DETROIT | Development & Construction: Motown Lowdown

[Michi]

Originally Posted by EuphoricOctopus

I feel back then there was a lot of talk to make it seem like Detroit was busy with development, mostly from kwame. You either had deals that were already set in stone or pie-in-the-sky proposals that were never gonna happen.

Good point! I think a lot of Kwame's hot air was left over smoke from the Archer Administration. Kwame carried the momentum into his, but as we know now, ruled it with corruption...a nonstarter/destroyer. It's too bad since people really wanted to get behind him.

[DetroitSky]

Originally Posted by mind field

How accurate is this info? On their website it only lists around 40 units as being reserved. Although i have no doubt at all this building will become 100% leased.

I was told this by the people I was talking to that worked for Quicken. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but I suppose we should go by what the site says.

Saw this just now, anyone know what building this is?

University of Detroit Mercy will turn downtown firehouse into legal-aid clinics
By Meghana Keshaven
| | | | | |
The University of Detroit Mercy School of Law will repurpose the historic Engine No. 2 firehouse downtown to accommodate the school’s 10 legal aid-clinics.

The 6,000-square-foot, two-story building, on Larned Street about half a block from UDM’s riverfront campus, is slated to reopen this December.

A gift from UDM law alumnus Anthony Asher of the Southfield law firm Sullivan, Ward, Asher, & Patton PC allowed for the purchase and upcoming renovation of the firehouse. Additional support came from the heirs of Walter Buhl Ford III and the Detroit-based McGregor Fund.

While the amount donated and purchase price of the building have not been disclosed, UDM law Dean Lloyd Semple said the renovation will cost about $1 million.

The 1910 firehouse was gutted in 2008 by Ford, the building’s former owner, with designs to renovate it into an audio and video recording studio. After Ford’s death in 2010, the plans were shelved, Semple said.

Architects already have surveyed the old firehouse and have drawn up floor plans for the 10 clinics.

Last November, the UDM law school spent $8 million to renovate its existing building, Dowling Hall.

In the UDM clinics, law students and faculty provide about 1,500 Detroiters annually with immigration, foreclosure and veterans affairs legal assistance.

“Our new facility is going to be much more accessible – right out there, visible to the entire Detroit community,” Semple said. “We expect this will increase the demand for our services.”

[mind field]

Originally Posted by DetroitSky

I was told this by the people I was talking to that worked for Quicken. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but I suppose we should go by what the site says.

Yeah, i actually emailed them, and they told me that their website is accurate, only 40 units have been reserved out of a total of 125 (or so). But like i said before, i have no doubt this will become 100% leased in short order. It is the premiere urban address in the entire state of Michigan.

[Onn]

Shot brought to you by the governor today who was on MSNBC!



http://www.facebook.com/RickForMichigan

[Rizzo]

The Union at Midtown...a new apartment complex across the Street from Wayne State University is to be demolished.....then reconstructed due to flood damage.

Total loss to catastrophic floods as a result of plumbing failure is extremely rare unless it was due to a fire sprinkler failing, but usually an alarm would be triggered and the water shut off before water begins to move laterally to other units. It's happened in my building, but typically water is isolated to a single apartment, as it dumps down into the plumbing chases, and across the basement floor until it reaches a storm drain. Not sure how this building was constructed to accommodate accidental flooding.

[Michi]

Posting here, for lack of a better place...

I found this photo on ebay of all places. It is of the demolition of the old City Hall Building at Campus Martius in 1961. What a horrible scene!

[subterranean]

Originally Posted by Michi

Posting here, for lack of a better place...

I found this photo on ebay of all places. It is of the demolition of the old City Hall Building at Campus Martius in 1961. What a horrible scene!

Wow, what the hell were these people thinking (and still)? I'm staying at the Westin next week and I still can't believe the gaping hole left by the Lafayette.

[Michi]

Originally Posted by subterranean

Wow, what the hell were these people thinking (and still)? I'm staying at the Westin next week and I still can't believe the gaping hole left by the Lafayette.

For sure! If you didn't know what the demo was in the picture above, it's not hard to imagine it might be the Michigan Central Station, which is scary. Have fun at the WBC!

[LMich]

However it looked on the outside (and I do like the exterior), the old city hall was shoddily built from the start and wasn't at all opulent on the inside, and had quickly became cramped as the city grew. It was certainly no Wayne County Courthouse. If someone had a plan for reuse, it'd have been great, but I don't consider it among the city's greatest architectural loses.

[animatedmartian]

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/in...er_stadiu.html

New hopes for old Tiger Stadium site: Detroit delegation backs proposal for youth facility

Detroit's state delegation is throwing its weight behind a new proposal to redevelop the old Tiger Stadium site as a youth baseball facility.

State Sen. Morris Hood III and 15 of his colleagues, in a letter sent to Mayor Dave Bing on Tuesday, urged him to sit down with Sen. Carl Levin and the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy to work out a transfer agreement for the parcel at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull.

"Any shot in the arm the city can take right now is a positive, and the different avenues and ideas in this new endeavor could be great for the city of Detroit and Corktown," Hood told MLive.com.

