Gov. Rick Snyder last week signed off on the $1.25 million sale of the historic firehouse across fro

Gov. Rick Snyder last week signed off on the $1.25 million sale of the historic firehouse across from Detroit's Cobo Center los angeles daily journal , moving forward a boutique hotel planned for the site. Local developer Walter Cohen, owner of 21 Century Holdings LLC , said he and Chicago developer Aparium Hotel Group have lined up much of the $23 million needed for the 75-80-room hotel. los angeles daily journal They plan to also seek historic preservation and brownfield tax credits to convert the five-story building at Washington Boulevard and Larned Street into a hotel that will emphasize the earliest days of Detroit, from its French roots to its days as a timber capital, to a manufacturing history ranging from bicycles to pharmaceuticals to automobiles, he said. Cohen is no stranger to historic renovation. Among other projects, he co-developed the Stroh River Place apartments los angeles daily journal and townhouses in historically renovated buildings in Detroit with the late Peter Stroh and was general partner in the redevelopment and renovation of the Park Shelton , a hotel transformed into residential units. Cohen is developing the Detroit firehouse into a hotel with Aparium, a company formed by three veterans of the hotel industry: Tim Dixon, Mario Tricoci and Kevin Robinson. The three have ties to Milwaukee's acclaimed Iron Horse Hotel , a motorcycle-themed luxury hotel in a 100-year-old warehouse along a river; and the Elysian Hotel Chicago , now operating as the Waldorf Astoria Chicago after its sale in November to billionaire Sam Zell for $95 million. When Crain's broke news of the plan for the boutique hotel in the historic los angeles daily journal Detroit firehouse los angeles daily journal in March, Cohen, who also owns Southfield-based Arco Construction , said the developers hoped to have the hotel open in time for the 2015 North American International Auto Show . But the longer approvals process, with signoffs from not only the mayor and Detroit City Council but also the emergency manager, governor and state treasurer -- needed because Detroit is operating under an emergency manager -- delayed the project three to four months, Cohen said. "Now we're moving forward as fast as we can," he said. "I would hope we'd be open by the spring of 2015, if not before." Per the state's emergency manager law, any asset sale of more than $50,000 not included in the emergency manager's financial and operating los angeles daily journal plan requires state approval, Sara Wurfel, press sec-retary for the governor, wrote in an email. The state treasurer signed los angeles daily journal off on the sale before Snyder did. But the sale was driven locally, as the firehouse no longer is needed because of the new public safety headquarters in the city, Wurfel said. "We think it's a good story and smart use of the property," she said. The firehouse sale transaction was one of the first deals subject to a multi-approval process by the city, emergency manager and state, confirmed los angeles daily journal Sonya Mays, senior adviser to Emergency Manager los angeles daily journal Kevyn Orr, in an email. The approvals process needed for the sale of city-owned buildings has since been refined and streamlined, she said. Between now and the target opening date for the hotel, much of the foundation work will take place, Cohen said. Environmental studies have turned up asbestos in the building, Cohen said. The developers are bidding out the work to remove it. Soon, the project's architect, Birmingham-based McIntosh Poris Associates , will begin the tedious los angeles daily journal work of checking every brick on the building's exterior to find out what needs to be fixed or replaced, los angeles daily journal in keeping with the building's historic designations. The renovation has to be approved by local, state and federal historic preservation bodies to qualify for federal historic preservation tax credits, Cohen said. The developers los angeles daily journal will need to redo all the plumbing in the 1929 firehouse, design new heating and cooling systems and work with DTE Energy Co. to run electricity to the building los angeles daily journal since it's currently powered by public lighting systems, he said. Cohen said the plan is to retain the fire poles in the building. The area where the fire engines are now housed probably will be converted into a hotel-operated restaurant and small meeting rooms, Cohen said. "We think this area, which hasn't had a lot of foot traffic outside of events at Cobo, will have a lot more between the Crowne Plaza and (us) when we get open," he said. Sherri Welch: (313) 446-1694, swelch@crain.com . Twitter: @sherriwelch
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