This Request for Qualifications (“RFP”) is being issued by the City of Lathrup Village. The City of Lathrup Village invites the submission of proposals for Real Estate Professional Services to facilitate the sale of the “House in the Woods” property, located at 19600 Forest Drive, Lathrup Village, MI 48076. The successful respondent will review the scope of services and provide requested documentation demonstrating their qualifications in the area of real estate sales and high commitment to the real estate market in the City of Lathrup Village and Oakland County. Respondents that provide this service with demonstrated experience and an interest in making their services available to the City of Lathrup Village are invited to respond to this RFP. “Respondents” means the companies or individuals that submit proposals in response to this RFP.
The City of Lathrup Village is seeking proposals to appraise, list, and market the House in the Woods property, 19600 Forest Drive. The property in its current form is vacant. It is the site of Lathrup Village founder Louise Lathrup’s home, which was called “The House in the Woods.” The home was struck by lightning and burned to the ground in June 2009. The House in the Woods property was deeded to the city in September 2010.
Lathrup Village is a small city in Oakland County that was founded in 1953. Like many metropolitan Detroit suburbs that experienced a housing boom in the postwar years, Lathrup Village is almost entirely “built out.” The current population is approximately 4,100. Many of Lathrup’s neighborhoods feature historic homes; however, the homes surrounding the House in the Woods property were built within the last 20 years or so and are not historic.
The House in the Woods property is currently utilized as a low-impact nature preserve as approved by the Lathrup Village Planning Commission in March 2012. However, it is zoned as R-3 “Single-Family Cluster Housing.” This designation, according to the Lathrup Village Zoning Ordinance, “is intended to allow single-family dwelling units to be developed with varied yard setback requirements and/or design innovations so as to (a) facilitate development of parcels that are difficult to develop under the usual standards, (b) allow for a single-family detached residential development without increasing the permitted appropriate conventional lot-by-lot subdivision density, and/or (c) enhance useful open space and preserve significant trees and other natural features through the proper utilization of density transfer techniques.”
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