The prospect for an ultra-luxury hotel in Dan Gilbert's Hudson's site skyscraper in downtown Detroit is moving closer to reality.

The city of Detroit recently issued a permit for the interior buildout of hotel space in 12 floors of the 49-story skyscraper, 1208 Woodward Ave., which is still under construction. Those floors — floors 12 through 23 — are to contain 210 hotel rooms, the permit says.

The building permit, issued Sept. 21, doesn't say what brand of hotel would go in the skyscraper. And Gilbert's real estate firm, Bedrock, has yet to make any official announcement.

But Bedrock last year signed a ground lease and management agreement with the Edition Hotel corporation for the Hudson's site.

Representatives for Bedrock and Edition Hotels did not respond Wednesday to inquires for comment. The estimated cost of the hotel buildout is $84.7 million, the permit says.

The Edition Hotel brand was conceived by Marriott International and hotelier Ian Schrager, co-founder of the legendary New York nightclub Studio 54.

It is among the most premium hotel brands owned by Marriott, and Edition Hotels are only found in global destination cities such as New York City, Miami Beach, Dubai, London and Madrid.

Construction crews have made significant progress since the spring on growing the height of the Hudson's site skyscraper. The skyscraper, which features a unique tapering design, is expected to be the second-tallest building in Detroit at about 680 feet, only behind the Renaissance Center.

Design plans show the skyscraper with several "event" and amenities floors just below the hotel rooms, then 97 condos on the upper floors that will be above the hotel.

Bedrock has yet to reveal asking prices or ramp up its marketing efforts for the condos, or even show off any model units. Such a lengthy quiet period is considered unusual for high-end condo sales in an "emerging market" like Detroit, especially with just a year or so to go before a building's anticipated completion.

However, Crain's Detroit reported last month that Bedrock is working with luxury residential brokerage firm Douglas Elliman out of New York City to sell the Hudson's site condos. (The condos are not yet listed on the brokerage firm's website and a firm representative couldn't be reached for comment.)

More: On paper, jobs numbers surge at 'transformational' projects in Detroit

More: Detroit's long-vacant Book Tower reopens with upscale apartments, hotel rooms

The skyscraper is one of two Bedrock buildings under construction at the old Hudson's department store site. The other is a 12-story "office block" midrise to contain 400,000 square feet of new office space in addition to meeting space and retail space.

Bedrock has put construction costs for the entire Hudson's site project at $1.4 billion. The project broke ground in December 2017 and is running about two years behind schedule. The expected completion date was last said to be sometime late next year.

A boutique hotels mini-boom

Detroit this summer saw a string of new upscale boutique hotels open in and around downtown, including the 158-room Cambria Hotel, 600 W. Lafayette Blvd.; the 227-room Godfrey Hotel, 1401 Michigan Ave. in Corktown, and the 117-unit extended stay ROOST Apartment Hotel in the newly restored and reopened Book Tower, 1265 Washington Blvd., in downtown.

Looking ahead, a 154-room Marriott International AC Hotel is under construction on Woodward in Midtown and conversion of the nine-story Merchants Building, 206 E. Grand River in downtown, into a boutique hotel is also underway.

The Ilitch organization and New York developer Stephen Ross are collaborating to build two new hotels in their District Detroit development: one next to Little Caesars Arena, the other a conversion of the Fox Theatre office space to hotel rooms.

Although Ross said at the 2022 Mackinac Policy Conference that the hotel going next to LCA would be an Equinox hotel, his firm, the Related Cos., later walked back that announcement and said the hotel brand hasn't been determined.

The Related Cos. is an owner of the upscale Equinox gym chain, and the first, and so far only, Equinox Hotel opened within Ross' Hudson Yards development in New York City in 2019.

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

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: An ultra-luxury hotel for Detroit is moving closer to reality