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I didn't have a camera with me, so I couldn't grab a photo, but there's a notice on the building just south of Marwil Bookstore for an upcoming City Council meeting to discuss a proposed, 4-story development on the site. Does anyone have more details?
This is the building in question:
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=4...,74.58,,0,5.56
The old Christian Science Reading Room... when did they move out?
5+ years ago.
[QUOTE=Cooper;160518]I didn't have a camera with me, so I couldn't grab a photo, but there's a notice on the building just south of Marwil Bookstore for an upcoming City Council meeting to discuss a proposed, 4-story development on the site. Does anyone have more details?
This is the building in question:
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=4...,74.58,,0,5.56[/QU What is the nature of this development?
I wish I remembered more details. I'm hoping someone will walk over and snap a photo of the notice. It listed the properties in question and the nature of the development. I think it was mixed-use with ground floor retail.Quote:
Originally Posted by Detroit Stylin
That's contrary to what's being discussed in the "Deconstruction" thread. Considering that this property happens to be smack dab in the middle of Old Main's "front yard".Quote:
Originally Posted by Cooper
Hey, WSU! Whatever you build there, don't do another Studio One Apartments. That thing belongs in Arizona.
Side note, it will be disappointing to see that little building go. It's easy to miss as you're passing by, but it looks cool as hell. Hands down, one of my favorite buildings in midtown.
A bit of history here on the sale of first building to WSU and the building of the second structure in the early 60s, here
What!?! What is going on!?? People are crying about losing the ugly modernist building on Woodward, and now we have others saying their FAVORITE BUILDING IN MIDTOWN, HANDS DOWN is this nondescript "reading room" ugly-as-hell little abandoned craphole... I know my favorite building is the giant, white, windowless, concrete blighted box across from Curl Up & Dye.... That's a real gem.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pcm
Whatever happened to our appreciation for REAL architecture? These are precisely the buildings that NEED to be knocked down in Midtown .... Wayne State is playing it smart. There are intelligent people and the UCCA behind them. I really doubt historic structures will continue to see the wrecking ball. On the contrary, Wayne State understands that all the crappy prefab modernist architecture from the 70s-90s in Midtown would better serve the neighborhood by being replaced with something more in line with our better buildings.
My REAL favorite buildings in Midtown: Old Main, Stuberstone, Masonic Temple, Garfield Building, Maccabees Building, DPL, Rackham Hall, all of Ferry Street.... I could go on. Since when are crappy one-story windowless 1970s concrete buildings our 'favorite buildings in Midtown, hands down'? Our standards have really dropped far.
People are always leery of change.
Perhaps we're referring to two different buildings.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gsgeorge
While I can certainly appreciate the architecture of the easy to identify buildings, I appreciate even more the details of Detroit that you must stumble upon.
I have no architectural education or training. Which means, I'm free to find beauty in structures that not everyone else will.
It's too bad that Old Main and the Garfield building will be surrounded by crappy prefab architecture from the 2010's. The old CSRR happens to appear to NOT be from the 70's, but much older. It is short, stocky, and sturdy. I like the way that looks. Sue me.
That reading room was never a very appealing building. But I think maybe where the leeriness comes from is not that it will be replaced by something uglier [[in my opinion, impossible!) but what will the scale of what replaces it be? Seems WSU development is shooting either for large-scale, vertical generica [[the Albuquerque-looking building next to the Whitney, for example; love the scale, hate the Southwestern tones) or "green space." Say what you will about that block between Hancock and Warren, but it's kind of a warren of all sorts of sizes. Which reminds me of what a city probably should look like. That is what will likely be lost, as WSU embarks on building ... what? ... a massive hotel? a parking garage? Pretty soon, you won't be able to see the neighborhood for the institutional architecture ... or that's the sense I get of people's fears.
I read the sign on the windows of the buildings in question. The notice says the proposal calls for a four-story building with 81 "multi-family residential units" and 3 commercial storefronts. The meeting is 11:00 AM, Wednesday July 14th at the Coleman A. Young Building. I'm guessing there will be renderings there.
Sad to see the small historic building go, maybe they could somehow incorporate into the new structure. Regardless, 81 new units of housing and 3 new storefronts will make a big impact and is a huge improvement to that corner.
You probably can't read what it says, but just to prove it is real:Quote:
Originally Posted by Cooper
The building next door to the Christian Science Reading Room Building, [[with the shredded green awnings), has some mild sandstone decorative trim that looks ok. It too is slated to be demolished and would make a decent sized lot if the whole parcel was developed.
