USA TODAY International Edition
Dilapidated Detroit house on sale for $ 5M
A ramshackle house in Detroit near the new Little Caesars Arena — one of the last “holdouts” in the area — is back on the market with its most ambitious asking price yet: $ 5 million.
The two- story wood structure with peeling paint is one of the last properties within the footprint of the city’s coming sports and entertainment district that the Ilitch organization has yet to acquire. It neighbors one of the district’s newly built parking decks and is steps away from the $ 635 million arena, which will become home to the Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Pistons when it opens in September.
The house has jumped on and off the market in recent years, each time returning with a higher asking price. It was last delisted in May after failing to sell at $ 4 million.
In a phone interview Tuesday, the house’s new agent, Darren Johnson of Johnson Premier Realty, said he relisted the property last week for an official $ 4,999,999 — by far the priciest house listing in the city. He said the $ 1 million jump in asking price reflects the increase in value since the Pis- tons announced in November that they will join the Red Wings at the new arena later this year and leave the Palace of Auburn Hills.
“That brings more value because that means there are more days of traffic down there,” said Johnson, who emphasized that he is marketing the 4,791- square- foot property for its future arena district location — not for the house itself. Any buyer would likely tear down the house and build something new.
Land records show the prop- erty last sold for $ 25,000 in June 2002 to a family partnership composed at the time of six individuals. That sale occurred years before the rumors — ultimately proven true — that the sports venue to replace Joe Louis Arena would be built there in the neighborhood at the edge of Detroit’s once- notorious Cass Corridor.
The house has been mostly vacant since a 2013 electrical fire. Its current occupant is a fellow who has lived there rentfree in exchange for guarding the property from scrappers.