INKSTER, Mich. – After an Inkster motel was condemned by the city, a couple bought it with plans to turn it into apartments. The project is now in the final stages and expected to open in the spring.
Jennifer Medhi, Vice President of AAHM Investments is part of the husband and wife duo who own the property.
“It was completely unlivable. It was 64 units,” said Medhi. “We gutted it down to the studs, made a lot of the rooms bigger so now it’s 32 units.”
There will be studio, one and two-bedroom apartments.
Medhi and her husband bought the property in Dec. 2021 and have been working to transform it ever since.
They started with the parking lot. “We completely redid the parking lot area, it needed a lot of work underground. There were sewer lines and sanitary drains collapsed,” Medhi said.
They also changed the upper-level walkway. “This (upper-level walkway) used to be concrete and what we did is replace it with trex floor boards; it’s maintenance free, it looks nicer,” Medhi said.
It’s taking a lot of money and time to bring the vision to life but Medhi believes it is worth it. “There was a need and what we don’t need is another motel. We have plenty of them here; they’re all over the place,” Medhi said. “What people need is affordable housing.”
She says the complex will be managed by a different company and rent will be in the $700 range. Her hope is this project will change how people look at Inkster and set a new standard for other investors and communities.
“If we can kind of set the bar that ‘look what we’re doing and it’s successful’, maybe some of these other people will follow suit. We’re going to just set the bar there and see what happens,” Medhi said.
AAHM Investments also renovated an abandoned building across the street. The building was sold and is now home to a collision shop.
The investment group is also working on redeveloping Inkster’s former ice arena.