The city is planning to sell a long-vacant building on Detroit’s west side to a group that wants to redevelop it into 180 new residential units and retail space.

Construction at Lee Plaza is expected to start as early as 2021 with restoration work estimated at upward of $50 million.

The sale to the Roxbury Group and Ethos Development Partners requires City Council approval. The city says the project is expected to reserve at least half of the residential units for people who make below the area’s median income level.

Lee Plaza was built in the 1920s and converted in 1969 to senior housing. The city says it was added in 1981 to the National Register of Historic Places.

The Detroit Housing Commission closed the 17-story building in 1997.