A 19-story building at 1553 Woodward, across the street from the Broderick Tower.

The building was bought in March 2011 for 3.3 million by Whitney Partners LLC, a partnership between The Roxbury Group and Trans Inns Management Inc. David Di Rita is a principal at Roxbury. James Van Dyke is the president of Roxbury and the Whitney project. The group has plans to renovate the building to include apartments and 108 hotel rooms. The project is expected to cost $80 million and be completed in 2013.

A hotel was considered for the site in June 2011. The plans on June 27 counted 130 hotel rooms and 180 residences. In December 2011, the Michigan Economic Growth Authority approved $9.8M in tax incentives for the redevelopment of the site.

Sources

• New hotel plan emerges for the David Whitney building. Crain's Detroit. 27 May 2011.
• Boutique hotel eyed for downtown's Whitney Building. 27 June 2011.
• * Detroit Meijer project aided, Whitney redevelopment OK'd. Detroit News. 14 December 2011