Lee Plaza Restoration, Detroit

Lee Plaza has been photographed more than most buildings that are actually occupied. The 15-story 1929 Art Deco apartment hotel on West Grand Boulevard sat vacant and stripped for decades and became a fixture of Detroit ruin photography, widely described as the city’s last vacant high-rise. Ground broke on its restoration May 13, 2025.

Phase 1 delivers 117 affordable apartments for seniors earning at or below 50% of area median income, with rents capped at 30% of income and affordability guaranteed by the City of Detroit for at least 45 years. Sachse Construction is building it; Fusco, Shaffer & Pappas is the architect; Kidorf Preservation Consulting handles the historic side.

Project Scope

Restoration and conversion of a 15-story historic tower into 117 income-restricted senior apartments, at roughly $60 million. A proposed Phase 2 would add up to 65 more units on the upper five floors, contingent on financing. Funding stacks City of Detroit and State of Michigan sources with affordable-housing and historic tax credits. Completion is targeted for late 2026.

Why It Matters

Buildings that sit open to weather for thirty years lose more than their copper. Lee Plaza was stripped of its terra cotta lion heads, its interiors were gutted by scrappers, and the structure has taken three decades of Michigan freeze-thaw. Getting a historic tax credit project through that condition and landing at a rent that works for a senior at 50% AMI is a genuinely hard capital stack, which is why buildings like this usually come down instead. The 45-year affordability commitment is the part that makes it worth the trouble.

Project Team & Details