The conservancy would use a $3.8 million federal earmark secured by Levin in 2008 to restore the playing field and potentially build a small museum recognizing the site's historical significance.

Leftover funds could be used for facade improvements and other beautification projects on Michigan Avenue and in the surrounding neighborhood.

"We're talking mainly about making sure kids have the opportunity to experience baseball," Hood said. "Baseball has done great for us in the past, getting inner city kids the chance to experience baseball, to learn baseball, to play baseball on a baseball field."

Mayor Dave Bing's press secretary confirmed that he received the letter and plans to draft a response in coming weeks. He is not prepared to offer public comment at this time.

Detroit, of course, is in the midst of a financial crisis. Some Council members have proposed closing all of the city's recreation centers, motivating Hood to send the letter this week.

The letter also was signed by State Sens. Tupac Hunter, Bert Johnson, Virgil Smith and Reps. Timothy Bledsoe, Fred Durhal Jr., Lisa Howze, Shanelle Jackson, David Nathan, John Olumba, Thomas Stallworth, Harvey Santana, Maureen Stapleton, Alberta Tinsley-Talabi, Rashida Tlaib and Jimmy Womack.

Levin secured the federal earmark in 2008 as preservationists sought to spare a portion of Tiger Stadium from demolition. The city eventually tore down the entire structure, leaving a vacant and poorly-secured lot in its wake.

Volunteers, calling themselves the Navin Field Grounds Crew in reference to the original name of what would later become Tiger Stadium, have assumed maintenance of the corner, trespassing on the city-owned lot to mow grass, pick up trash and make sure the field is fit for the occasional pickup game.

The conservancy, meanwhile, successfully submitted a grant application with the U.S. Department of Housing and Development last August allowing them to administer the Levin earmark.

But to date, the city has rejected any and all proposals for the site, arguing that its proximity to multiple freeways makes it a prime candidate for commercial development. Last year, the city even rejected an offer by Chevrolet to rehabilitate the field.

The conservancy would be content to lease the land, which would allow the city to reclaim it in the future, so long as they have the chance do something productive in the interim.

"We'd be happy to own the land, lease the land or do whatever," Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy President Thom Linn told MLive.com. "It's a shame that it's just laying fallow and growing weeds."

[subterranean]

Originally Posted by LMich

However it looked on the outside (and I do like the exterior), the old city hall was shoddily built from the start and wasn't at all opulent on the inside, and had quickly became cramped as the city grew. It was certainly no Wayne County Courthouse. If someone had a plan for reuse, it'd have been great, but I don't consider it among the city's greatest architectural loses.

And what do you consider the greatest architectural losses?

[subterranean]

Michi, you're back in the Midwest??

[fishrose]

Originally Posted by hudkina

The current major projects are Broderick and Cobo. Upcoming major projects will most likely be the West Riverfront, the Hudson Block, and the David Whitney Building. Further down the line I'm sure we'll hear something on the Book Tower and even the David Stott.

There's some floor-by-floor action going on in the Stott right now. The bar on the ground floor is open, and the bar on the top floor is fully renovated. From what I've heard the only holdup to opening the top-floor bar and beginning work on the rest of the building is getting the elevators repaired and brought up to code.

[fishrose]

Originally Posted by Hayward

The Union at Midtown...a new apartment complex across the Street from Wayne State University is to be demolished.....then reconstructed due to flood damage.

Total loss to catastrophic floods as a result of plumbing failure is extremely rare unless it was due to a fire sprinkler failing, but usually an alarm would be triggered and the water shut off before water begins to move laterally to other units. It's happened in my building, but typically water is isolated to a single apartment, as it dumps down into the plumbing chases, and across the basement floor until it reaches a storm drain. Not sure how this building was constructed to accommodate accidental flooding.

I have a friend who lived in that building. I'm no architect, but just watching construction and seeing the interior of the completed building I could tell that every possible corner was being cut. Hopefully they rebuild something that looks less like a piece of shit, but I don't have my hopes up.

[mind field]

The developers of the Broderick Tower are hosting another open house on opening day for the Tigers, which is April 5. Go to their website for more info.

http://www.brodericktower.com/

[Michi]

Originally Posted by subterranean

Michi, you're back in the Midwest??

Yah, I found my way back and landed in Chicago! I left the sun in Houston though...

[GRsupercity]

Im glad to see that chrysler is really pushing detroit. There making it look good.

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by Michi

Yah, I found my way back and landed in Chicago! I left the sun in Houston though...

Logan Square, huh? My friends have convinced me to move out of downtown to LS. I'm excited. I might just be able to sleep at night finally.

[Kingofthehill]

Originally Posted by Hayward

Logan Square, huh? My friends have convinced me to move out of downtown to LS. I'm excited. I might just be able to sleep at night finally.

Mine, too!

[Michi]

Originally Posted by Hayward

Logan Square, huh? My friends have convinced me to move out of downtown to LS. I'm excited. I might just be able to sleep at night finally.

You're moving from DT to LS? I think we may just have to do a location swap!

I like it here. Technically, we're just north of LS, but I keep dreaming of a DT location...I've got my eyes on the Fulton Market vicinity & some West Loop. My first love is the water, but Aqua might put me in over my head (pun intended)!

See you on the blue line!