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  #241  
Old Posted Dec 19, 2006, 10:07 PM
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Wayne's $34 million South Village Concept back on track, set to break ground in Spring with occupancy in Summer of 08, this comming directly after announcement of significant tax credit earlier in the day

Wayne State announces $34 million project
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic...EWS99/61219028

Renderings
http://www.taktixsolutions.com/Midtown%20Drawing.jpg
(PDF)
http://procard.wayne.edu/webfiles/FP..._Elevation.pdf
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  #242  
Old Posted Dec 20, 2006, 1:49 AM
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  #243  
Old Posted Dec 20, 2006, 2:50 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BANKofMANHATTAN View Post
They should start making more parking garages that blend in better w/ surrounding architecture so they're not such an eyesore.
They have been. By a city ordaninces that was created a year or two back almost all new garages built within downtown are required to have ground floor retail, and almost all are supposed to be built to fit into their respective surroundings. Make not of "almost all" because, as you see, there are exceptions, but you have to give credit where credit is due, and you need looking no further than the Opera House Garage and 1001 Garage to see how the city has forced developers to design more urban-minded parking structures:

Detroit Opera House Garage, which was required to have ground floor retail and to fits into its surroundings. Since it couldn't fit the retail into the actual garage because of the awkward shape of the site, they had to build a small standalone retail building adjacent to the structure on Broadway.


BuildingsofDetroit - http://www.flickr.com/photos/snweb/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ebaldy/89792277/

The 1001 Parking Structure, which was required to have ground floor retail and to fits into its surroundings.


pdroze - http://flickr.com/photos/18169862@N00/

Merchant's Row did this without having to be told, I believe, and built and automated garage (this was before the ordinances, I believe).


Allan M - http://www.flickr.com/photos/allanm/
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  #244  
Old Posted Dec 21, 2006, 1:06 PM
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Pick-Fort Shelby to get second life


Hotel, convention space, apartments slated for building now in disrepair

Louis Aguilar / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- Another historic downtown Detroit building will likely go from empty eyesore back to its once lush self.

The former Pick-Fort Shelby Hotel secured the final piece of a $73 million deal Wednesday that will convert the central downtown building into a Doubletree Guest Suites Hotel, conference center and high-rise apartments. Work on the West Lafayette Boulevard building, between First and Second streets, begins next month with a target opening date in winter 2007.

"The building will be beautiful again," said Emmett Moten Jr., chief executive officer of The Moten Group, one of four developers behind the deal. "We are right on schedule."

The project will include:


A 204-room hotel operated by Doubletree, a division of the Hilton Group.

About 30,000 square feet of convention space -- enough to accommodate up to 200 people.

67 apartments that may eventually become condominiums.

Historic design will be preserved

On Wednesday, the board of the city's Downtown Development Authority agreed to accept the historic easement on the project, which essentially ensures the renovated building will look as much like its historic design as possible.

The building opened in 1917 and was originally called the Hotel Fort Shelby, named after a fort that once stood at the site. In 1927, the new taller addition was added, designed by the famed Albert Kahn. The hotel fell on hard times during the Depression but rebounded. In 1951, the Albert Pick Hotels chain bought the building and added Pick to the name.

It didn't survive the declining population of Detroit of the early 1970s. It shuttered in 1973. It briefly opened in 1974 for three months, then closed to guests. Its last tenant, a bar, left in 1998.

Interior looks like Titanic

Today, the building's inside resembles the sunken Titanic. There are shades of its former grandeur -- parts of the grand staircase remain, and patches of the once opulent ceiling can be seen in the former Crystal Ballroom.

But literally every piece of the interior looks like it will need to be restored -- much like the dramatic renovation going on at the Westin-Book Cadillac. The developers insist the building is structurally sound and the opening target date can be met.

Besides Moten, the other developers are Eugene M. Curtis and Associates; Leo D. Phillips and Co.; and RSC & Associates. Moten is a former director of Detroit's Department of Community and Economic Development under the late Mayor Coleman Young.

Project to help open doors

The planned hotel joins a rush to add 1,850 hotel rooms downtown by 2008, increasing the number of units currently available by 56 percent.

Detroit's three casinos plan to add a combined 1,200 hotel rooms at their permanent game sites. The Greektown, MGM Grand and Motor City casinos are in different stages of construction.

The long vacant Book-Cadillac Hotel on West Grand Boulevard is being converted into, among other things, a 455-room Westin Hotel.

