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A conceptual rendering of the Brush Park Development Company's plan for the area. This does not show the tiered building designs as laid out in the Feb. 17 Historic District Commission meeting. (Courtesy Image)

(Courtesy Image)

DETROIT - After a 4.5-hour meeting, the Detroit Historic District Commission Wednesday granted Dan Gilbert's $70-million, 400-unit housing development plan for Brush Park a certificate of appropriateness.

The permit essentially allows a homeowner or landowner to make exterior changes to dwellings or land within a historic district.

In March, the massive plan will go before the Detroit City Council for an official vote, which will allow construction on six multi-story apartment buildings, 17 townhomes, and multiple blocks of duplexes and carriage homes to begin.

Three remaining historic homes in the area bounded by John R. Street, Edmund Place, and Alfred and Brush Streets will also be restored.

Their sister, the Ransom Gillis home on the corner of John R. and Alfred, had its makeover wrapped last year.

The commission on Wednesday stressed that the houses must absolutely be the focal points of the neighborhood restoration.

And while the commission is usually needfully picky about any construction plans for historic areas, the Brush Park project is difficult.

There's not a lot left of the historic district to base designs of new buildings on.

The layout of the buildings for the $70-million Brush Park housing development.

Melissa Dittmer, director of architecture and urban design for Bedrock Real Estate Services, with representatives from the architectural firm Hamilton Anderson Associates presented the designs deemed "abstractly contextual."

Bedrock, through the Brush Park Development Company, aims to erect buildings that are not completely designed in line with the historical architecture, but pull multiple elements from the old homes.

One major factor: the multi-story apartment buildings, four of which perch on the corners of the main four-block area of the 8.4-acre development like gargoyles, are tiered, tapering down towards the inside of the block to match the heights of the highest points of the historic homes.

The beautiful Venetian Gothic-style historic homes aren't dwarfed by the biggest buildings in the designs.

The smaller townhomes, carriage houses and duplexes will neither be wider nor taller than the historic homes, on average.

Dittmer also ran through materials the company hopes to use on the buildings, which range from wood to metal. Each apartment building has a totally different exterior finish.

Commissioners expressed concern over the look and feel of metal finishes on two of the planned apartment buildings, but ultimately delegated further "checks" to the staff, deciding the smaller details did not need a formal vote to move forward.

Brush Park Development representatives said one of the buildings, an L-shaped unit on the southwest corner of John R. and Alfred, will be senior housing. It's the closest building to the M-1 Rail stop.

Overall, the initial designs are contemporary. Tall, thin windows and blocks of geometric blank space on the exterior mimic some of the design elements seen on the Z Garage downtown, which has sort of "cut-out" design in the facade.

Dittmer highlighted the carriage homes, which will make up the inner-most buildings of the block, designed around an alleyway that will serve as both a streetscape and the main entryway to all of the homes.

It will add a "fun, urban atmosphere" to the development.

The townhomes will be bigger three-story establishments.

According to the representatives, the apartments will all be rented units. The carriage homes, townhomes and duplexes, which take up the largest amount of land in the development, will all be for-sale units.

Twenty percent of the for-rent are supposed to qualify for affordable housing, the company has said.

The Ransom Gillis house hasn't been occupied yet, but it was to either be sold or rented.

Dittmer said Wednesday that along John R. and Brush there will be commercial retail space on the ground floors of the apartment buildings. On the streets running laterally, there will be a "neighborhood" feeling.

Initial plans for a string of connected "pocket parks" running like a main artery through the development were outlined, too.

Those parks will be open to the public. The apartment buildings all had terraces or rooftop access, according to initial designs.

A phrase called upon a few times, "a new Brush Park," sets the precedent for Gilbert's crew on this project.

It's the largest number of housing units to be built at the same time in Detroit, and the buildings are plugging into 8.4-acres of blighted and vacant land.

The commissioners took a different approach to their critique. The were basically in favor of anything Dittmer presented, nitpicking only a few colors or material choices along the way and ultimately voting unanimously in favor of granting their approval.

"It's contextual," a representative of the city's planning division said of the design. What the Brush Park Development Company plans to build is "more than (what is) currently there."

There is at least some freedom for Gilbert and his team to recreate the historic Brush Park.

Commissioner Lauren Hood, who was hesitant to vote Wednesday, said she wanted to be sure the entire plan was to the board's liking.

"Everything that's going to go in Brush Park after this, they're going to reference this," she said.

Construction on the project is expected to start this spring. When finished, close to 400 units of housing will occupy a space that's almost empty.

Ian Thibodeau is the business and development reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. He can be reached at ithibode@mlive.com, or follow him on Twitter.