Renovations Begin to Transform Detroit’s Lee Plaza Into Affordable Senior Housing

A long-abandoned 16-story building in downtown Detroit is getting a long-awaited renovation.

On Tuesday, May 13, city officials held a ceremony marking the beginning of renovations for Lee Plaza on West Grand Boulevard. The structure that formerly housed a hotel, apartment building, and senior living home has stood vacant and deteriorating since it closed in 1997.

“For 30 years, everybody coming in and out saw this building in the skyline with the roof that you can see is not there, and the easy thing was to knock it down and hope they forget,” Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said in remarks captured by Local News 4 Detroit during the event. “But we said, but what would happen if you renovated, you made that a part of the permanent skyline.”

Plans for the former Lee Plaza complex call for 117 affordable housing units for older adults to be constructed on the property. They'll be part of nearly 200 units in the building and will rent for as little as $450 per month.

The renovated Lee Plaza is expected to open by fall 2026.

According to Local News 4 Detroit's report, Lee Plaza opened in 1928 as a luxury hotel and was included in the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.

David Dirita of the Roxbury Group, along with Ethos Development Partners, purchased the property six years ago and has been championing the building's rehabilitation.

“I grew up in the 1960s and '70s. I was here when the lights went out in the '80s and '90s,” said Dirita, who gave remarks while standing inside the building before Tuesday's press conference. “Today, we're starting the restoration of Detroit's last vacant high rise, and that's an incredible thing to say.”