First residents begin moving into Broderick Tower, Auburn Apts

The first residents began moving into the Broderick Tower and the Auburn apartment building last weekend, making room for dozens of new residents in the greater downtown Detroit area.

The Broderick Tower is welcoming the most residents. The high-rise renovation at the cover of Woodward Avenue and Witherell Street overlooking Grand Circus Park is fully leased except for one of its units. That means at least 124 new homes will be coming online over the next few weeks. The last available unit is a 1,030-square-foot apartment on the ninth floor with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. The asking price is $1,450 per month.

"It looks down the Woodward corridor," says Eric Novack, a spokesman for Motown Construction Partners. "It's a fantastic unit. It's one of my favorites, personally."

The Broderick Tower opened in 1927 as the Eaton Tower. The 34-story building, designed by Louis Kamper of the Book-Cadillac Hotel fame, became the Broderick Tower in 1944 and spent most of its life as office space for professionals, such as dentists. It went vacant in 1985 and became a signature haunt for urban spelunkers in the 1990s and 2000s. Over the last two years, Motown Construction Partners have been working to rehab the historic building into restaurant and bar spaces on the first two floors, offices on the third, fourth and fifth floors and luxury apartments in the rest of the building.

Contrast that with the Auburn. The 58-unit apartment building is a piece of new construction at the corner of Cass Avenue and Canfield Street in Midtown. The Roxbury Group began construction on the mixed-use structure last year, creating a space for eight small retailers on the ground floor and 54 one bedroom and four studio apartments one the second and third floors. The Auburn replaces a blighted vacant lot and derelict commercial building.

Leasing on the Auburn began a few weeks ago and the building's apartments are now 60 percent leased with only one-bedrooms left. All of the retail spaces are spoken for except one. The developers are hinting that the last space will be occupied by a coffee shop. They add that the Auburn has created 100 construction jobs over the last year and will be the home to another 15 jobs when all of the businesses are opened and the new residents are moved in.

"We will be staggering the move-ins over the next few weeks," says Michael Martorelli, sales and leasing manager for the Auburn.

Architects from downtown Detroit's Kraemer Design Group are engaged on both projects. 

Source: Eric Novack, spokesman for the Broderick Tower and Michael Martorelli, sales and leasing manager for the Auburn
Writer: Jon Zemke

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