Commercial Title Insights — CRE Edition | June 2026
A monthly briefing for Michigan commercial real estate attorneys, lenders, brokers, and investors.
CRE Market and Deal Pulse
ICSC Retail Forward Detroit — July 30 at the Westin Book Cadillac
ICSC is bringing its Retail Forward conference format to Detroit on July 30, 2026, at the Westin Book Cadillac — the first time this event has come to Michigan. The program focuses on practical deal-making, market intelligence, and retail strategy for tenants, landlords, investors, and lenders active in the Great Lakes region.
Source: ICSC, May 2026
Detroit Q1 2026: Industrial Tightens, Office Posts Positive Absorption
Metro Detroit industrial vacancy continued its downward trend to 4.4% in Q1 2026, absorbing 2.1 million square feet as warehousing demand held. The office market — still working through 19–21% vacancy — posted net positive absorption of 200,000+ SF, led by finance, professional services, and hospitality tenants, with Southfield anchoring suburban gains.
Source: RE Journals / Cushman & Wakefield, Q1 2026
Grand Rapids $796M Fulton & Market Project Clears Tax Incentive Hurdle
The Fulton & Market mixed-use development along the Grand River in Grand Rapids — one of the largest urban redevelopment projects in West Michigan history — secured critical state tax incentives in 2026, allowing the project to move forward. The development is anchored by the new 12,000-capacity Acrisure Amphitheater, which opened this spring.
Source: Crain's Grand Rapids, 2026
Transaction Spotlight
Details anonymized to protect client confidentiality.
A Michigan retail development deal involved a ground lease structure with a credit tenant closing a leasehold policy on its pad space while the center around it was still under active construction. As a condition of accepting the leasehold policy, the tenant required full mechanic's lien coverage — but the ongoing construction throughout the larger center created real exposure that hadn't been on anyone's radar when the commitment first went out.
The parties worked through the mechanics: sworn statements from the center's general contractor and major subcontractors, and lien waivers through the most recent draw date. Title coordinated the document flow, flagged what underwriting required, and managed the sequencing so the tenant's closing stayed on track.
CRE Title and Closing Insight
Title Commitment Red Flags That Should Make Buyer's Counsel Read Twice
Most title commitments on Michigan commercial deals move through review without much friction — but a handful of conditions show up regularly that deserve a harder look before they become a closing-day problem.
Three that come up most often:
Open mechanic's lien exposure. If Schedule B-I has a requirement to produce lien waivers or a contractor's sworn statement and no one has started collecting them, the gap between where you are and where you need to be widens every week construction continues.
Easement exceptions without recorded instruments. If Schedule B-II excepts an easement by description only — subject to easement for ingress and egress as shown on survey — without a recorded grant or agreement behind it, there may be no insured access. That matters to lenders and buyers alike.
Vague entity authority requirements. A requirement that lists "LLC operating agreement and member consents" without specifying what those documents need to say is a recipe for a last-minute scramble if the operating agreement has sale or financing restrictions that the signatory didn't mention.
The most useful review move is reading the commitment as a closing checklist — every B-I requirement is something someone has to deliver. If the counterparty is slow, the GC is unresponsive, or the entity documents are messy, the title commitment tells you that before you're ten days from closing. But only if you read it early enough to do something about it.
From Dave's Desk
ICSC Retail Forward Detroit is on the calendar for July 30 at the Westin Book Cadillac — the first time ICSC has brought this format to Michigan. If you're planning to be there, let's connect.
— Dave
Work With Our Commercial Desk
When you need title and closing services for a Michigan commercial transaction — acquisition, refinance, development, or workout — we handle the complexity from commitment through closing. Reach out for a quote, a pre-deal title walk-through, or a second set of eyes on a commitment you've already received.
Stay Connected
Follow us on LinkedIn: Midwest Title Commercial | Dave Nykanen
About Midwest Title and Dave Nykanen
Midwest Title's Commercial Division handles Michigan's most complex commercial closings — acquisitions, refinances, construction loans, multi-parcel assemblages, 1031 replacement legs, distressed asset sales, and large-scale development deals. Founded and led by Dave Nykanen, a licensed Michigan real estate attorney with three decades of commercial real estate experience as both a practicing attorney and a title agent, the division gives CRE attorneys, lenders, brokers, and investors a Michigan title partner who reads commitments the way you read them — as deal documents, not paperwork.
Contact: commercial@mwtmi.com | Midwest Title | Commercial Division | Michigan-Licensed Title Insurance Agent
This newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
