Regis Houze Set to Offer 58 New Apartments in New Center

Regis Houze is bringing 58 new apartments to New Center. Developers held a ribbon cutting for the property Tuesday, and the newly constructed annex to the Hotel St. Regis will rent the units starting in December, according to Barbat Holdings, LLC, the project's developer. Many of the apartments have market rate prices, and the developers at Tuesday's tour of the new property suggested that Regis Houze's tiny studios—just 365 square feet—would be great as second homes for people who live in the suburbs but work in New Center, including employees at Henry Ford Hospital.

Intended as "workforce housing," according to the developers, these studios will rent for around $600 per month, while small 1-bedroom apartments (525-600 square feet) will cost around $900 a month. The largest apartments, 2-bedroom, 2-bath units will go for $1,523 a month. Regis Houze represents a partnership between Barbat Holdings, owned by West Bloomfield's Wireless Toyz founder Joe Barbat and the Woodward Corridor Investment Fund. With the upcoming opening of the M-1 Rail, developers and the city are betting on New Center as Detroit's next neighborhood success story.

According to a release, the Woodward Corridor Investment Fund is responsible for $30 million of the loans that have allowed for the renovations, and Crain's reports that the project created 144 temporary jobs and 17 permanent jobs in New Center. Regis Houze is all out of tiny studios—they're all rented—but 1- and 2-bedrooms are available. Regis Houze's website already banks on the M-1 to sell apartments. Copy on the site brags that the building is "just steps away from the M-1 Rail line on Woodward Avenue, giving you quick access to all that downtown has to offer." True…in eighteen months or so.

·Regis Houze [Apartment Guide]
·58-unit Regis Houze opens in Detroit's New Center [Crain's Detroit Business]
·The Building [Regis Houze]
·M1 Rail won't be ready for passengers until 2017 [mLive]