Times are tough even on Lakeshore Drive

In one of the nearly two dozen properties for sale on prestigious Lake Shore, the only furniture in the living room, with its commanding view of Lake St. Clair, is a mattress. The near-empty $1.4 million house is temporary shelter for a descendant of a former Chrysler executive who once lived there.

Farther down Lake Shore Road, an estate sale of an English-style mansion wrapped up early this month. A couple of blocks away, in the former estate of Henry Ford II that had been divided into smaller homes about two decades ago, an owner is considering dropping his asking price below $1 million -- in hopes of sparking a sale.

"You just have to deal with the reality," said owner D.J. Kennedy.

On this awe-inspiring stretch of mansions and high-end homes -- at some points it's called Lakeshore, at others Lake Shore Road or Lake Shore Drive -- the reality of realty is sobering.

Five homes are listed as bank-owned foreclosures, according to RealtyTrac, which follows foreclosures nationally.

The last $1 million home to sell on the prestigious stretch was in July, according to Kent Colpaert, principal broker of Bearing Group Real Estate Brokerage in Grosse Pointe Park. The last house sold at any price on this street was in September, for $465,000.

The luxurious stretch, about five miles in length, has sweeping views of Lake St. Clair and a vaunted history.

Members of the Ford family have lived on various parts of the lakeside driveever since Edsel and Eleanor started building a mansion in 1926 on Lake Shore Road. Over the years, other captains of the auto industry -- people whose names were synonymous with Packard, Dodge and Hudson Motors -- have lived there, as have generations of other wealthy Metro Detroiters.