A $15 million redevelopment of the vacated Save-A-Lot store in Ferndale is expected to bring 90 new apartments to the north side of Nine Mile Road downtown.

Gaal Karp, development consultant for the soon-to-be-formed development entity Arbor Lofts Development Group LLC, said construction on the building is expected to begin this summer pending approval of a brownfield tax credit.

The studio, one- and two-bedroom units are expected to range from 550 to 1,700 square feet with rents starting around $900 per month. First-floor parking and a small office component of about 1,400 square feet are also expected as part of the Ferndalehaus development.

Karp said the Ferndale development was triggered in part by the Arbor Lofts project that the investment group did in Southfield, which was a development of the former Civic Plaza office building on Civic Center Drive into more than 70 residential units.

“We did that one and based on that, our group of investors and people we know were looking at other locations and we always loved Ferndale,” said Karp, who located the Ferndalehaus development site, which includes the former store and its parking lot at 430 W. Nine Mile Rd. across the street from Western Market.

Rochester-based Designhaus PLLC is the architecture firm on the project, while Bret Russell of Rochester-based Russell Builders Inc. is the general contractor and a development partner, Karp said.

Ed Siegel, a developer who is also the co-owner of Urban Bean Co. coffee shop in Capitol Park in downtown Detroit, is also a development consultant on the project.

Roger Basmajian, a developer who owns property in downtown Detroit and elsewhere, said he had planned a development on the site but sold the property to the new development group.

This version clarifies Roger Basmajian's role in a different planned development on the site. This version is correct.