A 39,000-square-foot building in Detroit's North End neighborhood has sold for $1.27 million and the Birmingham-based buyer plans to turn it into 36 loft-style apartments in a $3.2 million project.

Neal Check, who owns Southfield-based SoundCheck Inc. and TechHome Building Co. LLC, closed on the purchase of the building at 40 Hague St. at Woodward Avenue on Thursday. Through TechHome he has built or is building 18 houses in Birmingham; SoundCheck is a home automation company that installs equipment in the homes.

"The whole reason I made the move into Detroit is because I'm watching this evolution of what's going on in the city and I would love to take what I'm doing in Birmingham down there," Check said Friday.

RainCheck Development LLC is the developer on the North End project, which is tentatively called North End Lofts and should take about 18 months to complete once interior demolition occurs, he said. Eastpointe-based Monahan Co. is the general contractor while Detroit-based Christian Hurttienne Architects is the architect.

The majority of the units would be one-bedroom apartments with a handful of two-bedrooms. They would range from about 600 to 800 square feet.

Detroit-based O'Connor Real Estate and Detroit-based Real Estate Interests LLC were the brokerage firms on the deal. O'Connor will also handle leasing and property management when the redevelopment of the vacant building is complete, Check said.

The seller was the nonprofit World Hope, which purchased the building for $210,000 in 2014, according to city land records.