Last summer, Renaissance Global Logistics, a dispatching and logistics services firm based in Detroit, signed a full-building lease for Building C in the Wixom Assembly Park, which turned out to be the largest direct deal in Oakland County in 2023. The size and impact of the deal earned it a 2024 CoStar Impact Award for commercial development of the year, as judged by real estate professionals familiar with the market.
Building C was the third completed speculative development in the Wixom Assembly Park, which was formerly the Ford Wixom Assembly Plant. Building A, located at 10160 Assembly Park Drive, and Building B at 10100 Assembly Park Drive, were completed in 2022. Buildings C and D were both completed last year, while construction on Building E is expected to begin in April. All of the buildings are owned by Kansas-based commercial real estate development firm Flint Development.
About the Project: Wixom Assembly Park's Building C is located at 28802 Wixom Road in Wixom, Michigan. It takes up 307,912 square feet on 47.1 acres. The Class A, one-story property is made of reinforced steel and includes 50 dock doors, six drive-ins at 12 feet, a clear height of 36 feet and ESFR sprinklers. Davidson Architecture and Engineering of Kansas was the architect.
What the Judges Said: "The size of the property and the conditions that existed prior to the development and the size of the industrial buildings are major for the west side of the metro area," said Steve Eisenshtadt, senior vice president of brokerage services for Friedman Real Estate. Meanwhile, Dennis Bernard, founder and president of Bernard Financial Group, noted that "Gateway has been in the process of being developed and redeveloped for a number of years, and the Wixom area needed a significant industrial development to continue to prove their market depth."
They Made it Happen: Daniel Labes and John DeGroot of Newmark, along with Devin Schuster of Flint Development, John Davidson of Davidson Architecture & Engineering and Gregory J. Bockart Jr. of Savills participated in the development of this deal.