So close, yet so far. That cliche pretty much sums up the ground breaking situation for the ID Woodward loft development on downtown Ferndale’s north side.
The developer, Detroit-based Sterling Group, is in the midst of finishing the paperwork for the project and hopes to break ground either late this year or early next. An announcement on exactly when a groundbreaking will be held s due in a couple of weeks.
"I feel pretty optimistic about where everything is. It seems to be working," says Frank Guirlinger, director of development services at Sterling Group. "We’re past the handshake part of the deal and into the brass tax of things."
The development, designed by Detroit-based Archive D.S., is one of Metro Detroit’s most innovative to date. The four-story building will occupy a thin sliver of land at the corner of East Woodland Street and Woodward, five blocks north of Nine Mile Road. The structure will be 35 feet wide and 70 feet tall, making it the tallest building in the neighborhood. It will have 18 units and ground-floor retail space.
Each unit will be designed in a traditional urban loft-style space, ranging in size from 500 to 1,100 square feet. The lofts come with spacious floor plans, spiral stair cases, balconies, floor-to-ceiling windows, 17-foot-tall ceilings and parking. The building will utilize Euro-style elevator parking, which is unique to Michigan. The euro-style elevator parking systems allows a lift to store the vehicles so residents can press a button to get their car.
The lofts are priced between $130,000 and $275,000 for a dual-floor penthouse, although most of the units can be bought for $150,000. That’s in the lower price range for many of the lofts in Metro Detroit, especially along the Woodward corridor. Sterling Group was able to offer those prices because it turned what was thought to be an obsolete property into a highly efficient space.
For information, visit the Sterling Group's Loft Shop sales center at 23365 Woodward or visit www.IDLOFTS.com or call (248) 417-2882.
Source: Frank Guirlinger, director of development services at Sterling Group
Writer: Jon Zemke
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