Woodward Avenue Transit-Oriented Development : Detroit Development News

As the M-1 Rail has made significant progress towards full realization, there has been much dialogue among the businesses and communities along the Woodward corridor regarding transit development. In 2010, conversations among members of the Woodward Avenue Action Association (WA3), born out of discussions about light rail, led to the establishment of the Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) task force to look at zoning and ordinances all along the corridor and how to best impact economic development. From there, additional initiatives were launched – all symbiotically related to transit development planning but all separate in their focuses – that are now collectively being referred to as Transform Woodward.
 
Transform Woodward is the umbrella concept for TOD in tandem with the Alternatives Analysis and Complete Streets planning. The completed Alternatives Analysis (AA), in partnership with the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), identified bus rapid transit (BRT) as the preferred rapid transit model for the corridor. In addition to AA, WA3 has received a Federal Highway Administration grant of $752,000 to create a Complete Streets masterplan which considers items like interpretive crosswalks, cycling infrastructure, and wayfinding options in accordance with rapid transit design, as well as integrating the general public's needs and concerns.
 
The Complete Streets study is currently underway, and starting this week WA3 will hold a series of five community events April 17-19 at the St. James Catholic Church at 241 Pearson Street in Ferndale. This event series, collectively known as a "charette," is an interactive community event led by Dan Burden, founder and Executive Director of Walkable and Livable Communities Institute.
 
The Complete Streets study has split the 27-mile Woodward corridor into five zones, with northern Detroit and Ferndale combined as one zone. Four additional charettes, held in each of the remaining "zones" (including downtown Detroit), will be held throughout the year.
 
The Woodward Complete Streets masterplan, potentially the largest Complete Streets program in the country, will include both immediate and long-terms recommendations with all-encompassing small-, mid- and long-range capital projects. WA3 hopes to roll out this plan by the beginning of 2014.
 
The newly-launched Transform Woodward website has full details on each initiative, and a soon-to-launch mobile app will feature an intricately detailed interactive map with the ability to comment and participate in a public survey.
 
Source: Jason Fowler, WA3 and Woodward Complete Streets Program Manager
Writer: Nicole Rupersburg

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The journey of bringing a streetcar line back to Woodward Avenue in Detroit bears more resemblance to a roller coaster than a tram in recent years. But feel free to breathe a sigh of relief, Detroit. The train is about to pull into the station. Bet on it.

Friday's press conference announcing the final piece of funding needed for the M-1 Rail project, connecting Jefferson Avenue to Grand Boulevard, offered a lot of optimism and back slapping.

The U.S. Secretary of Transportation is giving $25 million in federal funds for the M-1 Rail and another $6 million to get the newly created regional transit authority off the ground. However, a few other key people in the audience of Friday's press conference were equally confident about the project.

M-1 Rail calls for creating a 3.4-mile-long streetcar line mostly along the outer lanes of Woodward Avenue. It will have 11 stops: at Congress Street, the northern tip of Campus Martius, the southern tip of Grand Circus Park, the Fox Theatre, Sibley Street, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Canfield Street, Warren Avenue, Ferry Street, the Amtrak train station in New Center and Grand Boulevard. More than $100 million for the project has been raised from private, philanthropic and government sources.

Matt Cullen, CEO of M-1 Rail, says the creation of the regional transit authority was the last major hurdle for giving the green light to the project. He expects the final engineering work and construction bidding to be done in the first half of this year. Construction will begin late this summer and take two years to complete.

Megan Owens, executive director of the transit-advocate non-profit Transportation Riders United, echoes Cullen's words and optimism. She adds that drills for the project will go into the ground before shovels. "They're going to start boring to find out of there is anything in the way in the ground," Owens says.

She adds that the $25 million is the last foreseeable major hurdle for the project. M-1 Rail has funding for both construction and operation for the next several years. It won't be impacted by the regional transit authority's efforts to establish a funding source. That means that even though M-1 Rail and the regional transit authority were joined at the hip to land the federal funding, they will independently establish themselves in the next few years. The plan is to bring the two back together when they become established.

"The hope is in 7-10 years the RTA (regional transit authority) will take over," Owens says.

Source: Matt Cullen, CEO of M-1 Rail and Megan Owens, executive director of Transportation Riders United
Writer: Jon Zemke

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The options for traveling up and down Woodward Avenue are about to grow significantly.

