100 apartments coming to historic former Detroit school

Officials gathered this week to mark the start of construction of an historical adaptive reuse project near 8 Mile. The Higginbotham Art Residences will bring 100 affordable apartments to the neighborhood.

Located in the 8 Mile Wyoming neighborhood at Indiana and Chippewa, the William E. Higginbotham School dates back to 1926 and could reopen in its new form in 2026. It was once an all-black elementary school, when there were restrictive housing practices in the city. While much of the development in the city in the past 10 years has happened closer to downtown, this area has not seen much new construction or restorations.

The project will include both renovating the school into housing, plus new buildings on the campus. Art, sculpture, and community space are also planned for the development.

URGE Development Group and Cinnaire are leading the $35.9 million development. The apartments will be leased at 30-80% Area Median Income. Funding is coming from a variety of sources, including Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, Historic Tax Credits, support from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, and ARPA funds from the city of Detroit.

“The Higginbotham Art Residences is a love letter to the neighborhoods of Detroit.  We are creating an example of what can be done to breathe new life into our vacated school buildings. By weaving affordable housing into a campus emersed in art (both inside and outside of the building), we are showing a future of what neighborhood centric development can look like.” said Roderick Hardamon, CEO of URGE. “We are excited for the support of each of our partners for this transformative project.”