New details are out about the residential skyscraper under construction at the former site of the Joe Louis Arena that would be the biggest apartment tower to open on the Detroit riverfront in decades and likely test the depth of market-rate housing demand in downtown.

Construction crews are making fast progress on the 25-story building, 600 Civic Center Drive, which will contain 496 apartments and be called The Residences at Water Square when it opens in February 2024.

The Residences will be marketed as an upscale and amenity-filled building with a swimming pool. All units will lease at market-rate rents.

The majority of the apartments will be studios and one-bedroom units, with two-bedroom penthouses on the top floor. Every unit would feature 10-foot-tall, floor-to-ceiling windows for expansive views of downtown and the Detroit River.

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The building's website is now live and preleasing is to start in August. It is owned and being developed by Detroit-based Sterling Group. Construction began in early 2022. The asking rents have not been set.

The tower will be far bigger than any recent all-new housing developments in Detroit, which typically have under 300 units. The vacancy rate for apartment buildings in Detroit's central business district was 10% in the first quarter of this year, according to data from CoStar compiled by the Downtown Detroit Partnership.

In an interview Wednesday, Sterling Group Chief Development Officer Danny Samson said they believe the housing market is ready for their coming surge of units.

"We feel confidently that the Detroit market has the demand to support a building of this scale. We also believe that this location warrants a building of this scale," he said. "This is a very important location in Detroit’s history and in Detroit’s future, and we wanted to build a building that was contributory to the skyline and made an impact.

"It wasn’t the kind of property where you would want to build something smaller. It needs to be of substance, it needs to be of scale, and we feel very good that this location can support it and there will be demand and interest for it.”

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan heaped praise on the development in a statement released Wednesday.

"The Residences at Water Square will be our city's first new riverfront residential high rise since Riverfront Towers opened 40 years ago," the mayor said. "The big difference is that in 1983, our riverfront was a collection of cement silos and asphalt parking lots, while today we have what is widely recognized as the nation's most beautiful public RiverWalk."

Besides its size, The Residences also is unique for not utilizing any tax breaks, tax captures or other development incentives.

Most Detroit developers seek incentives to help close a gap between the costs of construction and attainable rents in a market like Detroit compared with bigger cities such as Chicago.

In exchange for such incentives, developers then set aside at least 20% of their units at below-market rents for those with qualifying incomes.

“There are no incentives on this project," Samson said. “We worked very hard with the predevelopment to cost it out as aggressively as we could in order to design it as aggressively as we could to maximize all the features and amenities that people want — but while still keeping costs in an appropriate range."

The tower's future residents could be a mix of demographics, he said, including young people working downtown, empty-nesters wanting to downsize and those desiring a pied-à-terre, or place to stay or entertain, in the city.

"It is really unique to anything in the city right now," Samson said. "All of the units have floor-to-ceiling glass. So any unit you are standing in, when you walk up to the window, there is nothing in the way of your views. You are looking all of the way down the river, all of the way into downtown.”

The development is also unique for its relatively quick pace of construction. Samson credited the project's construction and design team.

"It is a reinforced concrete structure, which allows us to build very rapidly," he said. "We’ve been pouring a floor almost every eight days."

The tower is going up on the former site of Joe Louis Arena, the longtime home of the Detroit Red Wings, which closed in 2017 and was fully demolished in 2020.

Sterling Group acquired the arena's 5-acre riverfront site from one of Detroit's 2013-14 bankruptcy creditors through a complex $14.1 million deal with the city that happened in late 2019.

The creditor, New York-based bond insurer Financial Guaranty Insurance Corp., had taken future development and ownership rights to the Joe Louis site when accepting roughly 13 cents on the dollar for its $1.1-billion bankruptcy claim.

Development facts:

• Size: 25 floors, about 300 feet in height.

• Units: 496 market-rate apartments, mostly studios and one-bedrooms. Penthouses on 25th floor will be two-bedrooms.

• Amenities: All-seasons swimming pool with wraparound outdoor deck; Rooftop terrace with outdoor furniture, grills and firepit; fitness center; 24-hour valet parking; pet grooming station; bike storage; access to nearby People Mover station.

• Rent levels: TBD. Preleasing begins in August via website and an on-site model will open. All units market-rate.

• Expected completion: February 2024

• Development cost: Not disclosed. No tax breaks or development incentives.

• Developer: The Sterling Group

• Architect: Neumann/Smith

• General contractor: Colasanti Construction Services

Contact JC Reindl: 313-378-5460 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @jcreindl. Read more on business and sign up for our business newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: The Residences at Water Square: New details on Detroit apartment tower