The Michigan State Senate recently passed a series of bills that would establish a regional transit authority that would oversee the construction and operation of a light rail line on Woodward between Jefferson Avenue and Grand Boulevard. It would also oversee the construction and operation of a bus rapid transit systems along the rest of Woodward and across the region. The State House of Representatives is reportedly expected to take up the bills within the coming days.

Working in parallel in those efforts are series of community meetings envisioning what rapid transit along Woodward Avenue could look like and what local residents want to see happen. The meetings are being hosted by the Michigan Suburbs Alliance, Woodward Avenue Action Association and SEMCOG, which is creating a Woodward rapid transit alternatives analysis that will work in parallel with the proposed regional transit authority.

"This is an attempt to create a rapid transit system on Woodward Avenue," says Richard Murphy, programs director of the Michigan Suburbs Alliance. "We're looking at the entire length from Jefferson Avenue to Pontiac."

Among the issues that will be discussed are which mode of transit works best for the Woodward corridor (light rail or bus rapid transit), how such a system should be funded and whether it should have dedicated lanes or mixed in with traffic.

The meetings will be be held along the Woodward corridor. The Detroit meetings will be held today (Tuesday, Dec. 4) at SEMCOG offices in downtown Detroit (535 Griswold St, Suite 300) from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and at the Detroit Police Dept's Central District (7310 Woodward) from 4-6 p.m. Another one will be held on Dec. 11 at the Detroit Police Dept's Palmer Park Station (12th Precinct, 1441 W. 7 Mile Road).

Source: Richard Murphy, programs director of the Michigan Suburbs Alliance
Writer: Jon Zemke

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Rock Ventures, the real-estate arm of the Quicken Loans family of companies, is breaking ground this week on parking garage/retail development in downtown Detroit on what project organizers are calling the Z Lot.

The parking garage will replace two large surface parking lots on the block surrounded by Broadway and Library streets and East Grand River and Gratiot avenues. The two lots share an alleyway in the middle of the block, creating a Z-shape when combined and viewed from above.

The 9-story structure will measure in at 535,000 square feet. That includes space for 1,300 parking spaces and 33,000-square-feet of retail space on the ground floor.

"No matter what we do we will always do ground-floor retail," says Jim Ketai, managing partner with Bedrock Real Estate Services, which is quarterbacking the project. "We feel it's important to create that sort of urban vitality."

The project will employ a contemporary design that camouflages the parking-deck portion of the building. "It's not just a parking deck," Ketai says. "We challenged out architects."

The parking space will accommodate the growing number of downtown Detroit-based workers for the Quicken Loans family of companies. Many workers are currently being shuttled from other not-so-nearby structures to the Quicken offices in the Compuware, First National, Chase and M@dison buildings. Rock Ventures also has the option to develop the former Hudson Building site nearby, but Ketai says the parking spaces will not be a part of any proposal to develop that site. Work on the parking structure is expected to wrap up by late next year.

Source: Jim Ketai, managing partner with Bedrock Real Estate Services
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Momentum appears to be building for the M-1 Rail proposal that would bring a streetcar line to Woodward Avenue in the greater downtown Detroit area.

Matt Cullen, CEO of M-1 Rail, bubbled with confidence about the project while speaking to a group of young people at the presentation of [de-fine] Detroit competition last week. To him, M-1 Rail is a matter of when, and he expects to get the green light for it soon.

"M-1 Rail is going to happen," Cullen says. "We're going to get that done."

This coincides with a number of other reports in local media that the proposed streetcar line is close getting federal approval. The Detroit News reported earlier this month that U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood expects to a very good announcement regarding funding the project soon. Other local news reports have a regional transportation authority to run the streetcar line also in the offing.

A number of local corporate and philanthropic leaders have come together to raise more than $100 million to fund the 3-mile streetcar line. The proposal calls for building a light rail system along Woodward Avenue between Jefferson Avenue and Grand Boulevard. The privately raised money will act as the local match to leverage public funds from the federal government for the streetcar line and a regional bus rapid transit system.

M-1 Rail has been several years in the making and has come close to breaking ground a few times in recent years before suffering minor setbacks. Cullen believes those setbacks are behind the project and M-1 Rail's efforts is close to coming to fruition.

