Work will begin next week on an office-to-housing conversion project in Downriver for the tallest building that exists between Detroit and Toledo.

Built in the early 1970s as a bank headquarters, the 14-story Southgate Tower, 16333 Trenton Road in Southgate, which has been empty for years, will be converted into 215 market-rate apartments.

Construction is set to start Monday, and the redeveloped building — to be called The Bank Tower — is expected to open in early to mid-2025.

Some of the building's original features will be incorporated into the redevelopment. For example, a safety deposit box vault will be turned into a social area, a drive-through teller building will become an electric vehicle charging station and residents will have the option of paying rent via one of the bank's old pneumatic tubes.

The developer of the $46 million project is Gordon-Begin Properties. The Bank Tower will be managed by Beztak.

“We’re excited to be developing an extraordinary apartment property offering amazing views in one of Downriver’s most iconic buildings,” Alex Begin, partner of Gordon-Begin Properties, said in a statement.

The development also will include a new public park around the tower to complement nearby Kiwanis Park. The park would have pickleball courts, putting greens and exercise stations. Wayne County would fund construction of the new park and a new pedestrian bridge across Trenton Road.

The tower opened in 1973 as headquarters for the former Security Bank & Trust Co. The bank was absorbed in a series of acquisitions, the first occurring in the early 1990s, and ultimately became part of PNC Bank.

The tower sold for $2.2 million in 2006 to a subsidiary of Southfield-based real estate firm Farbman Group. It changed hands again in a 2018 online auction for just over $1 million, going to an investment group from Argentina. The Begin family bought the empty tower last year.

The future apartments are to range in size from studio units up to two-floor penthouses. Asking rents have yet to be set.

"The redevelopment of this iconic Downriver structure is both historic and transformational," Southgate Mayor Joseph Kuspa said. "It represents the single largest investment project in the 65-year history of our city."

Contact JC Reindl: 313-222-6631 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @jcreindl.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Iconic Southgate Tower in Downriver to transform into apartments