Steel skeleton for the Auburn Apts goes up in Midtown

Posted on January 24, 2012

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.

Jon Zemke, Model D