Detroit Public Schools Community District is committed to ensuring a high-quality school for every student—a school where all students meet or exceed grade-level expectations and graduate from high school prepared for college, career, and life. We are accountable for using existing resources more effectively to support excellence in the classroom and progress toward academic goals.

The Department of Real Estate administers the purchasing, leasing, and property management functions for properties both owned and rented by the District. The District has been leasing and selling property since 2005. The District’s real estate portfolio consists of 448 properties (106 occupied schools, 28 vacant schools, 10 cell phone towers, 5 parking lots, and 301 parcels of vacant land). As part of our program to effectively manage resources, we manage all of our closed buildings to minimize cost and maximize revenues. Since March 2009, Detroit Public Schools has generated more than $40 Million from the sale of vacant school properties and annual lease revenue.

For questions and inquiries, please contact the Department of Real Estate, at 313-576-0947.

The DPSCD School Board approves the sale of surplus district-owned properties. The Superintendent will inform the Department of Real Estate of which properties to sell. Disposition of DPSCD owned property will be made available to potential purchasers by property listings on the District website. A formal RFP will go out for public notice and bids for properties. All properties listed for sale are accompanied with a Highest and Best Use report conducted by an outside District Contractor which includes demographics, economic impact, and highest and best use. 

Offers for review require a complete application to be submitted to the Procurement Department. Each application must be accompanied by:

1. Executive Summary
2. Purchase Agreement (provided below in the Resources section)
3. Potential buyers must also submit a site development plan

The site development plans must include:

1. Financial feasibility
2. Plan to create jobs and generate economic activity
3. Plan to create housing or other uses that indirectly support the District’s families
4. Plan to permanently eliminate blight
5. How the development aligns with the District's Strategic Plan 

All offers will be evaluated by the Evaluation Committee. All evaluated offers will be presented to the DPSCD Finance Sub-Committee and the full DPSCD School Board for review and selection.