Downtown Detroit to See More Affordable Housing

Develop Detroit’s $32 million project will transform one acre of vacant Midtown space into 84 new mixed-income apartments and 7,000 square feet of commercial space.

DETROIT—Boom times have arrived for this city’s downtown multifamily market, but some developers want to make sure a significant portion of this new construction gets reserved for renters with modest incomes. Two nonprofit real estate developers of affordable rental housing, Develop Detroit and Preservation of Affordable Housing, Inc., have just revealed plans for a new mixed-use, mixed-income development in the historic Sugar Hill Arts District in Midtown Detroit.

The $32 million project will transform one acre of vacant space into 84 new mixed-income apartments and 7,000 square feet of commercial space. Of the new units, the developers will designate 25% as affordable housing for residents making 50 to 80% of the area median income.