A Pontiac developer broke ground this week on five single-family homes near Rotary Park, aiming to sell them to buyers earning between 60% and 120% of the area's median income. Creek Valley Properties held a ceremonial groundbreaking at the park on Tuesday for homes planned on Walnut Street at Orchard Lake Road, with prices expected around $240,000 once they hit the market next year.
The project is led by Justin Ibe, a 41-year-old real estate developer from Auburn Hills who started Creek Valley Properties, according to MLive.com. Creek Valley's own project page describes the plan as breaking ground on “five planned homes on Walnut Street,” while MLive reported that the groundbreaking took place Tuesday, November 10, 2026. Ibe invested $100,000 of his own money in the development, and the Oakland Together Housing Trust Fund contributed $200,000 to the project, per the MLive report.
Each home is designed to measure 1,300 square feet with three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a detached garage, built on crawl spaces to cut costs. The homes use CrossMod hybrid construction, meaning components are prefabricated offsite and then assembled onsite — a method the Creek Valley project page says will “combine factory-built construction with residential design.” Ibe reportedly visited the Ohio factory where the initial construction takes place, and the Pontiac building inspector approved the CrossMod construction plan, which must meet federal codes.
Who Qualifies to Buy In
Of the five homes, one will be reserved for a buyer earning 60% of area median income, while the other four will go to buyers earning between 80% and 120% of that benchmark, according to the MLive report. Pontiac's median income sits just under $45,000 a year, compared to an estimated $103,000 for Oakland County overall. Ibe said his target buyers include teachers, firefighters, police officers, young professionals and Amazon night-shift workers, and he posted a realtor request on LinkedIn last month seeking agents experienced with first-time buyers, down-payment assistance and median-income loan qualifications.
Oakland County Deputy County Executive Madiha Tariq said the county's investment helps families obtain affordable homes, and that housing stability supports economic development by helping people live closer to work while growing the county's population, per the MLive account. An Oakland County announcement similarly frames the groundbreaking as bringing “five planned CrossMod homes on Walnut Street one step closer to reality.”
A City Trying to Add Housing at Every Price Point
Pontiac Mayor Mike McGuinness said the city wants homes at every price point for every stage of life, and the city is actively seeking developers to create housing for veterans, seniors, young families and new empty nesters. The city has hundreds of parcels available for residential development and offers up to $20,000 to qualified first-time homebuyers for down payments and closing costs. The Creek Valley development sits near Rotary Park, the Clinton River Trail, the Amtrak station, a planned Oakland County downtown government campus, and Pontiac's historic downtown — part of what the MLive report describes as the city's broader effort to stabilize its neighborhoods, which have added hundreds of housing units over the past five years.
Pontiac's median home price runs about $140,000, according to Realtytrac figures cited in the MLive report, versus nearly $350,000 countywide. A separate MLive report from May found fewer than half of the city's 63,000 residents own a home, with the median home price estimated at $140,000 at the time. A Redfin snippet separately put Pontiac's median sale price at $135,000 over a recent three-month span, down 11.5% from a year earlier, though that figure carries lower confidence than the Realtytrac-based estimate.
Other Affordable Projects Taking Shape Citywide
The Pontiac Housing Commission manages federal subsidies for 45 housing complexes across Oakland County and launched the $7 million 100 Homes for Pontiac initiative, which the commission says will build single-family houses on vacant city residential lots over five years. Those homes are planned as a mixture of one- and two-story designs with two or three bedrooms, at least 1,200 square feet, and garages, according to the Pontiac Housing Commission, which is accepting applications of interest from both Housing Choice Voucher recipients and the general public. The initiative's first phase priced initial homes between $330,000 and $399,000, per the MLive report, and the commission says eligible buyers can include Pontiac residents and non-residents earning up to 120% of area median income as defined by HUD.
Other recent additions to Pontiac's housing stock include the 114-unit Pontiac Downtown Lofts in the former Pontiac State Bank building and the 54-unit Casa Del Rey Apartments in a renovated historic building on the city's west side. The $44 million Lighthouse development includes the new 54-unit Auburn Place, designed for single adults, along with renovations to 40 units at nearby Beacon Place apartments and townhomes. Community Housing Network has built 111 houses in Pontiac's Unity Park since 2015, including 38 permanent supportive housing units, with a sixth phase that was expected to open 15 rental homes in fall 2025 for residents earning 60% or less of area median income, according to Metromode.
Elsewhere in the city, the newly built Westwood South Apartments offer 72 mixed-income units, with at least 18 reserved for housing voucher-holders, a project that drew a $2.5 million loan from Oakland County's Housing Trust Fund, according to the Oakland County Times. A $15.5 million rehabilitation of the Casa Del Rey building was separately expected to reopen 50 apartments this year, per Metromode's reporting.
What's Next for the Developer
Ibe said he sees potential in Pontiac and would like to build more homes across Oakland County. He has 12 parcels under contract in Flint Township large enough for at least 50 homes and is working with Romulus officials on a 90-home development, according to the MLive report. Jonathan DeSanctis, an Oakland County Business Forward consultant and Oakland Thrive small business services manager, was also involved in supporting the project, per the same account.
Residents with questions about county housing resources can call the Oakland Connects helpline at 800-848-5533, available Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., or reach the Oakland Together Housing Trust Fund directly at 248-858-0493.
