Since Detroit filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection last week — the largest city to ever do so — we’ve sought out the opinions of commercial real estate pros who work in that city.
These pros have told us that the bankruptcy filing might end up being a blessing for Detroit, giving the city a chance to start over.
Ed Dawda, founding member of the Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based law firm Dawda Mann, agrees. The way he sees it? The bankruptcy filing had to happen.
“The declaration of bankruptcy by the city of Detroit following years of steady decline and ‘kick the can down the road’ mentality seemed inevitable to me,” Dawda told Midwest Real Estate News. “There were no new streams of revenue to match the growing debt.”
The hard work starts now, though. The city of Detroit will have to rebuild.
And that, Dawda said, will take time.
“Many investors crave certainty in the markets. In the short term, my view is that Detroit real estate transactions will slow,” Dawda said. “However, for the risk-taker there are deals to be done and at what many may consider even better values than last week. Time will tell.”
