The redevelopment of the Spring Cleaners site at the northwest corner of North Fourth Street and East First Avenue was approved last week by the Italian Village Commission.
The project calls for demolishing the existing one-story building and replacing it with a three-story mixed-use building featuring 27 one-bedroom apartments and two ground-level retail spaces.
“We don’t have users yet for the retail,” said developer Kevin Lykens, adding that the owner of Spring Cleaners has decided retire. “We’re looking for anything that’s a good fit for there, whether that’s a coffee shop, bar, or straight retail… I would love to see another drop-off dry cleaner go in.”
The new building should be coming out of the ground some time in early 2018, Lykens said. In the meantime, he is also looking for a tenant to fill a small retail space just across the street.
The two-story brick building at 851 N. Fourth St. was built over 100 years ago and has been vacant since the 1980’s, according to Lykens. With rehab work ongoing, he hopes the building will be ready for new occupants in two to three months.
“We’re pretty excited to get that one going,” he said. “It’s a unique retail space, with 15-foot ceilings…I see something low-key in there, maybe a daytime food place like a deli.”
Other Lykens Companies projects are also starting to take shape in the neighborhood:
- Work recently started on a new 36-unit building, at the northeast corner of East Fourth Avenue and North Fourth, which will serve as the first piece of the multi-phase Budd Dairy redevelopment.
- The residential conversion of the former E.J. Thomas building at 174 Detroit Ave. will be completed in about six months.
- Also on Detroit, ground was recently broken on a two-story building that will contain four townhome units, each clocking in at about 1,800 square feet. Those units will be for sale.