Whole Food Developer to Add 230 Units in New Center

Peter Cummings, the Detroit developer who brought Whole Foods to midtown and shepherded the deal for the Fisher Building, told Curbed that he plans to build a 230-unit midrise apartment building in New Center. This summer, rumors about Cummings’ plans to buy the parking lot at 3rd and Grand (pictured above) from Henry Ford Health System were met with a firm “no comment” from Cummings. Now, he says that there’s an agreement to purchase, and that architects have been selected for the project.
“The sale hasn’t happened yet,” Cummings explained, “But I do have a firm agreement with Henry Ford Helath system. I want to build 230 units,” Cummings added. Cummings has already tapped Chapel Hill, NC, Cline Design for the new development which will combine retail with residential units just steps away from the Fisher Building. “They did a great job for me on a similar scale project, housing over parking and retail in Chapel Hill,” Cummings said.

Cummings says there’s a timeline in place and that the sale should be finalized soon. “We would like to launch the project in summer 2016,” Cummings said.Cline Design built 140 West Franklin for Cummings’ former Florida venture, Ram Real Estate. The eight-story, $55 million, mixed-use building in Chapel Hill opened in 2013 after nearly a decade of work.