Urbane Apts expands into Birmingham with latest rehab

Urbane Apartments is spreading into Oakland County’s vibrant downtowns one by one. The latest to fall to rehab is Birmingham.The Royal Oak-based firm started construction this week on a 42-unit building on Adams Street, just north of Birmingham’s Rail District. Urbane on Adams will offer luxury one-bedroom rentals there starting this spring.The building is an old senior center that was foreclosed on and vacant when Urbane bought it. It plans to turn the C-shaped structure into rentals. The courtyard will be maintained and the company will turn a nearby 2,000-square-foot clubhouse into office space.”We’re going to attempt to incorporate some co-working office space there,” says Eric Brown, co-founder of Urbane Apartments. “If nothing else it will be for our residents.”This is Urbane’s 15th building. The company takes old apartment buildings and rehabs them into luxury spaces with flexible leases that are either in or within easy walking distance of a downtown area. Its buildings are centered in southeast Oakland County in Royal Oak, Ferndale, Berkley and Clawson.For information on Urbane Apartments offerings, call (248) 988-7125.Source: Eric Brown, co-founder of Urbane ApartmentsWriter: Jon Zemke