The new hotel rooms will increase the number of downtown rooms to more than 5,100.

Area convention officials are hustling to double the number of citywide conventions in Detroit, looking to bring in tens of thousands of new visitors each year.

Michael O'Callaghan, chief operating officer and executive vice president for the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau, has been enthusiastic about the Fort Shelby renovation project.

"This opens the doors for us," he said in an earlier interview. "We will have the hotel space to accommodate the existing convention space and attract four more citywide conventions of 10,000 to 15,000. "Everyone will be able to benefit."

That would be a dramatic turn of events for a city where nearly half of the hotel rooms sit empty much of the year.

You can reach Louis Aguilar at (313) 222-2760 or laguilar@detnews.com.
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  #245  
Old Posted Dec 26, 2006, 10:03 PM
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Thanks for all the photos. Am an ex Detroiter now in Seattle. Quite a building boom going on here but it is great to see the rehabs of some great buildings there. Hopefully if the transition from an auto economy to something else happens and new jobs are available the city can again become one of the great cities. I just hope the casino thing doesn't become the focal point but more of a way to get a nightlife going.....There is such a great opportunity there..........
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  #246  
Old Posted Dec 26, 2006, 10:32 PM
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great job detroit. here in philly we will be getting casinos. what the heck is it like to have them in town? a lot of us are afraid they'll be uber-tacky and cause crazy traffic; what has happened there? i love that you guys are renovating some beautiful old buildings, they should be great (esp. the cadillac building). and how's crime doing there? here we're over 400, its ashame really...but we can hope and pray right? take care Detroit!
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  #247  
Old Posted Dec 29, 2006, 6:41 PM
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WHAT'S COMING UP: 2007 will be busy with construction, office space deals


The next 12 months promise to be a busy time in metro Detroit's real estate and urban development markets. Here are 10 stories you'll be reading about in 2007:

1. The biggest question is whether the historic decline in home sales will bottom out and reverse itself in 2007. With home sales in areas of metro Detroit off as much as 30% from the same periods a year before, people trying to sell their homes, along with builders and the agents who depend on sales commissions, are devoutly wishing for a market upswing -- and soon.

2. Detroit's long-awaited RiverWalk between Hart Plaza and Belle Isle should be close to 80% built by the end of this month. The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, the nonprofit group building it, expects to conduct a formal ribbon-cutting in the spring. The opening of the riverfront could have a big impact on how people perceive downtown and the city.

3. Speaking of the east riverfront, at least two of the three upscale condominium projects selected in 2006 to replace the now-gone cement silos should start construction by mid-2007.

To be built about a half-mile east of the Renaissance Center, the first projects to get under way include one headed by Detroit industrialist and sports legend Dave Bing and another by local developer Dwight Belyue.

A third, involving Detroit sports star Jerome Bettis, might also get started in 2007, although that's less certain.

4. Downtown's Campus Martius will see completion of new park space on an adjacent parcel at the old Cadillac Square site. The paving and some landscaping already have been completed. The balance of the work should be done by spring at the latest.

5. The MGM Grand and MotorCity Casino permanent versions are well on their way to completion by late 2007. Work is also continuing on the new Greektown Casino.

6. Phone giant AT&T recently said it would move 1,000 workers to metro Detroit, and this month the company began surveying possible office sites. Real estate insiders expect AT&T to choose a site in one of suburbia's major office locales -- Troy, Southfield or along the I-275 corridor. Look for a decision around midyear.

7. Online mortgage leader Rock Financial may confirm what industry insiders have expected for several weeks -- a move of a few hundred employees to leased space in downtown's Compuware headquarters. The move would allow Rock's boss, Dan Gilbert, to test the downtown waters without committing to moving his headquarters there from the suburbs, as Detroit's civic leaders have been imploring him to do for more than a year.

8. Detroit Metro Airport's planned North Terminal is under construction and will see major progress in 2007. Opening is scheduled for mid-2008.

9. The issue of expanding Cobo Center may come closer to a resolution next year, thanks to a new proposal unveiled this month by Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano. A huge amount of debate remains, but Ficano's plan was well-received on many fronts and seemed to offer at least a reasonable starting point for a new regional discussion.

10. Ficano's vision of a region-wide criminal justice campus may move closer to reality in 2007, particularly if all sides can agree on a location in or around downtown.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...=2006612290397
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  #248  
Old Posted Jan 1, 2007, 10:04 PM
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Great photos Michi!!! There are so many great projects happening in Detroit, but what are theses things on the balconies of the Carrolton.



