The restoration of the Ransom Gillis House in 2015 brought a lot of attention to the neighborhood. Nicole Curtis documented the transformation on her show Rehab Addict, and the restoration was funded by Quicken Loans. This house was like many in others in the neighborhood before—a shell of what it once was.

The first major new construction in the neighborhood was the Scott at Brush Park, a $65 million development with 199 apartments, plus restaurants and retail space. It opened in late 2016, put up for sale in July 2018, then ultimately refinanced for $50.1 million in January this year.

Standing at the corner of Mack Avenue and Brush Street, the Rainbow Child Care Center added a new handsome brick structure and important service to the neighborhood.

Construction wrapped on this six luxury condo development in August this year. The Devon Building on Watson Street, built in 1905, was torn down and a new one rebuilt in its place that faithfully recreated the original’s facade.

The units themselves range in size from a 734-square-foot one bedroom for $384,900 to a two-story, 2,450-square-foot penthouse with a private elevator that costs $1.57 million.

The largest development currently underway in Brush Park, when completed, Bedrock’s City Modern will bring over 400 new residential units to the neighborhood.

It’s well underway. A number of condo and apartment buildings have been completed, including The Flats, which offers affordable housing for seniors.

Work is finishing up on new condos along Eliot Street. Readers have had some opinions about the exterior, paired with a lot of enthusiasm for the interior and building materials. The brick three-story will fill a formerly vacant lot on the residential street.

Method Development will be redeveloping the 8,000-square-foot mansion at 304 Erskine Street into eight apartment units. The total cost of the project is an estimated $1.8 million. Construction has already begun and is expected to be completed by summer 2020.

It’s remarkable this building is getting saved. The Erskine mansion was abandoned sometime in the late 1970s, eventually caught fire, and was itself slated for demolition according to the Brush Park Preservation Society.

We don’t know the exact details for this renovation, but people have been working on it. If you have intel, drop us a note in the comments section.

Announced in 2018 and set to break ground in this year, Brush + Watson will be a mixed-income, mixed-use development. Three buildings will have 180 units. 90 will be designated affordable, with 45 units at 80 percent area median income ($42,000) and another 45 at 30 to 60 percent area median income ($16-28,000 per year). The development, led by American Community Developers, will also have 170 underground parking spaces and 8,500 square feet of commercial space.

It was recently awarded $1.5 million in Low-Income Housing Tax Credits from the state of Michigan and is expected to be completed in 2021.

Also announced last summer, the Brush 8 is a $4.7 million development that will bring eight for-sale luxury condos to a vacant lot. Each townhouse will be four stories, with a one-car garage, a penthouse setback, and a rooftop terrace. We haven’t heard an update since the announcement.

City Growth Partners—who is also building the Brush 8—will also lead this mixed-use development with 178 residential units (20 percent affordable) and 127 underground parking spots, plus green infrastructure, retail, and public space. 

Next to 112 Edmund will be the adaptive reuse of this carriage house, with new construction on top. It will have four stories with five luxury condos, a restaurant/lounge, and outdoor dining.

This will be part of the 2827 John R development, with two townhouses facing Alfred and parking for the development.

In 2018, the Roxbury Group said it would develop a 12-floor West Elm-branded hotel on Woodward Avenue next to the Bonstelle Theater for about $50 million. It was hoping to begin construction in 2020.

But West Elm has recently run into legal troubles, which has delayed the project. Roxbury still says that it plans to open a hotel at the site and is hoping for a 2021 opening.

SOMA, or South of Mack Avenue, is still a big question mark. We’re expecting office buildings in a larger development, but we’re not sure of the timeline. The latest renderings call for around 183,000 square feet of office space with ground-floor retail in a multi-level glass building.