Detroit’s City Club Apartments Lafayette Park — formerly known as Elmwood Park Plaza — opened Thursday after a complete redevelopment.
The 18-story mixed-use apartment community built by Toby and David Holtzman and Holtzman and Silverman in the early 1970s was one of the first mixed-use apartment communities in the nation and included a Detroit Public Library branch, retail, and a Farmer Jack grocery store. The library remains a tenant today.
“This building has a special place in my heart as it was developed by my father and uncle nearly 50 years ago,” says Jonathan Holtzman, chairman and CEO of City Club Apartments. “The Holtzman family pioneered urban, mixed-use apartment development in Detroit with this building in the 1970s and we are raising the bar once again with this transformation. We redeveloped this community in response to the demand for affordable luxury in the city.”
Located at 750 Chene St. in the Rivertown District, the high rise features 202 apartments and penthouses — 20 percent of which are affordable for existing and new residents.
The building improvements include 24/7 resort class amenities and time saving services, along with internationally inspired design. Greenery and nature play a prominent role in the redevelopment and design of the property, integrating existing mature trees with new landscaping and soft scaping of the Terrace Club private park and the tree inspired pattern applied to the exterior facade of the mixed-use community.
The community is designed to achieve NAHB Green Building Certification, which demonstrates high-performance building and construction practices in six distinct areas: lot design and development, resource efficiency, water efficiency, energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and building operation and maintenance.
“The revitalization of our city will not matter if our longtime residents can’t afford to live in their own homes after improvements are made,” says Deputy Mayor Conrad Mallett. “We have made it one of our top priorities to work with closely owners to preserve affordable rents as our city’s buildings and communities are redeveloped.”
The first floor features a Lobby Lounge Library and the Entertainment Club Room, with a gourmet kitchen, lounge seating, big screen TVs, and a fireplace where residents can host private events.
The 24/7 Whole Body Fitness Center is another indoor feature, and outside, a heated pool and hot tub, Zen garden, and grilling area with custom lounge seating and cabanas are available. The list of amenities and services also includes gated and secure private parking, advanced high-speed fiber technology, extended hour concierge services and highly active social programming. Perched on top of the completely redeveloped building is the 18th floor Sky Lounge where residents and their guests can enjoy comfortable seating and unobstructed 360-degree views of the riverfront, Belle Isle, downtown, and Eastern Market.
Four finish packages are available for the four one-bedroom apartment and four one-bedroom penthouse floor plans. The kitchens include European-style cabinets, frosted glass, and metal accents, open shelving, built-in wine racks, and slide-in front-control ranges, refrigerators with an ice maker, dishwashers, a microwave oven, and gooseneck faucets.
Select units also include glass tile backsplash, full height pantries, granite counter tops, undermount sinks, undercabinet LED lighting, moveable multi-function island and full-size washers and dryers. Balconies also are available in select units with city and river views.
Holtzman’s father and uncle built the 202-unit Elmwood Plaza in the early 1970s and were partners in the development of Detroit’s 802-unit Riverfront Apartments in the early ‘80s. The company purchased the former Millender Center Apartments during Detroit’s bankruptcy and redeveloped them to the 360-unit Renaissance City Club Apartments.
The company purchased and redeveloped the 351-unit Trolley Plaza into Detroit City Club Apartments in 2016. The 288-unit mixed-use City Club Apartments CBD Detroit formally opened June 17 and is more than 85 percent leased. City Club Apartments plans to break ground on a significant mixed-use apartment community in Midtown in 2022.
