Alden Towers, the 389-unit, four-tower apartment complex on Detroit’s riverfront Gold Coast, has hit the market with a $25 million asking price. The roughly century-old property is being shopped even as residents and city inspectors point to ongoing maintenance and safety problems. At the listed price, the current ownership would be looking at a paper loss of roughly $10 million or more.
Listing details
According to LoopNet, Matthews Real Estate Investment Services is handling the listing, which went live last Thursday. Crain's Detroit Business reports that the current owners paid about $35.1 million in 2019, citing CoStar, so a sale at asking would put them more than $10 million underwater. The LoopNet listing pegs the property at 389 units and about 384,217 square feet and labels it as an Opportunity Zone investment.
Tenant complaints and city action
Tenants and local media say the building’s issues have stacked up, including mold, roach infestations and elevators that seem to break more than they run. Metro Times detailed a late-November emergency correction order and reported that the city began issuing daily fines of $2,000 after finding widespread heat outages. Television coverage from WDIV/ClickOnDetroit showed weeks-long elevator failures that forced elderly and disabled residents to rely on stairways or a limited freight elevator.
What's in the offering
The sales pitch leans heavily on capital projects that ownership says have already been done. Listing materials on LoopNet tout a full seawall replacement, new boilers and what is described as a full modernization of all eight elevator shafts, framing the property as ripe for a repositioning play. Crain's Detroit Business notes that the marketing packet also highlights renovated apartments and structural repairs to the parking garage. The materials outline a mix of roughly 70 studios, 168 one-bedrooms and 145 two-bedrooms spread across the four towers and suggest that updated units can command higher rents.
Why the discount
Industry watchers say properties like Alden Towers, with age and heavy maintenance needs, are feeling the squeeze in the post rate hike environment, where higher borrowing costs and wider cap rates are forcing sellers to reset expectations. Detroit is still holding up relatively well on occupancy and rent growth compared with some larger metros, but visible deferred maintenance and active code enforcement tend to scare off buyers and push prices down. Local coverage and broader sector analysis frame the listing as part of a larger trend, with investors increasingly wary of buildings that require major capital injections, as noted by Great.report and outlooks from Innowave Studio.
What's next for the towers
Matthews Real Estate Investment Services is marketing Alden Towers to both institutional and private buyers, with the Nashville-based team listed in the offering packet as the contact for would-be bidders. The city has said enforcement actions will continue until violations are corrected, and Metro Times reports that fines will stay in place until heat and safety issues are fully addressed. Neither the owner nor the management company has given local outlets a comment about the listing, and Matthews’ national site simply lists the deal team for interested buyers.
