Roxbury Group, a Detroit-based real estate development company, today announced it has entered into an agreement with Brooklyn-based West Elm Hotels to develop a hotel in Detroit Midtown neighborhood on Woodward Avenue at Eliot Street.
Detroit is one of six locations in the United States where West Elm will launch its full-service hotel brand. Roxbury plans to break ground in 2019 and have the hotel completed in 2020.
“We are excited to work with West Elm Hotels to catalyze this project and bring it to fruition in Detroit,” says David Di Rita, Roxbury Group principal. “The West Elm Hotel will help meet the growing demand for more hotel rooms in Midtown Detroit, the city’s premier cultural and education district that has long served as a global tourist destination.”
Roxbury has executed a long-term ground lease for the roughly 15,000 square-foot development site owned by Birmingham-based Professional Property Management Company of Michigan. Professional owns several blocks surrounding the property and is in the process of developing plans for a major mixed-use development, with the hotel serving as a key anchor.
“Part of our commitment to Detroit is to foster relationships with partners who share our vision and values of supporting the surrounding community,” says David Bowd, principal of West Elm Hotels. “We are delighted to open a West Elm Hotel in Midtown Detroit with a development partner like the Roxbury Group. Together, we believe we can make a meaningful impact with programs like our West Elm Academy, which will offer local residents and neighbors an opportunity to learn the facets of the hospitality industry through a 10-week, 25-hour immersive course.”
Roxbury is also discussing with Wayne State University to potentially incorporate a restored Bonstelle Theatre into the overall plan.
The West Elm Hotel would be the fourth hotel development in the Roxbury Group’s real estate portfolio. In 2014, the company re-opened the historic David Whitney Building in downtown Detroit’s Grand Circus Park, following a $94-million, mixed-use redevelopment that includes an Aloft hotel. Additionally, in 2017 the Roxbury Group broke ground on the $32 million redevelopment of The Metropolitan Building, which is being renovated into the Michigan’s first Element Hotel by Westin, an extended-stay hotel set to open later this year. In addition, Roxbury is redeveloping the historic Cadillac House Inn and Tavern in Lexington, Michigan.
