David Whitney Building to undergo renovations, get new hotel brand, Autograph Collection

Frank Witsil, Detroit Free Press
·3 min read
The exterior of the David Whitney Building on December 5, 2014.
The exterior of the David Whitney Building on December 5, 2014.

The David Whitney Building in downtown Detroit — which originally opened in 1915 and was named after the Detroit lumber baron who built the David Whitney House — is getting a new look and a new hotel name.

Aloft is out. Autograph is in, the property's owner announced Wednesday.

Both names are in the Marriott International hotel company family of brands, although they didn't start that way.

In 2010, Marriott started Autograph, which was designed to be more luxurious and less of a brand and more of a collection of independent high-end hotels. In 2015, Marriott bought Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, which included the Aloft brand.

"We concluded that downtown Detroit was ready for the level of service and experience that an Autograph Collection hotel would bring," Stacy Fox of the Roxbury Group said, adding, "there is simply no better place for that to happen than the David Whitney."

Classic works of Detroit architecture like downtown's David Whitney Building on Grand Circus Park were shuttered for years until reopened a few years ago as The Aloft Hotel.
Classic works of Detroit architecture like downtown's David Whitney Building on Grand Circus Park were shuttered for years until reopened a few years ago as The Aloft Hotel.

The Roxbury Group, a Detroit-based real estate development company which owns the building, said it is working with TreeFort Hospitality on the project, which is scheduled to be done in phases during the next 12 to 14 months.

Roxbury did not offer any cost projections.

The hotel's 136 guest rooms will be renovated, and two more hotel floors will be added for a total of 160 guest rooms and suites.

Twenty-four of the David Whitney’s apartments are set to be converted to one and two-bedroom hotel suites, leaving 80 residences on the upper seven floors.

The apartments and hotels were both popular, the Roxbury Group said. But the hotel expansion was made with Marriott to offer a better "overall room mix given the change to Autograph."

Whitney is a well-known name in Michigan. The 19-floor, neo-Renaissance-style building is bordered by Park Avenue, Woodward Avenue and Washington Boulevard.

The David Whitney House, a historic mansion at 4421 Woodward, is now an upscale restaurant. That structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the Tiffany glass windows are purportedly worth more than the rest of the house.

Some believe Whitney's ghost haunts the mansion.

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The Roxbury Group also plans substantial upgrades to the hotel’s lobby bar, atrium lounge and outdoor seating. In addition, plans include a restaurant in the Capper & Capper event space at the corner of Woodward and Park.

The Roxbury Group said it is in discussions with potential operators for the restaurant and expect to announce plans by the end of summer.

The David Whitney Building, designed by Chicago architecture firm D.H. Burnham and Co., originally opened as a medical office and retail building.

The building closed in 1999.

The Roxbury Group acquired the property in 2011, and after a $94-million restoration, reopened it 2014 as a mixed-used property that included the Aloft hotel. At the time, longtime Free Press writer John Gallagher called it an "architectural gem."

Renovations are expected to start this summer and be done in late 2023.

Free Press business reporter JC Reindl contributed. Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit's Aloft hotel to become the Autograph Collection