The
J.
L. Hudson Department Store
in downtown Detroit once anchored a mighty commercial district.
Long abandoned in February 1997, it faced demolition. A
less certain fate awaits the Book Building and the David
Broderick Tower whose towers flank Hudson's.
Hudson's
The
automobile, the wealth from which downtown Detroit had thrived,
nearly turned the downtown area into a ghost town by the mid
eighties. A lack of free parking and the easy access to suburban
shopping malls by new expressways in the post World War II era
led to its decline.
The
abandonment of the massive J. L. Hudson
Store in the early 80's was the death knell of downtown
Detroit.