Quote:
They have been. By a city ordaninces that was created a year or two back almost all new garages built within downtown are required to have ground floor retail, and almost all are supposed to be built to fit into their respective surroundings. Make not of "almost all" because, as you see, there are exceptions
This ordinances should be adopted by ever city, but developers should try and make garages look like they are apart of the building. I think it's Trump building in Atlanta you can't tell it's a garage it just looks like apart of the building.
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  #249  
Old Posted Jan 4, 2007, 5:40 AM
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An update on the Detroit Commerce Building demolition and Book-Cadillac restoration.

Full worksite:


Detailing and facade about half-way cleaned on one side. Look at that!


Closeup:


All photos taken by me on January 3, 2007.
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  #250  
Old Posted Jan 4, 2007, 5:51 AM
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Wow! The cleaning of the architectural elements on the B-C makes them look as if they are new additions. I didn't know how much a cleaning was going to do for this one.
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  #251  
Old Posted Jan 6, 2007, 12:31 AM
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The B-C is really starting starting to shine and it's only been a few months since work started, I can't wait see to how it looks in 2008.
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  #252  
Old Posted Jan 23, 2007, 5:46 AM
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153 single-family homes under construction in Hamtramck

A total of 153 single family homes are being built in Hamtramck to fulfill the obligations of a housing lawsuit that was settled back in 1981. Hamtramck’s director of community and economic development, Erick Tungate says the development is about “bringing justice to the plaintiff class [as well as] putting the city as a whole in the position of solid footing.” The market-rate homes will first be made available to plaintiffs from the lawsuit.

93 of the homes are scattered infill around the city. There are 5 different styles, and most are being constructed on lots that are 30-feet wide.

60 of the homes are centered in the Grand Haven-Dyer area of the city, west of I-75. There are 4 styles of houses that are of a “more suburban nature” describes Tungate.

Tungate notes that once this project is complete, Hamtramck will be “almost fully built out, creating more density, more walkability.”

Source: Erik Tungate, City of Hamtramck


Also, if Michi doesn't post some photos soon, I will try and put some up...
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  #253  
Old Posted Jan 23, 2007, 6:44 AM
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For such an incredibly small footprint, this is huge for Hamtrack. It's interesting to note that according to SEMCOG, who's estimates I take far more seriously than the Census', Hamtramck has grown something like almost 10% since 2000, which is more than most mid-ring suburbs, and more than every inner-ring suburb. In fact, the only inner-rings and enclaves growing are those that actively promote themselves as inclusive, immigrant-friendly cities. The only other one is Dearborn, who's reported to have broke the 100,000 mark for the first time in years.

I'd really like to see Hamtramck start filling in with a few low-rises, and that's really not too far off.

Hambone a.k.a. Hamtown a.k.a. Hamtramck:

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Last edited by LMich; Jan 23, 2007 at 6:50 AM.
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  #254  
Old Posted Jan 23, 2007, 5:34 PM
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egad, only 30 ft wide lots? But where will the three-car garage go?
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  #255  
Old Posted Jan 23, 2007, 8:33 PM
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Spirit of Detroit gets $100,000 makeover
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...701230353/1003

Salvation Army receives grant to build $98 million community center
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...DATE/701230430

Dime Building gets new tenants
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/apps/pb...1190319/-1/toc
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  #256  
Old Posted Jan 23, 2007, 8:49 PM
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Rendering of the nwe B-C garage/condo development...looks absolutely amazing

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  #257  
Old Posted Jan 24, 2007, 12:31 AM
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Using the image Lmich posted, Hamtramck's boundaries are in red and the area where they plan to build 60 (more suburban styled) is outlined in yellow.

an outline of the project west of i75

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  #258  
Old Posted Jan 25, 2007, 2:22 AM
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That's a pretty roughed up area over there bordering the freeway, Detroit, and the light industry.
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  #259  
Old Posted Jan 26, 2007, 2:20 AM
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Hamtramck does seem to be turning the corner. A light rail line would certainly put it over the edge. How comical that it once had a trolley line connecting it to a greater system. What about the city government there?
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  #260  
Old Posted Jan 26, 2007, 2:23 AM
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I don't think its comical, at all. In fact, it was even denser than it is now. I'd be surprised if it didn't once have a rail connecting to Detroit's mass transit system. In fact, the place is dense enough, now, to warrant a line through it.
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