Looking north on Saginaw Street last week, fellow project investor Bob Waun, vice president of business development for Core Partners, counts off about a half-dozen buildings and three parking lots that he owns.

Those buildings and a handful more are expected to be the investors' playgrounds, becoming the sites of a combination of multifamily residential, office and retail space — and possibly even a hotel.

All told, investors envision 175-225 residential units, between 50,000 and 75,000 square feet of loft and traditional office space, boutique and destination retail, and restaurants and entertainment space.

The largest of the projects would be a $15.6 million renovation of the 135,000-square-footat 28 N. Saginaw St., a 15-story building that would be converted into nearly 100 loft apartments and 40,000 square feet of Class A office space, plus retail and restaurant space.

The investors are under contract to buy that building, which was long known as the

The 61,000-square-foot, at 31-35 Huron St., would be turned into a boutique hotel or mixed-use development with a $2.5 million to $4.8 million price tag. The investors are under contract to buy that, too. The vacant 31,000-square-foot building at 50 Wayne St., owned by Waun's, would be turned from office space into 16 apartments, plus 6,000 square feet of retail and office space, for $3.7 million. At Waun's building at 40 Pike St., the former 22,500-square-foot failedbuilding would be turned into office or creative flex space with a $1.25 million renovation, investors said. Smaller renovations to add loft office space, loft apartments and creative workspace are planned for other buildings, including the 12,000-square-foot building at 1 N. Saginaw, where the formerandwere located, and the 3,800-square-foot building at 9-11 W. Pike St.

Waun owns those, too.

Waun said the investment group wants to work with current property owners for the betterment of downtown Pontiac.

"We are not taking over and running people out," he said. "This is not gentrification. We want to partner with existing property owners and keep them in the redevelopment plan if they want to be there and be part of the improvements."

All told, the investment group owns or has under contract about 450,000 square feet of space and more than 400 parking spaces downtown.

The redevelopment follows the work of a lot of good foot soldiers in the city, Waun and Farrell said. "We aren't the knights coming in to save Pontiac," Waun said.

"There has already been so much good work by so many good people that, because of their good work, we see a real opportunity here to build upon the great foundation that's already been laid by so many people before us."

However, too often the efforts to improve downtown have been too limited in scope, Farrell said.

"Many great people have tried to enhance and give downtown Pontiac an opportunity to turn around in the past," he said. "Unfortunately, most of the previous efforts have been 'silo' projects and did not provide balance and sustainability to the area."

Farrell said downtown Pontiac needs more daytime foot traffic, a strong housing market and nightlife.

"This is huge," Mayor Deirdre Waterman said of the plans. "These are the things we are trying to make the ground fertile for."