SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – Lawrence Technological University has purchased the Mark Plaza building and its nearly five-acre site at 21411-21415 Civic Center Drive in Southfield from KLM Ventures LLC. Portions of the building will continue to be leased to outside tenants and will also become home to the Southfield SmartZone and Southfield Michigan Works! offices.
The purchase price of the property was $3,650,000. Ultimately, portions of the 92,000-square-foot, three-story building may be used for academic programs and business accelerator space at the 4,500-student private university.
Mark Plaza was built in two phases in 1969 and 1970. The building was upgraded in 2001.
“Purchasing this building provides important expansion opportunities for LTU,” said Lawrence Tech President Virinder Moudgil. “The building and its acreage are immediately adjacent to our campus, which now totals 107 acres. The University is somewhat landlocked, and it would have been difficult to grow without acquiring the Mark Plaza property.”
In September, LTU dedicated a new $11 million, 150-student campus residence hall named for longtime trustee chairman and former GM president, Lloyd E. Reuss. In late summer 2016, the University will open its $55 million Taubman Complex housing architecture, engineering, biomedical, and STEM programs. Lawrence Tech’s new Detroit Center for Design + Technology on Woodward Avenue in Detroit’s Midtown opened Oct. 30.
Lawrence Technological University, www.ltu.edu, is a private university founded in 1932 that offers more than 100 programs through the doctoral level in Colleges of Architecture and Design, Arts and Sciences, Engineering, and Management. The Brookings Institution ranks Lawrence Tech fifth nationwide for boosting graduates’ earning power, PayScale lists it in the nation’s top 10 percent of universities for graduates’ salaries, and U.S. News and World Report places it in the top tier of best Midwestern universities. Students benefit from small class sizes and a real-world, hands-on, “theory and practice” education with an emphasis on leadership. Activities on Lawrence Tech’s 107-acre campus in Southfield, Michigan, include over 60 student organizations and NAIA varsity sports.
Eric Pope
Managing Editor, University News Bureau
Lawrence Technological University
(248) 204-2210
(313) 505-6508 (cell)
