A few short years ago, many thought we might lose the gorgeous Metropolitan Building to demolition. The 1925 Neo-Gothic building had been abandoned for over three decades, and in 2013, the building was covered with graffiti, windows were boarded up or gone, and trees grew out of the roof.

But these buildings can be saved! The Roxbury Group—who also redeveloped the David Whitney Building—officially started construction on the Element Detroit Hotel at the Metropolitan Building last summer. The extended-stay hotel is expected to open by the end of the year.

Work has been moving along inside and outside. Work continues on finishing the hotel rooms, and now, windows have almost finished going in. Even the second-floor mezzanine—which will have meeting space—now has fabulous new windows. Placement of glass in the building’s historic frames should be completed by the end of the month.

When finished, the Element Detroit Hotel will have 110 one and two bedroom hotel rooms, 2,000 square feet of meeting space on the second floor mezzanine, 7,000 square feet of ground floor and lower-level retail space, plus a rooftop bar and patio.

Around the corner, the Wurlitzer Building—which also had a very troubled past—has been revamped into The Siren Hotel. Across the street, Bedrock is turning the better part of a city block into the Shinola Hotel.

As construction picks up around the greater downtown area, a new hotel district will open in downtown Detroit.