DETROIT - A new development company in Detroit is seeking approval from the city's Historic District Commission to build 27 new homes on Trumbull Avenue and Lincoln Street in the historic Woodbridge Farms neighborhood.

The move is supported by the district's residents who are working on the designs with the developer, Procida-Diggs.

Procida-Diggs plans to present its project before the commission at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

If approved, developers hope to begin construction by the spring of 2018.

Procida-Diggs plans to erect 19 homes on Trumbull Avenue starting at the corner of Brainard Street, working its way north, said Mario Procida, a co-principal on the project.

Each home, complete with a basement and a private backyard, will include three bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. Procida calls the homes "Lutyens-esque," referencing British architect Edwin Lutyens.

This rendering shows the potential design and facade on 27 new homes slated for construction Trumbull Avenue in the historic Woodbridge Farms neighborhood in Detroit.

Lutyens operated between the late 1800s and into the 20th Century. He's responsible for crafting many idyllic country houses, public buildings and striking war monuments in the United Kingdom and Australia.

Procida told MLive that his homes have a "modernistic interpretation of historical references."

On Lincoln Street, Procida and co-principal Douglass Diggs want to build eight more homes with the same look and feel.

"It's going to have a major impact on the southern edge of Woodbridge," Procida said.

"We're excited by the opportunities that the single family project presents. Ultimately you have to build to the market. We know that our consumer is the customer here, many of them are going to going to come from within the community."

The community is also a key player in project's coordination and design - a bit of a rarity when it comes to Detroit's contentious history of development and urban renewal.

The parcel at 3700 Trumbull Ave. is the site of the former James Scripps Mansion. Scripps' family founded The Evening News, which would later become the Detroit News.

The 12,000 square-foot home was damaged by a devastating fire in 1985 and razed some time afterward.

It was later turned into a city park. The brick-iron entrance gate and the mansion's power-boiler house remain intact, however.

Procida-Diggs wants to restore the boiler house and offer it for sale, either as its own property or bundled with the sale of a nearby home.

The Woodbridge district was designated as a historic neighborhood in 1980. Most of the homes date back to the late 1800s, some bearing Victorian and turn-of-the-century architecture.

Angie Gaabo is the executive director of the Woodbridge Neighborhood Development Corporation, a non-profit made up of three Woodbridge neighborhood groups. She and other residents are working with Procida-Diggs, offering suggestions and giving feedback, since the project was proposed earlier this year.

"The city does not want developers to build faux historic architecture, and we agree with that approach," she said.

"We feel the design should be contemporary, but also of a good, high-quality design. There are ways to do that, and a lot of Detroit neighborhoods are still figuring out what that means."

Cooperation between residents and developers is often uncommon when it comes to new construction in historic neighborhoods. Gaabo said it was refreshing to strike an easy alliance with Procida-Diggs.

"We don't consider ourselves to be neck and neck with the developer," she said.

"They aren't trying to fight us tooth and nail, either. All we can do as residents is go before the commission and say we either support it or don't like the project. Even if the neighborhood does that, they can still approve or deny.

"My sense is that the (Procida-Digss) is trying to do something that everyone agrees on."

Procida considers cooperation a "good practice."

He and his partners originally wanted to demolish the power-boilerhouse, opening up another parcel for a new home. Gaabo was able to convince Procida to keep the house intact after some tinkering.

The developer went a step further when he announced restoration plans for the aging buidling.

"As a property owner we're a member of the community, and as a developer, we try to be a participating member of the community," Procida said.

"We try to develop by consensus. We think it's good practice. You can't always get everyone on the same page but we've tried to a certain extent, and their suggestions have improved or informed the design process."