A lease signed for a recently built industrial space shows ongoing interest in Detroit’s outer ring.
The deal received a 2026 CoStar Impact Award for lease of the year for Detroit, as judged by real estate professionals familiar with the market.
In March 2025, Fisher Dynamics signed the lease for 310,829 square feet of industrial space at 18200 Vernier Road in Harper Woods, a suburb of Detroit. The facility in the Eastland Commerce Center met the company’s manufacturing and logistical needs, including extensive contiguous production space for multiline assembly and fabrication, heavy industrial zoning, infrastructure capable of supporting large equipment footprints and access to I-94 and the greater Detroit original equipment manufacturer and supplier ecosystem.
The location allows the company to efficiently support its product lines, which include seating mechanisms and structural safety systems.
By moving into this facility, Fisher Dynamics has strengthened the local labor market as well as the supplier clusters tied to OEM production. It’s also another vote of confidence in Detroit’s eastside industrial submarket.
Joseph Hamway and Greg Hudas, both vice presidents and principals at Signature Associates, represented the landlord, NorthPoint Development, in arranging this lease agreement. John Boyd, executive vice president and principal at Signature Associates, and Paul Hoge, senior vice president and principal at Signature Associates, represented the tenant.
About the project: Fisher Dynamics signed a five-year lease in March 2025 for the 310,829-square-foot industrial space at the Eastland Commerce Center in Harper Woods, outside Detroit. The property was built in 2024 and has a total square footage of 535,342.
What the judges said: “I believe this transaction, completed in a recent speculative development, has the strongest impact on the speculative construction market, signaling renewed demand for new product,” said John DeGroot, director of research in Detroit for Newmark.
“This lease is impactful because it marks a major industrial absorption by a long‑standing Tier 1 supplier, strengthening Detroit’s east‑side manufacturing base and validating the corridor’s continued importance for heavy‑industrial users,” said Katie Rizzo, senior research analyst at Colliers.
They made it happen: John Boyd, executive vice president and principal of Signature Associates and Paul Hoge, senior vice president and principal of Signature Associates, represented the tenant, Fisher Dynamics. Joseph Hamway and Greg Hudas, both vice presidents and principals at Signature Associates, represented the landlord, NorthPoint Development.
This article was updated on March 27 to include the tenant representatives in the deal.