New and upscale Perennial Corktown apartments and townhomes opening soon in Detroit

JC Reindl, Detroit Free Press
3 min read
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The next upscale and amenity-packed residential development in Detroit is just a few months away from opening.

Perennial Corktown, located at and around 1611 Michigan Ave., directly across from the former location of Tiger Stadium, is comprised of a newly constructed seven-story apartment building, seven new three-story townhomes, a new parking deck and a 19th-century brick building being rehabbed into loft apartments.

Altogether, the development will have 223 rental units when completed and its asking rents will be at the high end of the Detroit market.

The seven-story Perennial Corktown apartment building will hav 188 units for rent ranging from studio to two-bedroom apartments that range in price from $1,650-$3,875 in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit, on Fri., Sept. 22, 2023.
The seven-story Perennial Corktown apartment building will hav 188 units for rent ranging from studio to two-bedroom apartments that range in price from $1,650-$3,875 in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit, on Fri., Sept. 22, 2023.

Perennial is a sister project, of sorts, for the nearby Godfrey Hotel Detroit, 1401 Michigan Ave., which opened last month and was built by the same development team of Farmington Hills-based Hunter Pasteur Homes, Chicago-based Oxford Capital Group and Southfield-based The Forbes Co.

More: 1-bedroom apartments at former Joe Louis Arena site ask more than $4K per month

Perennial Corktown was built over what was mostly surface parking lots and a former Bucharest Grill location.

The hallway of the seven-story Perennial Corktown apartment building that will have 188 units for rent ranging from studio to two-bedroom apartments that range in price from $1,650-$3,875 in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit, on Fri., Sept. 22, 2023.
The hallway of the seven-story Perennial Corktown apartment building that will have 188 units for rent ranging from studio to two-bedroom apartments that range in price from $1,650-$3,875 in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit, on Fri., Sept. 22, 2023.

During a news media tour Friday, construction crews were busy trying to finish up the 188-unit apartment building in time for the first residents to move in Dec. 1.

The building will offer a long list of amenities, including an outdoor swimming pool with a big 10,000-square-foot deck, complete with lounges and fire pits. Inside, there will be club rooms, coworking spaces and a large fitness center for residents.

"Our goal is to deliver an elevated living experience," Hunter Pasteur CEO Randy Wertheimer said.

Randy Wertheimer, CEO of Hunter Pasteur, gives a tour of the seven-story Perennial Corktown apartment building, a higher-profile new development, in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit on Fri., Sept. 22, 2023.
Randy Wertheimer, CEO of Hunter Pasteur, gives a tour of the seven-story Perennial Corktown apartment building, a higher-profile new development, in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit on Fri., Sept. 22, 2023.

The apartment building also will house a to-be-announced restaurant, as well as a small convenience store.

Pre-leasing for the apartments and the townhomes is underway at Perennialcorktown.com.

The asking rents range from $1,650 to $1,925 a month for studio units; $2,150 to $2,350 for one-bedrooms; and $3,575 to $3,875 a month for two-bedroom units. However, 10% of the apartments will be offered at below-market rates to those with incomes no higher than 60% of the Area Median Income, or $39,780 for a single person or $56,820 for a family of four. Those units would start at $855 per month.

The one-bedroom unit at the seven-story Perennial Corktown development in Detroit, on Friday, Sept. 22, 2023. The apartment building will provide 10% of project rental units as affordable to those with incomes of not more than 60% of the Area Median Income as defined by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority starting at $855 per month.
The one-bedroom unit at the seven-story Perennial Corktown development in Detroit, on Friday, Sept. 22, 2023. The apartment building will provide 10% of project rental units as affordable to those with incomes of not more than 60% of the Area Median Income as defined by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority starting at $855 per month.

The townhomes all feature private rooftop decks and one-car garages, plus separate reserved parking spaces. Monthly rents for the townhomes start at $6,910 and reach $8,330 for specific three-bedroom units. The townhomes are scheduled to open Nov. 1.

The townhomes are beginning as rentals because of requirements in the federal Opportunity Zone program, a development incentive that the project is utilizing. But starting in 2031, the townhomes could be sold to individual homebuyers.

The private rooftop patio of one of the townhomes at the Perennial Corktown development in Detroit, on Friday, Sept. 22, 2023.
The private rooftop patio of one of the townhomes at the Perennial Corktown development in Detroit, on Friday, Sept. 22, 2023.

Rehab work is to start in November for converting the former Downtown Self-Storage Co. building at 1551 Church St. into the 28-unit apartment building.

A section of the brick building dates to 1894, when it was a sawmill that served Corktown lumberyards. The building was later expanded to become the Red Arrow soda factory. To honor that history, the building will reopen as Red Arrow Lofts.

Early on, the developers intended to demolish the soda factory building, but changed their demo plans to rehab after encountering criticism from some Corktown residents. The developers then decreased the size of Perennial Corktown's parking deck, which originally was to extend to where the Red Arrow building stands.

The three-story parking structure sits a block away from the seven-story Perennial Corktown apartment building, a higher-profile new development, in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit, on Friday, Sept. 22, 2023.
The three-story parking structure sits a block away from the seven-story Perennial Corktown apartment building, a higher-profile new development, in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit, on Friday, Sept. 22, 2023.

A coffee shop is expected to occupy a corner of the 250-space parking deck structure.

"We wanted to be good neighbors and so we listened," Wertheimer said.

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

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit's latest upscale housing development will have giant pool deck

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