A $45 million boutique hotel is expected to rise in Corktown near Michigan Central Station.

The seven-story Godfrey Hotel at 1401 Michigan Ave. by Farmington Hills-based Hunter Pasteur Homes and Chicago-based Oxford Capital Group LLC is planned to start construction in the fourth quarter and be complete in time for the North American International Auto Show in the summer of 2022, pending various city approvals.

The project, which has been in the works for over a year, would join a crowded field of boutique hotels in varying stages of development in the greater downtown Detroit area. It would also mark the first major new development revealed in the Corktown neighborhood, about two years after it was first reported that Ford Motor Co. was redeveloping the train station on 15th Street and building an autonomous vehicle and electric vehicle campus in the neighborhood.

A building on the site, most recently City Cab, that has been vacant for a couple of decades would be torn down to make way for the new project, subject to approval from the Historic District Commission.

"We respect the process," said Randy Wertheimer, president and CEO of Hunter Pasteur.

The property is owned by Nemo's Restaurant, which is on the other side of Michigan Avenue.

The new hotel would have 225 rooms with an average daily rate of $260 to $280 per night, John Rutledge, founder, president and CEO of Oxford Capital, said in a Wednesday morning interview with Crain's. Other features include a year-round rooftop lounge with the capacity to seat over 300 people, as well as 6,000 square feet of ballroom space that can hold up to 300 or 400 people for weddings and other events, said Wertheimer. A new restaurant is also expected as part of the project.

Rutledge said the hotel is expected to employ between 200-225 full- and part-time employees.

In addition to Oxford Capital and Hunter Pasteur, other lead investors include Nathan Forbes, managing partner of Southfield-based Forbes Co., which owns Somerset Collection in Troy, and James Grosfeld, the former CEO of Pulte Group, Wertheimer said.

Rutledge and Wertheimer declined to discuss financial specifics. But they said the project is fully financed and that Opportunity Zone status for the area made it easier to secure equity, which comes primarily from local sources, Wertheimer said. He declined to reveal other investors.

It would be the fifth Godfrey hotel, behind Chicago, Boston, Tampa and Hollywood.

Wertheimer said attracting a company of Oxford's caliber is a positive reflection on the state of the city's development ecosystem.

The general contractor is a joint venture between Lansing-based The Christman Co. and Chicago-based Norcon Inc. The architecture team is Detroit-based Neumann/Smith Architecture and Boston-based Elkus Manfredi Architects.