The Farwell Building on Capitol Park in downtown Detroit (iPhone photo).Three vacant buildings bordering Capitol Park in downtown Detroit will be redeveloped as residential, retail and office space in coming years, according to Karp and Associates, which won a competitive bidding process to adaptively re-use the historically-significant structures.
The Lansing-based firm, known for leading recent rehabilitation work on The Durant Hotel in Flint and The Standart in Toledo, plans to redevelop the Farwell, Capitol Park and former United Way buildings for mixed use, with businesses on lower levels and apartments above.
The entire project is expected to cost around $85 million.
"We are truly honored to have been awarded this redevelopment opportunity and thrilled to be part of exciting efforts to rebuild the great City of Detroit," managing partner Richard Karp, himself a Detroit native, said in a release announcing the plans.
"Make no mistake: mixed-use historic rehabilitation is hard work – far from garden-variety real estate development. It happens to be the case, however, that our firm has more than 20 years of successful experience at exactly that, and we look forward to bringing our expertise and proven track record to Michigan's largest city."
Multiple government and quasi-government agencies formed a consortium to acquire and spur redevelopment of the Capitol Park buildings. The Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, Michigan Economic Development Corporation, Invest Detroit, Wayne County and the Michigan Land Bank Fast Track Authority selected Karp and Associates from a number of potential developers.
Detroit Mayor Dave Bing called the redevelopment plans "another home run for downtown" and Invest Detroit President David Blaszkiewicz called it "a transformational project that will serve as the next building block for the continued revitalization" for the city center.
A look at the four proposed redevelopment projects in "the West District" of downtown Detroit.Along with redevelopment of the historic David Whitney skyscraper as an Aloft hotel, the Capitol Park project is part of a broader effort to rebrand "the last frontier" of downtown Detroit -- bordered by Washington, Michigan and Woodward -- as the West District.
As we first reported in December, the Michigan Economic Growth Corporation approved more than $17 million in brownfield tax credits to spur redevelopment of the four West District buildings, including the three that Karp and Associates will redevelop on Capitol Park.
Detroit-based Roxbury Group is leading redevelopment of the David Whitney Building, which was designed by famed architect Daniel Burnham. The 19-story Class A skyscraper opened in 1915 but has sat empty for more than a decade.
The Farwell, which also opened in 1915, is the jewel of the Capitol Park buildings. It features a Louis Tiffany-designed atrium and a striking central stairwell that cuts through all eight floors.