Henry Street Apartments
The Opportunity
A full city block of early-20th-century apartment buildings in Detroit’s Cass-Henry Historic District offered a chance to preserve historic housing while adding long-term affordability within the larger District Detroit reinvestment area.
The Challenge
The project spans multiple historic buildings, several affordability levels, preservation requirements, public-private financing and an unusually visible location within a major downtown redevelopment district.
The Approach
Preserve the block as one coherent neighborhood asset rather than treating buildings individually, pairing historic rehabilitation with modern systems, affordable and market-rate homes, shared community space, parking and greenspace.
The Result
The restoration covers six residential buildings plus a central community building across the block, mixing affordable and market-rate apartments.
Why It Matters
Preservation and affordability can work together at scale: not a single landmark building, but an entire historic block woven into a much larger urban redevelopment effort.