metro >> on the cover

"3almer Per k

W...XXCT...XXVO

CcxxILV-L-ve.t

rattra ttEtattittatt " •r

Couple brings careful renovation to
Art Deco-style apartment buildings.

Barbara Lewis I Contributing Writer

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Shelborne Development, which develops
and manages the properties, and Malino
Construction, the general contractor. The
companies share offices on East Jefferson
Avenue in Detroit's Indian Village.
Makino-Leipsitz got her start in real
estate at age 19, when she bought a duplex.
She had invested in two Art Deco apart-
ment buildings in Detroit's Midtown by the
time she got together with Leipsitz.
By then, the revival of Midtown, the
area between 1-75 on the northern end of
Downtown Detroit and Grand Boulevard,
was well under way, and prices were rising.
The couple began to look elsewhere for
bargains.
Their interest in historic apartment
buildings is practical as well as artistic,
Leipsitz said, because numerous tax credits
are available for rehabbing buildings with
historic value.
Their first project was in the New Center
area, where they bought their first proper-
ty, on Seward Street, for $450,000, in 2003.
They invested $2.5 million in remodeling
it. The couple now own seven buildings in
the New Center area. They soon branched
out to Jefferson-Chalmers, where they own
five buildings, and Palmer Park, where they
own 14.
They bought their first Palmer Park
properties in 2007, spending $6 million on
eight distressed apartment buildings that
had been owned by one family. A few years
later, they bought six more properties,
three from a bank and three from Wayne
County, including a derelict motel and a
burned-out apartment building, both of
which they demolished.
The buildings, in what is now called the
Palmer Park Apartment Building Historic
District, were known for large rooms with
high plaster ceilings, beautiful woodwork,
and interesting stone, brick and tile details
outside and inside.
Many Jewish families lived in the Palmer
Park apartments in the first half of the last
century, said Leipsitz, who grew up in Oak
Park and now lives in Grosse Pointe. He
and his wife are involved with the Grosse
Pointe Jewish Council.
Some of the apartments were built by
Jewish developers or designed by Jewish
architects, including Albert Kahn. Temple

8

September 25 • 2014

Israel, now in West Bloomfield, was at
Second and Manderson in Palmer Park
from 1950 to 1980.
In the 1970s, a lot of the apartments
were inhabited by Baby Boomers, including
students and those starting careers. One
former resident described it as "a dorm
without a college Residents formed a
community council that published a cook-
book, ran a Sunday morning cafe and held
an annual art fair in the park (which was
recently revived). Palmer Park also became
a hub for Detroit's gay community.
"Living there was a great experience for
us:' said Robin Willner of East Lansing. She
and her husband, Arthur Slabosky, had a
park-view apartment in the Florentine.
"There was a time when just about any-
one we wanted to spend time with lived in
Palmer Park. It was great to be able to walk
to our friends' apartments and hang out"
Winner said she and her husband also
appreciated the easy access to public trans-
portation on Woodward Avenue to Wayne
State University.
The young adults married, had children
and moved away. Crime increased.
"In the late 1980s and early 1990s, as
mortgages became more affordable, many
in the gay community moved to Ferndale
Leipsitz said.
The old buildings were expensive to heat
and to maintain. As the buildings got more
run-down, the owners found they could
not charge rents that could cover the utili-
ties and upkeep. Between the late 1980s
and early 2000s, the apartment community
deteriorated. Many of the buildings were
vacant and boarded up.

Rehabbing With Care
Where the former owners saw a money pit,
Leipsitz and Makino-Leipsitz saw oppor-
tunity.
When they remake a building, they usu-
ally tear out everything inside, Leipsitz
said. Often they find problems they weren't
aware of before they purchased the build-
ing.
The first thing they do is repair or
replace the roof and install foam insulation,
high-efficiency furnaces or boilers and new
windows, making the buildings much less
costly to heat.
After the infrastructure work is done,
they completely reconstruct one-, two- and

The renovated lobby

V

•• • ■ •II I

Mark Leipsitz poses with an original apartment building
sign on La Vogue in Palmer Park, a building he and his

wife, Kathy Makino-Leipsitz, renovated.

Original tile decoration on one of the buildings

three-bedroom apartments using qual-
ity materials, including hardwood floors,
granite counters and new cabinets and
appliances. They refurbish or reconstruct
the Art Deco details in the lobbies and on
the exteriors.
The cost of the remodeling is partly
borne by a variety of governmental pro-
grams, including federal stimulus funds,
loans from the Michigan State Housing
Development Authority and tax credits for
updating historic properties.
Their first Palmer Park project was La
Vogue on Merton Street, built in 1929 and
remodeled three years ago for $6 million.
Leipsitz and Makino-Leipsitz recently
completed the El Dorado, the Sarasota,
the Seville — many Palmer Park buildings
have fanciful names — and three more.
In cooperation with Unity Temple, a
church located in the middle of the com-

Original window accents

Shelborne is developing "Unity Square
which will include two apartment buildings
for seniors and a mixed-use building that
will include six townhouses and a commu-
nity center.
When their current buildings are com-
pleted, Shelborne will be managing 202
apartments in Palmer Park.
All the properties are rented as soon as
they are available, said Leipsitz. There's
even a waiting list.
"All kinds of people are moving in:' said
Leipsitz. "We have empty nesters, younger
working people, single moms with kids.
Some are moving back from the suburbs:'
Rentals are a combination of market-
rate and reduced rates for low-income
residents; the owners receive tax credits
in return for offering below-market-rate
rents. Monthly rents range from about
$342 to about $950. ❑