"You would have thought it would easier to hand somebody a $125 million check," Cullen says.

Source: Matt Cullen, CEO of M-1 Rail
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Quicken Loans Chairman Dan Gilbert took questions about his other downtown Detroit projects at the Title Source-moves-downtown press conference last week. Here is a quick grab bag of updates on what he and Detroit Economic Growth Corporation President & CEO George Jackson spoke about. 

M-1 light rail line: Both Gilbert and local officials, such as Jackson, continue to speak confidently that the hard-fought-for streetcar line between the Detroit River and New Center would soon get the green light to begin construction. They didn't indicate an announcement about the project's approval was pending but didn't say the process was moving backward either.

Woodward Avenue retail: The Gilbert team continues to work toward reinvigorating the section of Woodward between Campus Martius and Grand Circus Park with dynamic retail. He did indicate that announcements of opening businesses would happen in groups instead of individually so the retailers would be better positioned for success. Gilbert also announced that his team has recently hired a handful of urban planning experts from outside of Michigan to help with the retail roll out. "That's really our focus right now," Gilbert says.

Downtown rental housing demand: Gilbert is bullish on downtown Detroit's worst kept secret: the sharp uptick in demand for rental housing in the greater downtown area. "The market is there," Gilbert says. "There are a lot of people in their 20s who want to come to downtown but it's sold out."

Possible future building acquisitions: Opportunity is the driving force behind Gilbert's building acquisition plan. Many of the nearly one dozen structures his team has purchased in a relatively short amount of time happened because it was the right opportunity at the right time at the right price. He says his team will look at adding more properties when the right opportunities present themselves. "A lot of these opportunities just came to us," Gilbert says. "A lot of (foreclosing) lenders approached us. This was the low-hanging fruit."

State help for Detroit's other large parks: Jackson says the negotiations about the State of Michigan helping the City of Detroit maintain and upgrade Belle Isle are ongoing, declining to say much more. He adds that similar talks are not going on about Detroit's other major parks, such as Rouge Park and Fort Wayne, but a deal on Belle Isle could be used as a template for future partnerships with those parks.

Source: Dan Gilbert, chairman of Quicken Loans and George Jackson, president & CEO of the Detroit Economic Growth Corp
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

When JC Beal Construction President Fred Beal showed off the almost renovated Broderick Tower during the Detroit Tigers Opening Day last week, he wasn't just showing off the downtown Detroit skyscraper's second lease on life. He also tipped his hand to how much stakeholders in the city have rallied to make that rebirth possible.

A majority of the co-investors in the $50 million project, all working under the Motown Construction Partners umbrella, are Detroit residents. One of the lead banks playing a key role in financing the project is longtime Detroit staple Comerica Bank. The project was designed by Kraemer Design Group, a growing downtown Detroit-based architecture firm. Of the 34-story building's three marquee penthouse units, one is going to a executive at Quicken Loans and another is taken by a venture capitalist who already calls Detroit home.

"We have been very successful in leasing," says Fred Beal, president of JC Beal Construction and one of the co-developers of the Broderick Tower. "It started with the most expensive units."

So far 50 percent of the building is leased, and Beal expects the rest of the skyscraper's 127 apartments to be taken by the time it opens this fall. He attributes the quick fill-up to a combination of the sharp demand for high-end housing in the city's center and the skyscraper's historic character, location and sweeping views of the city.

Residents will be enjoy a range of views ranging from a straight line of sight down Woodward to the Detroit River, a backyard of downtown skyscrapers, inside Comerica Park, the city's sprawling green neighborhoods and even Canada. They will also have access to a number of downtown amenities such as the city's sports stadiums, restaurants, concert venues, parks and burgeoning nightlife.

"When we started this project there was nothing going on," Beal says.

The Broderick Tower was built in 1928 and first served as an office building for health-care professionals, such as doctors and dentists. It went vacant in the 1980s and became one the city's iconic ruins, serving as a playground for urban explorers. Renovation efforts have started and stalled over the years until Motown Construction Partners began swinging hammers last year. It will turn the first two floors into a combination of restaurant/wine bar/beer garden. The third, four and fifth floors will become office space.

