Vice President of Development, The Roxbury Group, Detroit
Financed Projects: $100 million // Employees: 4
Financing a new building or a redevelopment project in Detroit isn’t easy, due to a lack of new construction and other factors. It took two years for The Roxbury Group to finance The Auburn, a $12-million mixed-use building at Cass and Canfield in Detroit’s Midtown District that offers 58 apartments and 9,000 square feet of retail space. “We started in 2009 and completed the financing in 2011, and we opened late last year,” says James Van Dyke, Roxbury’s vice president of development. “The building is full. We had 150 people on the waiting list for the apartments.” The company’s latest redevelopment is the David Whitney Building, overlooking Grand Circus Park. The historic tower, set to open in fall 2014, will offer a 136-room Aloft Hotel, 105 apartments, and 7,000 square feet of retail space. “Half of the retail space will be for the hotel,” Van Dyke says. “They will offer a bar and restaurant, as well as other amenities, and we’re looking to fill some of the remaining space with a second restaurant.” In addition, the developer will soon start work on the Detroit Globe Building, a historic structure located east of the Renaissance Center that at one time was used to build ships. Following a $13-million renovation, the building will open next spring as an indoor state park operated by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. — R.J. King
