$100M Midtown West development breaks ground on site of Wigle Recreation Center

A development that’s been long in the making has finally broke ground.

At a ceremony featuring Mayor Mike Duggan, developers, city officials, construction began on the $100 million, five-story Midtown West that will sit at the seven-acre site of the former Wigle Recreation Center just south of Selden Street between the Lodge Freeway and Third Avenue.

The first development in this phase, Fourth & Selden, will consist of 26 for-sale condos, 4,200 square feet of retail, and other amenities like a gym and yoga room. The project architect is VolumeOne Design Studio with additional support from McIntosh Poris.

Construction is expected to take 18 months with occupancy scheduled for spring 2021. Units will be listed through Matt O’Laughlin of Alexander Real Estate and Jimmy Saros of Saros Real Estate.

VolumeOne Design Studio

The second, larger development—which has a planned spring 2020 groundbreaking—will bring 177 apartments with a minimum 10 percent designated as affordable. There will also be a one-acre park, 5,000 square feet of retail space, and on-site amenities like a landscaped roof deck and gym.

Renderings from the brownfield tax application show a striking, curved building that wraps around a central courtyard. Project architect Studio Libeskind, based in New York City, is responsible for major designs worldwide like the Jewish Museum in Berlin and One World Trade Center.

“This is a huge, ambitious project, and we are up to the challenge and thankful that the city of Detroit has chosen us to redevelop this key Midtown property,” Mario Procida, CEO of Procida Development Group, said at the groundbreaking.

When it was first announced in 2017, Procida said there would be an eventual 335 residential units with about half for-sale condos. It’s committed to making at least 36 of the units available to those who make between 40 to 80 percent of the Wayne County median income, which is lower than the typical HUD-defined area median income.

The second phase of the development is set to begin in 2022.