Motown Construction Partners have also worked extensively to maintain the building's historic character. The ornate entry way on the ground floor will be preserved and restored to its former grandeur. The apartments will also feature a finished look that would be consistent with the look of the medical offices, making the spaces more Park Shelton finished than Willy's Overland Lofts raw.

For more information on leasing an apartment or office space at the Broderick Tower, click here.

Source: Fred Beal, president of JC Beal Construction
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

The final windows have been installed in the Virgil Carr Cultural Center, marking the latest step forward in the renovation of The Arts League of Michigan's new home.

"This is the final phase of an effort that began a while ago," says Oliver Ragsdale, Jr., president of The Arts League of Michigan.

The African-American arts advocacy organization is renovating the former Harmonie Club in downtown Detroit's Paradise Valley District. The circa-1895 building originally served as the cultural hub for the German immigrant population that lived in the neighborhood, previously known as Harmonie Park, at the turn of the 20th Century. The Beaux-Arts-style structure is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The four-story building at 311 E Grand River Ave was largely vacant from the mid 1970s until the turn of the 21st Century when the basement became a bar. The Arts League of Michigan took control of the structure in 2009 and opened the Virgil Carr Cultural Center, named for the first African-American president & CEO of United Way for Southeastern Michigan, that summer.

The Arts League of Michigan has renovated the basement and first two floors into a cultural destination for downtown Detroit. The basement features COLORS restaurant, an eatery focused on serving locally source, sustainable food while providing workforce training for those interested in culinary careers. The first floor offers office space and art exhibit space. The second floor features a reception area and other art exhibit and office spaces that emphasis the building's architectural history instead of hiding it.

"Since we have opened the building to the public more than 71,000 people have been here," Ragsdale says. "We have also hosted 1,300 events and classes."

The new windows, the last of the replacements in the building, are going into the theater on the third and fourth floors. The Arts League of Michigan had the windows specially made to both match the shape and style of the original windows but also be energy efficient. The new windows replace boards, allowing natural light to flood into the theater for the first time in many years.

The Arts League of Michigan is working to restore the theater, which is surprisingly well preserved despite a large roof leak, to its original condition. The final restoration will cap a $14 million project that the organization is still raising money to finish. For information on helping make that happen, click here.

Source: Oliver Ragsdale, Jr., president of The Arts League of Michigan
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

More modern housing is coming online in Highland Park with the latest offerings rising from and being renovated in the new Medbury Grove Lawn development.

Midtown-based Trivium Partners is building infill housing and renovating existing houses on Midland, Pilgrim and Puritan streets between Woodward Avenue and Second Street. Of those 22 homes, 18 will be new houses. The other four will be rehabs. All of them will be in the historic Arts & Crafts-style architecture that are ubiquitous in Highland Park's historic district.

"We want to celebrate the architectural style of Highland Park," says Scott Benson, principal member of Trivium Partners.

So far Trivium Parnters have dug 10 of the basements for the new houses. Of those house four frames are being built and two more have roofs. Each house will be built or renovated with the idea of making it as energy-efficient as possible, meaning each house will be insulated, have Energy Star appliances and high-efficiency furnaces, among other green features.

The federal stimulus-funded project will offer these houses for sale. Benson describes these houses as high-quality housing marketed toward people who are buying their second or third homes.

"We're building new houses and we're utilizing residents in these communities to build these properties," Benson says.

Source: Scott Benson, principal member of Trivium Partners
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

The word "hub" gets thrown around a lot when developers talk about their projects, especially in commercial real-estate. So obligatory grains of salt were set aside when Dan Gilbert's family of companies began touting the newly refurbished M@dison Building as a hub of tech and entrepreneurial activity. Please refrain from passing the salt.

The M@dison Building is a sight to behold when it comes to an entrepreneurial-oriented office environment. It's made for the 21st Century with its available technology, edgy loft-style design and quality-of-life amenities, such as big windows overlooking Grand Circus Park and a rooftop deck practically looking into Comerica Park.

"This is very much a launchpad for new start-up companies," says Josh Linkner, CEO of Detroit Venture Partners, a venture capital firm focused on early stage tech start-ups. He adds that the creative atmosphere that is enabled by the building's design and housing of multiple firms both big and small make it an attractive place for creatives and entrepreneurs. "This is a commitment to entrepreneurship in Detroit," Linkner adds.

