturated,” Mr Caprarese added. “We’re seeing more tenants looking for offices on the outskirts, in Saline and Ypsilanti.
“Industrial is saturated. We’re not seeing a lot of options for people who want industrial or light industrial. There’s little or no spec building, and a lot of interest in flex-spaces — say, offices with high bays that would be ideal for a plumber or an electrican or an artist.”
Earlier this year, Tony Caprarese just renewed for his fifth year as exclusive listing agent for the City of Saline. On East Michigan Avenue, he brokered the deal for the Zippy Auto Wash that’s anticipated to open next month. “Contract to closing took approximately six months; Michigan Avenue properties are more involved because MDOT is involved.” [7]
He also put together arrangements for the new Best Western Premier hotel and ACE Hardware Store site condo development next door. [8,9,10]
Like is so often the case in Saline, hotelier Mark Kuykendall had known Tony Caprarese for quite some time before they did business together. “For about a decade we were neighbors with Tony living about a block apart in Torwood,” he told Saline Journal.
“From time to time we would connect while walking our dogs or at a neighborhood event, including many graduation parties over the years.
“I was pleased to learn that Tony represented the City of Saline in the process of selling land to our group for the new Ace Hardware and Best Western Premier hotel. His knowledge, professionalism and good nature was another positive facet in the overall positive process working with the city leaders and staff to help bring our locally based project together.”
It is additionally important to report that, as Saline Journal reported in its Jim Junga interview published last week, Mr Caprarese specifically cited the Saline school system as a draw for business locations; he cited the music program more particularly.
“From a commercial real estate standpoint, the City of Saline is a very favorable environment. It is perceived as a business-friendly community.”
Consider it quite likely then that the landscape captured in the photograph above will change as much or more in the next thirty-three years as it has in the last.
References
- “Heritage School” Saline Area Schools.
- “Woodland Meadows Elementary School” Saline Area Schools.
- Linden Square Assisted Living Center (home page).
- Saline Maple Oaks (home page).
- Swisher Commercial (home page).
- “Tony Caprarese, Vice President/Partner” Swisher Commercial.
- Zippy Auto Wash (home page).
- “Lucy Ann Lance Updates Her Radio Audience on Saline Hotel Progress” Dell Deaton (January 25, 2018) Saline Journal.
- “It’s Official: City, Developers Complete Deal to Build New Saline Hotel” Janet Deaton (March 1, 2018) Saline Journal.
- “It Wasn’t the Internet That Drove Plans for a New Hardware Store in Saline” Dell Deaton (May 9, 2018) Saline Journal.
