A big bundle of properties within Detroit’s popular Eastern Market is up for sale.
The owner of 21 properties in the historic market is now looking to sell all of them — individually or as one giant portfolio.
The properties span 10 acres and include a mix of industrial and commercial buildings, including those containing Supino Pizzeria, Jose’s Tacos, Farmer Frank’s restaurant and La Ventana Cafe. There are also three vacant sites and one parking lot.
Asking prices for all the parcels come to just under $31 million. The listings hit the market on Thursday, Sept. 18.
The seller is Firm Real Estate, a real estate firm that belongs to the family of the late Don Foss, founder of the Southfield-based subprime auto lender Credit Acceptance Corporation, who died in 2022.
While the Eastern Market properties have long been associated with Sanford Nelson, a young businessman who was still in his 20s when the firm acquired the properties in 2017, Nelson, in fact, was a partner with the Fosses in the firm. The Foss family has had full ownership of Firm Real Estate since Jan. 1, according to a news release.
Sanford Nelson dealt with controversy in the late 2010s when some of the properties’ longtime tenants began to see higher rent bills and a few permanently closed.
“As a company, we decided that these properties were no longer consistent with our future strategic business plan,” Jeff Bartlett of Firm Real Estate said in a statement.
“We realized that it was important to sell these properties so they can be put back into circulation. Many of these buildings already have successful businesses and are occupied, and others have tremendous potential to be strong assets to the district’s growth. We want to ensure these properties are in the hands of new owners who have the capacity, expertise and passion to steward them to productive use.”
Firm Real Estate says it has done about $8 million in upgrades and maintenance to the properties since 2017.
Eastern Market is made up of three distinct environments: publicly owned market sheds where farmers sell their goods, private restaurants and shops, and wholesale food businesses including meat packers and fruit distributors.
The nonprofit Eastern Market Corp. runs the public sheds and does the overall planning strategy for the market.
“Our priority has always been ensuring new development aligns with the goals of Eastern Market Corporation — supporting small food businesses, expanding cultural spaces and investing in improvements to the public market — while preserving the district’s authenticity and stimulating inclusive economic growth,” Katy Trudeau, CEO of Eastern Market Corp., said in a news release. “Activation of this portfolio provides just that type of opportunity for the neighborhood.”
Contact JC Reindl: 313-378-5460 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on X @jcreindl
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Much of Detroit’s popular Eastern Market now up for sale
Reporting by JC Reindl, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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