The M@dison Building is home to a handful of venture capital firms, led by Detroit Venture Partners. These VCs use the two floors of the building to house a number of their portfolio companies, such as start-ups Are You a Human (its software reinvents CAPTCHA technology) and Detroit Labs (a mobile app maker). Also sharing the M@dison Building is longtime marketing staple Skidmore Studio, which moved its headquarters from downtown Royal Oak to the building. Quicken Loans, which Gilbert founded and chairs, also utilizes the building from time to time.

Detroit Labs leveraged these sorts of synergies, the momentum Gilbert has been building downtown and the proximity to General Motors headquarters to develop an app for Chevrolet's Super Bowl campaign. The 9-month-old start-up was able to pivot and put together the app on the fly, partly thanks to its location and the connections it enables.

"I'm not sure Detroit Labs gets the Chevy ad being in another office building," Gilbert says. "It's all about connectivity and the environment."

Source: Josh Linkner, CEO of Detroit Venture Partners and Dan Gilbert, chairman of Quicken Loans
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

The Dan Gilbert downtown Detroit Monopoly board is getting bigger now that the chairman of Quicken Loans has purchased his ninth building in the central business district. The real-estate arm of Gilbert's family of companies, Rock Ventures, has purchased the historic Federal Reserve Building just west of Campus Martius.

"It's a unique building that does need some work," Gilbert says. "It's sort of like the Chase (Tower)."

The Chase Tower, the building just south of Campus Martius that looks like a cheese grater, is one of nine buildings Rock Ventures have bought along the Woodward Corridor between Grand Circus Park and Campus Martius. Gilbert's companies rehabbed the Chase Tower so several of its floors house Quicken Loans employees. Rock Ventures has also purchased three parking garages and one parking lot downtown. In total, Gilbert controls nearly 2.1 million square feet of office space and 3,500 parking space.

The Federal Reserve Building is located at 160 W Fort St. The classic revival-style structure was originally built in 1927 and received an 8-story glass and marble addition in 1951. The Federal Reserve moved out of the building in 2004 and it has been vacant ever since. Rock Ventures plans to renovate the 176,000-square-foot structure and keep it as office space.
 
Source: Dan Gilbert, chairman of Quicken Loans
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

The steel skeleton of the Auburn apartment building is starting to rise up from the project's newly finished footings in Midtown.

The apartment project at the corner of Cass Avenue and Canfield Street will bring 58 new apartments to the Wayne State University area by this fall. The $12 million project will also bring spaces for up to 11 businesses on the ground floor of the three-story building.

"The steel will be erected throughout the next two weeks," Peter Van Dyke, a spokesman for the Auburn, wrote in an email. "The Auburn is still on schedule, with the estimated completion date as the end of this October."

Downtown Detroit-based The Roxbury Group is developing the building. The 58 living spaces will feature both studio and one-bedroom apartments with rents starting at $675. They will feature French balconies, individual parking spaces and two shared outdoor common spaces; one with glass garage doors and a built-in outdoor fireplace.

The Auburn will also feature groundfloor retail spaces. A grant from the Ford Foundation will allow the developers to offer them to would-be entrepreneurs a lower point of financial entry. The 11 first-floor spaces will be reserved for  independent retail only.

Source: Peter Van Dyke, a spokesman for the Auburn
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Crowd sourcing has become a double-edge sword in Detroit. The innovative funding tool can be both beneficial (Hatch Detroit and The Detroit Institute of Bagels) and controversial (Robocop and Jack Detroit). Rachel Lutz believes crowd funding projects need more transparency, and she's following that up with the renovation/historic preservation of the space for The Peacock Room.
 
"I have some strong ideas about crowd sourcing to come up with start-up funds," Lutz says. "If you are having a hard time pitching an investor for a small amount of money, maybe you should rethink what you're doing."

Midtown-based The Peacock Room is a boutique in the Park Shelton that features apparel, accessories and gifts, along with upscale consignment and resale items. While she was preparing her space last year, Lutz stumbled upon the details of the Crystal Dinning Room for the building's original occupant, the Wardell Hotel.

Lutz has since worked with the city and Preservation Wayne to preserve the details of the historic space. She coordinated a crowd sourcing campaign with Preservation Wayne so the nonprofit makes sure whatever money is raised goes toward the preservation of the room, and not toward building her business.

