The University of Michigan just broke ground on a 313-Unit tower in Detroit. It's a 40-Year commitment.

For most of the past century, the University of Michigan studied Detroit from a distance. That is changing on Cass Avenue.

On April 17, the university and its development partners broke ground on Founders House, a 13-story residential tower at 2205 Cass Avenue. The building will hold 313 units, ranging from studios to three-bedroom apartments, across roughly 235,000 square feet. Construction is expected to cost $186 million and finish in 2028.

The tower is the residential half of the University of Michigan Center for Innovation, or UMCI, the university's permanent campus in downtown Detroit. Founders House will house graduate students and faculty tied to the center. The university has signed a 40-year lease, an initial term that points to long-term intent rather than a trial run.

The academic side is rising a block away at 2121 Cass Avenue. That six-floor research and education building, about 200,000 square feet, is under construction and expected to open in 2027. Its lower floors are planned for public programs, a cafe, and shared office space, with graduate research above. UMCI is set to offer degrees in fields including urban technology, advanced manufacturing, and applied artificial intelligence.

The development team carries the project's weight. Related Companies, founded by University of Michigan alumnus and donor Stephen Ross, is co-developing Founders House with Olympia Development of Michigan, the Ilitch family's real estate arm that has driven much of the building around Little Caesars Arena. The wider UMCI effort was funded with $100 million from Ross, $100 million through the state of Michigan, and $50 million from other donors. Olympia contributed the land.

Elkus Manfredi Architects designed the tower, with Detroit-based Neumann/Smith Architecture as architect of record. The project is targeting LEED Gold certification, and it sits inside the Transformational Brownfield Plan for The District Detroit.

"Projects like this show what Detroit has to offer on a state, national and global level," Mayor Mary Sheffield said at the groundbreaking.

Scott Shireman, the center's executive director, framed the tower as proof of follow-through, saying the team was proud to celebrate the groundbreaking of the UMCI residential building.

The logic is plain. A research campus needs people who can live nearby, not just commute in. Building the housing and the academic center at the same time, on the same corner, within roughly a year of each other, is how an institution puts down roots. The 40-year lease is the part that says the university plans to stay.