SPRUCE MANOR CONDOMINIUMS, Royal Oak, Michigan 

Developed on a one-block parcel on the southeast edge of Royal Oak’s downtown, this project was the first to explore bringing a historic urban housing model to the redevelopment of Royal Oak’s neighborhoods.  The project was influenced by the Brownstone neighborhoods surrounding Chicago.  Following that model the project was developed as 12 stacked flats in 6 buildings. Each building stands alone with private courtyards filling the space between buildings.  Since no precedent existed in the city zoning ordinance for this model, we successfully negotiated several variances to allow the project to move forward.