The 33-story hotel, a historic Detroit landmark, opened in 1924,and was frequented by the elite of that time, including theBeatles, Elvis, Martin Luther King Jr., Frank Sinatra andPresidents Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy.However, after the Depression and deterioration, it closed in 1984,and many redevelopment plans died on the table. Ferchill, whichalready built a successful new Hilton Garden Inn in DowntownDetroit, has 22 layers of financing from a variety of public andprivate capital sources for the Book Cadillac redo.

Ferchill says if anything, he was probably fortunate to haveachieved financing before that subprime housing downfall. Howeverthe uniqueness of the property has garnered attention, he says."The construction is going fine, and sales went well, we've sold 51of the 67 units at an average price of $500,000 a unit. It's beenremarkable, our sales projections have been exceeded. We're nowsearching for another project here, we've got some targeted butit's not all buttoned up," Ferchill says.

He says he hopes to open the building by the end of October, andwill pick a firm date next month, though Starwood Hotels has theopening date listed as Nov. 1 on its website. "We've also been ableto attract a world-class restaurant that will take up about 8,000sf," Ferchill says.