"This space will be here long after the PR ends," Lutz says. "I wanted to make sure people who were contributing were contributing toward the neighborhood."

Lutz describes The Peacock Room's innovative partnership with Preservation Wayne as a way to bring order and expectations to crowd sourcing. In turn, it makes investors feel more invested in the venture and the social entrepreneurial aspect of it.

"How are you going to be accountable to how that money is spent?" Lutz says. "If you raised $5,000 from Aunt Bertha you have to look her in the eye on Thanksgiving."

Source: Rachel Lutz, owner of The Peacock Room
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Dan Gilbert's entrepreneurial empire continues to grow in Downtown Detroit, helping the central business district evolve with the purchase and planned renovation of three more buildings on Woodward Avenue just south of Grand Circus Park.

Gilbert is moving Quicken Loans headquarters and a variety of his other businesses to downtown Detroit, while recruiting other firms to move or open up offices downtown. The most recent achievement is the opening of the Madison Theatre Building, an incubator-like building that serves as the home of a number of growing start-ups and established creative-based businesses.

Gilbert has now acquired most of the line of buildings on the east side of Woodward between John R and Grand Circus Park. The most recent acquisition include the Lane Bryant, Arts League of Michigan and Wright-Kay buildings. His commercial real-estate firm, Bedrock Management, plans to turn them into a combination of retail, loft and office space that will mirror the style of the Madison Theatre Building redevelopment.

"It's an open office environment," says Jim Ketai, managing partner of Bedrock Management. "It's very collaborative. It's a great open office feel."

The Wright-Kay Building, at the corner of John R and Woodward, is the signature structure of the block. The circa 1891-structure will be transformed into ground floor retail below a combination of office spaces and lofts. The 45,000-square-foot Lane Bryant Building, 1520 Woodward, will become primarily office space above retail. The Arts League of Michigan Building, six stories with 43,000 square foot at 1528 Woodward, will also offer a mix of retail and office space.

Bedrock plans to emphasize the retail-portion of the redevelopment as part of its overall plan to reinvigorate downtown with more foot traffic and human energy. The office space-part of the redevelopment will also play a similar role.

"We figure its a great place to start the revitalization with retail and office space," Ketai says.

Gilbert's companies now control 1.8 million square feet of space and nearly 2,750 parking spaces in Detroit's Central Business District. He plans to turn the section of Woodward between Campus Martius and Grand Circus Park into a Silicon Valley-style entrepreneurial district that is now being branded as Webward Avenue.

Source: Jim Ketai, managing partner of Bedrock Management
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Another one of downtown Detroit's vacant skyscrapers is getting a breath of fresh air now that Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has signed onto to the redevelopment of the 19-story building overlooking Grand Circus Park.

"Assuming all of our financing and tax credits come together on time, which they are, we plan to start construction in the first quarter of 2012," says Mike Damitio, senior vice president of development for Trans Inn Management, which is heading up the development with The Roxbury Group.

The national hotel chain selected the David Whitney building to open one of it's Aloft hotels, a boutique hotel that emphasizes "forward-thinking technology, and the vibrant social atmosphere." Aloft Detroit will feature 136 "loft-like rooms" with industrial design elements, a bar and 6,600-square-foot fitness center open 24 hours. It's set to open in July of 2014.

The Roxbury Group and Trans Inn Management are redeveloping the David Whitney Building into a mixed-use structure that features ground floor retail, hotel on the middle floors and apartments on the top floors. The skyscraper, designed by Daniel Burnham of New York City's Flatiron building and Union Station, opened in 1915 with spaces for retail and offices for doctors and dentists around its majestic interior atrium. It has been vacant for years until recently when the Roxbury Group began breathing new life into with things like Model D's Next Big Thing event earlier this fall.

The redevelopment of the David Whitney Building will serve as the cap on a reinvigorated line of skyscrapers overlooking Grand Circus Park. The Kales and Madison Theatre buildings have been redeveloped into loft and office spaces in recent years. The David Broderick Tower, on the other side of the intersection of Woodward and Park avenues, is also being rehabbed into a combination of retail, office and apartment spaces.

Source: Mike Damitio, senior vice president of development for Trans Inn Management
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.