One of Royal Oak's ugly apartment ducklings is being turned into a beautiful swan called Urbane on Farnum.
The folks behind Urbane Apartments are in the midst of completely gutting and refurbishing a 1960s apartment building at the corner of Farnum and Washington streets. It is across the street from Royal Oak's old Dondero High School and a few blocks north of downtown. The apartment building had fallen into disrepair over the years and was becoming a blight on the neighborhood before Urbane stepped in. It's investing $400,000 into restoring the building.
"We're hearing a lot of kudos from the community for taking on this project," says Diane Sawinski, director of marketing and leasing for Urbane Apartments.
Urbane is turning the structure's 16 units into large studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom lofts. They will include a number of modern amenities, such as brand new hardwood floors, granite bar tops, black appliances, glass French doors and dual shower heads, among others. The building will also have high-speed wireless Internet.
Work is expected to wrap up by either late spring or early summer. The units in the building will be available for rent shortly thereafter.
Urbane owns and operates eight buildings, is renovating a few more and ready to close on yet another in downtown Ferndale. The apartment buildings are mainly located in southeast Oakland County. For information on Urbane Apartments offerings, call (248) 988-7125.
Source: Diane Sawinski, director of marketing and leasing for Urbane Apartments
Writer: Jon Zemke
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