Construction on ‘automotive country club’ to begin soon

Construction begins Jan. 9 on a $60 million automotive country club in southeast Michigan.

The first phase of the 273-acre Motorsports Gateway Howell — located north of I-96 between Detroit and Lansing — is expected to include a 2.2-mile driving track, clubhouse, rentable garages for members, garage condos for sale and a nature trail, according to a press release, with completion of a portion of the driving track in the summer.

One-hundred-fifty memberships are being offered in 2023. Membership comes with access to the clubhouse, food and beverage service, lounge access, meeting and event space, a fitness center and locker rooms, driving simulators and more, the release says.

The roughly 1,200-square-foot garage condos will be completed after the driving track opens. Northville, Mich.-based Proper Real Estate Group, a division of Coldwell Banker Weir Manuel, is responsible for selling the garage condos to buyers.

Crain’s Detroit Business, an affiliate of Automotive News, reported in June that the starting price for the condos is about $409,000.

Last summer, the Howell City Council green-lit a lease-to-own agreement requiring father-and-son developers Jordan and Mark Dick put $2.5 million into the property before granting the option to buy it for another $3 million, Crain’s reported at the time.

Jordan Dick said 15 of the units have been pre-sold to founding owners.

Detroit-based Sachse Construction is the general contractor for the project. Atwell LLC is the engineering consultant, UK-based Driven International is designing the track and the garage condos will be designed by Northville-based Inform Studio.

Other components include an automotive innovation park with light industrial and other types of space for automakers and other users, plus a public entertainment component with a hotel, restaurant, retail and entertainment space, Jordan Dick said.