DETROIT, MI – The owner of a 90-year-old, empty former hotel in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood says the building will be rehabbed and open for business by early 2015.
Dennis Kefallinos, who owns several prominent properties throughout Detroit such as the Russell Industrial Center, said plans are moving forward to redevelop the former Roosevelt Place Hotel in Corktown into a 91-room boutique and extended-stay hotel with a bar and restaurant in the lobby.
The property has sat vacant since Kefallinos bought it off the county foreclosure auction block in 2010 for a mere $37,500, according to DetroitUrbex.com. But Kefallinos said that should change by the beginning of next year, or by March 2015 at the latest.
He said the rehab project ran into trouble with certain historic district permits, but could not name which specific ones caused the hold-up. Work is now progressing on the building, which sits on 14th Street across from the hulking Michigan Central Station.
Kefallinos said the extended stay portion of the hotel catering to medical professionals who come for a rotation at a local hospital, for example.
“And of course we’re going to have overnight guests and weekends, and all that,” he said.
The lobby, where the restaurant and bar is being built, will be restored to its original look, A conference room is also slated for that space.
Kefallinos said financing for the development is already lined up, but he could not
immediately say how much the project is expected to cost.
The area near the empty Roosevelt Place Hotel has seen significant resurgence as of late, starting with the arrival of Slows Bar-BQ nine years ago and followed by several new bars and restaurants lining Michigan Avenue.
