After a close look, developers invest hundreds of millions in Detroit
Career trajectory: Amelia Patt Zamir graduated from the University of Michigan and then Columbia University, spending a dozen years in New York City but always knowing she would return home to the region to work on development in Detroit. “I went to New York and Columbia after graduating from Ann Arbor to gain a skill set with the intention of always moving home,” Patt Zamir said. After time in the Big Apple with JLL, Clarion Partners and The Peebles Corp., she and graduate school classmate Rakesh “Rocky” Lala founded Method Development in 2017 with projects in the Milwaukee Junction, Brush Park, Jefferson Chalmers and other neighborhoods around Detroit.
Proudest achievement: The first phase of the Detroit Design District, Method Development’s Milwaukee Junction neighborhood project on the 2800 block of East Grand Boulevard. Completing this summer, the $11.5 million effort comprised 15,000 square feet with retail leasing to Vault of Midnight, Next Space, By Popular Demand and Midwest Common, with more leases signed to be announced later; the first phase also includes 18 apartments. Patt Zamir says in Milwaukee Junction, like other neighborhoods where Method Development has projects, the company works with the local community. “We are trying to build upon and improve what’s there and be in tune with the needs of the neighborhood,” she said. The company also completed an eight-unit conversion of a Brush Park mansion on Erskine Street for $1.8 million.
What’s next: Expect more announcements in the fall about the second phase of the Detroit Design District. “I do believe that we’ve just started our mission of helping to revitalize Detroit neighborhoods,” Patt Zamir said. “I would hope our track record shows we not only talk the talk, but also walk the walk.” Method Development also has ongoing work in Jefferson Chalmers and has recently bought a pair of buildings downtown.
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Words of wisdom: Take advantage of opportunities when you see them, and believe in yourself and your vision, and commit to it.
Surprising fact: Patt Zamir was an English literature major at Michigan. The Emily Dickinson fan has taken up writing poetry again when she is not working.
Source: Crain’s Detroit