The I-96 Corridor: Novi, Wixom and Farmington Hills Compared

Novi

• Access. I-96 with M-5 and I-275 nearby. Detroit, Ann Arbor, Lansing and the airport corridor all within a workable drive. For a service business covering multiple counties, a central position takes real cost out of every route.
• County position. Near the Oakland and Wayne county line, so you can serve accounts in both without being awkwardly placed for either.
• Commercial density. Significant retail, office and residential development. If clients or customers visit, a Novi address does work an industrial back lot does not.
• Workforce. Draws from Novi, Northville, Farmington Hills, Wixom, South Lyon and Livonia.
• Inventory and cost. Z Novi Commons offers heated flex suites from 1,475 to 2,800 SF at roughly 80 percent warehouse to 20 percent finished office, 15-foot ceilings, 10-foot drive-in doors, glass storefronts, 24/7 access and free overnight company vehicle parking, at $17/SF/YR modified gross.

Wixom

Further west on I-96, historically a manufacturing and industrial community with generally larger-format stock and a manufacturing workforce.

Good for operations that need size and do not need commercial visibility. Less suited to a customer-facing flex tenant, and further from Detroit and the airport corridor than Novi.

Farmington Hills

East of Novi, closer to Detroit, with a broader mix of office, flex and industrial inventory. Strong for tenants with a significant office component and a workforce drawing from southern Oakland and northwest Wayne.

Industrial stock is generally more dispersed and more mixed than a dedicated industrial corridor, so inventory search takes longer.

How to choose

Choose Novi if customers or clients visit you, you need finished office alongside warehouse, you cover multiple counties and want a central base, or you want company vehicles parked on site overnight.

Choose Wixom if you need larger-format industrial or manufacturing space and visibility does not matter.

Choose Farmington Hills if your business is office-weighted with a warehouse component and your staff are concentrated in southern Oakland.

A note on flex versus warehouse along this corridor

The I-96 corridor carries more flex inventory than a traditional industrial corridor, which matters because flex prices differently. You are paying for finished office and its HVAC, not just warehouse. Two suites of identical square footage can price quite differently based on office ratio alone.

If you do not need finished office or a customer-facing entrance, you will pay less in a straight industrial park. Rankin Business Park in Troy starts at $11.95/SF/YR MG. See Flex Space vs Warehouse vs Industrial and What Does Warehouse Space Cost Per Square Foot in Metro Detroit?.

Frequently asked questions