GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Real estate developer Derek Coppess looks beyond the torn-up flooring, boarded up windows and tattered walls inside the Kendall Building at 16 Monroe Center NW.

The founder of 616 Development is confident his $4 million plan to restore the red brick and sandstone building facing downtown's Civil War Monument will be a success.

"We have a 200-person waiting list for units like this," said Coppess, whose company manages about 150 rental units in the city.

Coppess said he has purchased the 122 building for $775,000 from James Azzar, who has owned the building since 1991. The building has been vacant with a chain link fence in front.

The &"Lofts at The Kendall" project will install 12 market-rate apartments, offices and ground-floor retail space in the building. A rooftop deck will also be added for residents of the Kendall and other 616 Lofts tenants to use.

Coppess plans to remodel the street-level storefronts to historic standards and install a retail tenant. He plans to move his company’s offices and its 12 employees into the second floor.

On the top three floors, Coppess plans to build 12 market rate apartments. The basement of the building will be remodeled into common space for building tenants.

Putting offices as a buffer between the ground floor retail and upper floor residential units follows the "24-hour building" design the company has adopted at other projects downtown, including 616 Lofts on Ionia, a mixed-use project being completed this fall at 1 and 7 Ionia Ave. SW.

“Our residents tell us they want to be in the heart of the city in unique spaces,” said Monica Clark, director of operations and community at 616 Development.

“You can’t get much closer to the heart of the city than this historic building with its beautiful bay windows overlooking the Civil War monument and easy access to downtown theaters, restaurants, shops and parking.”

Clark said the building’s three 2-bedroom apartments will rent for $1,450 per month. Six single bedroom units will rent for $1,000 each while the three studio units will rent for $800.

The building’s interior is disheveled after years of neglect, but “structurally it’s a tank,” said Coppess. Each floor has 14-foot to 16-foot ceilings with large window bays that he intends to restore.

“When we’re done, it will be a brand-new building,” Coppess said. Nonetheless, he hopes to restore some of the old doors and other fixtures that once adorned the building. Where possible, the loft apartments will have exposed brick walls.

This week, 616 Development is scheduled to appear before the City Commission and the Downtown Development Authority with a request to cap property taxes on the building under the Michigan Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Act (OPRA).

The developers also plan to request a state grant under the new Michigan Community Revitalization Program (CRP), which replaced the state’s brownfield and historic tax credit programs this year.

Built in the early 1880s, the building was named for George Kendall, a Grand Rapids businessman who came to the area in 1846 and started in the grocery and dry goods trade.

E-mail Jim Harger: jharger@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/JHHarger