Plans to redevelop the David Whitney Building in downtown Detroit are moving closer to reality, as a boutique hotel chain has signed on to occupy the lower floors of the historic 19-story skyscraper on Woodward Avenue.
Plans to redevelop the David Whitney Building in downtown Detroit are moving closer to reality, as a boutique hotel chain has signed on to occupy the lower floors of the historic 19-story skyscraper on Woodward Avenue.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts will join the renovation project, spearheaded by local developer The Roxbury Group and Trans Inns Management, with plans to open its first Aloft hotel in Michigan.
The company has opened more than 55 Aloft hotels in the past three years, promoting it as a “lifestyle brand” for “youthful-minded travelers.”
Detroit plans call for 136 loft-like rooms and a focus on forward-thinking technology. The hotel would include a 24-hour fitness center, banquet space, high-speed internet, industrial design elements, a bar and the “re:mix lounge.”
“I think Aloft if a great fit for this location,” David Da Rita of The Roxbury Group told MLive.com. “It’s in a growth mode, they have a very urban and eclectic style and approach they’re going to bring to the building, which has everything you want for a brand that is developing a cool cache.”
Aloft Detroit will seek LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for what would become the brand’s second adaptive reuse project in the United States.
“Aloft is particularly well-suited for adaptive reuse because of its urban aesthetic,” Brian McGuinness, Senior Vice President of Specialty Select Brands for Starwood, said in a released statement. “Preserving this integral part of Detroit’s history is a priority for us as well, an it’s exciting to meld Aloft’s design sensibility with this spectacular original structure.”
The building, designed by famed Chicago-architect Daniel Burnham and named after local lumber baron David Whitney Jr., first openend in 1915 but has been vacant for more than a decade.
Beyond the hotel, plans call for 108 residential units on the top nine floors of the David Whitney Building. Developers are seeking brownfield tax credits to finance the $82 million project, and the Michigan Economic Growth Authority is expected to hear their request tomorrow.
MLive.com spoke with James Van Dyke, Roxbury’s vice president of development, in August. He said the vacant building is in remarkably good shape and its neo-renaissance features complement redevelopment plans.
“There’s a very beautiful four-story rotunda with terracotta and a skylight at the top,” Van Dyke said. “When you walk in, you really think it should be a hotel lobby even though it never was.”
Combined with redevelopment at the 34-story Broderick Tower, Woodward Avenue at Grand Circus Park could soon be home to hundreds of new living spaces. And local companies are offering incentives for their employees to live there.
“It’s pretty apparent, given the fact that you can’t find living downtown, that there’s a pent up demand for residential units,” Van Dyke said. “These incentives all lend themselves to really strong demand, but the supply isn’t there.”
