The Roxbury Group

David Di Rita and Stacy Fox founded The Roxbury Group in 2005 to take on complex real estate and economic development projects in the city of Detroit, and the firm has largely stayed there since. Its work covers residential and commercial development, hotel properties, and food and beverage ventures, generally on buildings and sites that other developers have passed over. Roxbury leads the restoration of Lee Plaza, the 15-story 1929 Art Deco apartment hotel on West Grand Boulevard that stood vacant and stripped for decades and was widely called Detroit’s last vacant high-rise. Partnering with Ethos Development Partners and the nonprofit Lighthouse, the team broke ground in May 2025 on a roughly $60 million first phase delivering 117 affordable senior apartments, with rents capped at 30% of income and affordability guaranteed by the City of Detroit for at least 45 years.

Look at the built portfolio and a pattern shows up fast. On the residential and commercial side sit The Auburn, Elton Park, The Griswold, the Louis Kamper and Stevens Buildings, the Outdoor Adventure Center and Parker Durand. Under development are Broadway Park West, Lee Plaza and The Plaza Detroit. Food and beverage is a line of business in its own right, covering The Buhl Bar, Hidden Cavern, The Conservatory, Hammer and Nail, The Lone Goat and Monarch Club.

Roxbury describes itself as a real estate development and investment firm with a focus on hotel and hospitality properties. It puts its running total at more than one million square feet developed, including a number of iconic historic high rises alongside new construction, plus over 500 multi-family residential units.

The firm’s stated approach to old buildings explains the project list. Every building has a story, and the job is deciding what is worth saving or restoring, then letting that guide the design rather than forcing something new onto it. A building’s original purpose may not be its best use today, and Roxbury treats that as part of the process rather than an obstacle to work around.

It is a small shop for the size of the work. The team page lists seven people, founding principals Stacy Fox and David Di Rita plus James Van Dyke, Melissa O’Reilly, Kaitlyn Horbal, Heather McKeon and Kevin Shepherd, working from 1117 Griswold Street, Suite 1416, in downtown Detroit. The address sits inside the same stretch of city center the firm has spent two decades reworking.

For an owner, lender or public partner evaluating a Detroit project, the relevant credential here is not geographic breadth. Roxbury has stayed in one city for more than 20 years and has repeatedly taken on buildings and sites in the city center and neighboring districts that other developers walked away from, which is a different discipline from putting up new product in a growth market. Inquiries go to info@roxburygroup.com or 313.963.6118.