50-unit, mixed-use The Auburn apartments to be built at Cass and Canfield in Midtown

Detroit’s Roxbury Group, in partnership with Invest Detroit, is developing The Auburn at the southeast corner of Cass and Canfield. The building will  have 50 one-bedroom apartments and four retail units. It is named after the car company that once had a dealership on the site.

The project is expected to begin construction next year and is being designed to cater to students and young professionals, with rents in the $600 to $700 range and apartments averaging 600 square feet. “The marketplace, or at least the perception of the marketplace, has shifted,” says James Van Dyke of the Roxbury Group. “These are smaller units to keep the price point lower. … This is not a luxury product, it’s an affordable product.”

The retail spaces will be subsidized in part with funds from the Ford Foundation, with the intent of keeping the prices at a point that a small start-up can afford. “We’re excited to get local, independent retailers in there,” says Van Dyke.

The project is the first Midtown new-build for both Roxbury and project architect Kraemer Design Group. Van Dyke says the reason to take the plunge is — to use a cliche — location, location, location. “It’s a great corner … it’s become kind of ‘Main and Main’ in Midtown,” he says. “It’s the center of a lot of stuff.”

Source: James Van Dyke, Roxbury Group
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh