Broadway Street apartment building proposed in Detroit

A nine-story residential building could rise on Broadway Street in downtown Detroit.

Detroit-based developer and landlord Basco of Michigan is proposing to put 80 units (20% of them considered affordable) and 6,600 square feet of first-floor space for either one or two restaurants on the site of three existing buildings at 1322 Broadway St., 1326 Broadway St. and 1332-1336 Broadway St. north of Gratiot Avenue.

The project is slated to be considered by the Historic District Commission on Wednesday.

Under the proposed $38 million plan, the facades of 1332 Broadway, which Basco owns through an affiliate, and 1326 Broadway, which is owned by the Downtown Development Authority, would be fully restored but the rest of the two buildings demolished. The same fate was originally proposed for 1332-1336 Broadway, also owned by the DDA, but it was later determined that the facade was too deteriorated to save so that building would be demolished although the new frontage would be a “modern homage” to the original, said Roger Basmajian, who runs Basco.

The new nine-story mid-rise would be set back about 18 feet, delineating between the old and new portions of the building.

Funding sources for the project have been identified but not yet finalized, said Nevan Shokar, vice president of real estate for Basco of Michigan.

Construction would start in October and finish in April 2025.

In June 2014, Dan Gilbert had an agreement with the DDA to buy the properties but never executed. Two years later, the Basco affiliate, Broadway Detroit Development II, won a 2016 Detroit Economic Growth Corp. request for proposals for the 1326 and 1332-1336 Broadway buildings.

Basmajian said the buildings, made of wood, have had water damage and sustained a fire, leaving them in “very poor condition.”

“We studied the various possibilities for this site for a very long time,” Basmajian said. “The solution we have come out with is the most responsible and best possible option to save what’s able to be saved that is historic and create the density that was a requirement of the original city RFP.”

Detroit-based Kraemer Design Group is the project architect while the general contractor is Sterling Heights-based Roncelli Inc.

The proposal includes the following unit breakdown, according to Shokar:

• 30 studio apartments averaging 468 square feet with an average rent of $1,481 per month. There would be 10 studios with rents at $940 per month, a rate equivalent to 60% of the Area Median Income.
• 44 one-bedroom units averaging 705 square feet and renting for an average of $2,011. There would also be six affordable units renting for $1,007 per month, also equivalent to 60% AMI.
• two two-bedroom units renting for an average of $2,721 for an average of 907 square feet.
• four penthouse units with 1,144 square feet renting for an average of $5,750.