Ian Thibodeau

The Detroit News

Apartments in the first ground-up construction project in downtown Detroit’s central business district since the 1980s will be efficient.

Space in the 260-square-foot micro-apartments is at a premium, so architects had to streamline storage and layout much like space in the cabin of a boat, said Steven Rosenthal, principal of Bedrock Detroit, before touring a model unit Thursday.

The 13-story building at the corner of Griswold and Grand River won’t open until June. The 218 apartments will be rented fully furnished — including a bed and wall-mounted television — and all utilities will be included in the rent. Rocket Fiber, Dan Gilbert’s high-speed gigabit internet company, will be bundled into the rent.

Designers wanted to save tenants the headache of trying to furnish a tiny apartment. The bed sits atop a storage unit, and a long padded bench runs in front of the tall windows. A table and chair come with the rent, too.

Rosenthal said the new apartment complex, named 28 Grand, will have 133 market-rate apartments; 85 units will be reserved for residents who qualify for low-income housing tax credits.

Based on what the city and state define as affordable housing rates, rent would start at just over $700 for one of the affordable units.

Prices for the market-rate units will be released in February when Bedrock begins leasing the apartments, Rosenthal said.

The model unit is roughly the size of hotel rooms at the Aloft Detroit hotel at The David Whitney building down the street. Detroit’s Kraemer Design Group architecture and design firm was part of the development team on both projects.

Jamie Witherspoon, project architect with Bedrock, said the project was a challenge to design. The apartments add much needed supply downtown’s housing stock, and a new type of apartment to Bedrock’s portfolio. Bedrock deals mostly in one- and two-bedroom lofts, currently.

It’s important to have every type of apartment in their cache, Rosenthal and Witherspoon said. “We expect a lot of different types of people here,” Witherspoon said,

There are six floor plans throughout the building. Some corner units have more windows, some have a little more room inside, but all hover around the 260-square-feet on average. Bedrock fit a full-size refrigerator into every unit along with a sink and microwave. A two-burner electric cook top was tucked into the corner of the kitchen counter in the model unit.

The units don’t have ovens, which will be located in the 3,500-square-foot common area where residents will have access to a full-range stove, more seating in a lounge space and a patio.

The design follows a trend in new Detroit apartment projects that offer more amenities in common areas rather than in individual units.

In a building full of micro-apartments, those areas are even more important, Witherspoon said.

The building will have a fitness center and laundry room on site.

On the ground floor — also keeping with a trend — the building has 4,500 square feet of retail space. Restaurateur Eli Boyer, formerly of Gold Cash Gold, and Stockyard chef Marc Bogoff, will open a restaurant in part of that space. Bedrock plans to announced other retail tenants soon.

Boyer said the restaurant will be a “fast-casual” and “lunch-focused” concept that will open in the late summer or early fall of 2017. He and Bogoff are working on opening a seafood restaurant in Ferndale, which is their primary focus at the moment, he said.

28 Grand fills a parcel that was less than a year ago partially occupied by a burned-out strip club, across from the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue and Cafe D’Mongo’s Speakeasy.

The apartments are part of a boom in Capitol Park, a block-long triangle that has attracted more than $100 million in investment since 2009. Capitol Park is bounded by Shelby, Griswold and State with an open area in the middle.

ithibodeau@detroitnews.com

(313) 222-2359

Twitter: @Ian_Thibodeau