A major residential development planned for Detroit’s historic Brush Park will help redefine the up-and-coming neighborhood.
The Central Brush Park residential development project will occupy a 6-acre site between Brush and John R, including blocks of Watson and Edmund.
The Central Brush Park development company, managed by the Belmar Development Group, has composed a comprehensive plan that will restore the residential nature of the area and offer a variety of housing types and styles. The plan calls for a combination of high and low density residential structures co-existing with commercial and retail space.
The site is dotted with existing homes that will be restored and worked into the larger plan, with all new structures architecturally blending with the old. A total of 147 new units are planned, along with the renovation of a community park that will occupy two parcels.
Along John R and Brush, five-story loft units with potential for neighborhood retail will line the streets. In the same area, live/work units will be constructed in three-story buildings that will allow for the first floors to be used as home-based businesses and possible artist studios.
The Edmund and Watson blocks will feature clustered rowhouses designed to complement the existing homes. In the alleyways behind the rowhouses, carriage houses will be built to look like the original carriage houses that once served the manor homes in the neighborhood. There is also a custom carriage house, known as the castle, proposed at 252 Watson.
The overall scheme of the project is to “provide a total neighborhood experience in Brush Park, create the walk to work feeling, and connect the vibe between Midtown and Downtown,” says Chandra Broadnax, director of marketing for Global Group GMAC, which is handling sales and marketing for the project.
“The critical piece of the project is to fill the gap and tie everything together, to create a link between the stadiums and the Medical Center,” says Dwight Belyue, owner of Belmar Development Group.
The City of Detroit is working on the major infrastructure in the area to upgrade the lighting, gas, electric, phone lines, water and sewer and the roads to facilitate new development. Once completed, Central Brush Park will start construction, likely after Jan. 1, 2006.
Sources: Chandra Broadnax, director of marketing of Global Group GMAC; Dwight Belyue, owner of Belmar Development Group