I wouldn't mind if they developed that entire block along Cass, south of Marwil's.
Wait, I thought the Christian Science Reading Room was the older building with limestone and shredded awnings. That is the building with the notice on it.
I believe they both have been tagged for removal. I will look again tomorrow to verify.
Well the worst designs were never actually built, as in those with dated and unchangeable designs or those with horrible suburban style setbacks.
Studio One and the Ellington are not perfect, but are a step in the right direction. While, The Woodward Garden Block is even a step beyond those two projects.
PS; Note that I couldn't actually link to the Ellington or Studio One web sites because those sites don't seem to prominently post pictures of the exterior of their buildings anywhere on the site, which I'm sure has nothing to do with their appearance. :rolleyes:
Yes, they have both have been tagged for demolition and rebuild.
Speaking of Studio One, when is the next phase of the South University Village slated to start? I heard construction would take place 2010-2011 for a second 5-story building on Canfield Ave.
Anyone hear any updates? rumors?
The sandstone trim on the building next to the ex-Christian Science Reading Room is being carefully cut out and removed for reuse. Protective barrier fencing has already gone up and a claw-type wrecker is onsite. Good to see the decorative elements are being removed responsibly for reuse.
Yes. This is terrific news. I wonder if it will be used for the new building.Quote:
Originally Posted by Warrenite84
Quote:
Originally Posted by Warrenite84
Love.It....
The Green Garage on 2nd will be utilizing the limestone from the Christian Science Reading Room
These are from last week...sad to see those brick building on Warren go down...they have fence around them now. I remember when I started at Wayne in 2004 that they were closing those.
Is that a Banksy? Somebody better call 555 quickly to "preserve it".
I thought the same thing....figured it must not be...
So wait, are they going to demo the old Psychology department building?!
The new development is great news, it will bring added life to that corner, and much needed new residential space. But the demolitions along W Warren and Woodward are troubling because there is no public plan for what will replace those buildings. I want to see some renderings. A press release. Something. Wayne State has an ugly history of "urban renewal" AKA demolish everything.
I worked in the university development department for a little while. It's *much* easier securing funding for a new building than getting redevelopment money.Quote:
Originally Posted by casscorridor
On the Wayne State's web site, under Facilities Planning and Management there is a link to this summer's projects that includes the demolition of a majority of the block. It does not say what their final intention is with the Woodard and Warren site however is mentions temporay pedestrian access paths.
"In 2002, the University purchased several properties from Detroit Public Schools including 5057 Woodward [[Maccabees Building). Following that acquisition the building was renovated to accommodate a number of University departments and programs. Among those that moved into the building were academic departments previously located at 51 West Warren and 71 West Warren. These two buildings have been vacant or under-used since.
In late 2004, the University acquired the commercial and retail properties at 4823-29 Woodward and 4847-69 Woodward. Similarly, in November of 2007 authorization was granted to acquire the former American Civil Liberties Union building at 60 West Hancock. Together with the former Public Safety Building, Simons Building, and 51 and 71 West Warren these real estate purchases resulted in the University's ownership of contiguous properties representing approximately 65 percent of the city block bounded by Woodward, Warren, Cass, and Hancock. Finally, during the summer of 2008 renovations to 6050 Cass in TechTown were completed for the new Public Safety Department Headquarters, thereby vacating their previous location on Hancock.
When demolition is completed later this summer the Subway shop on Warren will remain, as will the Simons Building at the corner of Woodward and Hancock, and 60 West Hancock will continue to accommodate University programs. Following the demolition of the aforementioned buildings most of the land will become an open green space with a meandering sidewalk that cuts across the property diagonally from Woodward to Warren. Other improvements will include site lighting, park benches, lawn irrigation, and planter beds for flowers and ornamental grasses, all of which will enhance this intersection as a major gateway to the campus."
All from Wayne's website.
HAHA proper +1Quote:
Originally Posted by JJD
We had all this pesky architecture and this, well, this CITY in the way of our beautiful, beautiful GATEWAY. We had to knock it down so we could look like a REAL university. :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by buckster1986
Are you seriously complaining that they are going to replace a few ugly empty buildings with a nice park?Quote:
Originally Posted by Detroitnerd
From Buckster1986, "When demolition is completed later this summer the Subway shop on Warren will remain, as will the Simons Building at the corner of Woodward and Hancock, and 60 West Hancock will continue to accommodate University programs. Following the demolition of the aforementioned buildings most of the land will become an open green space with a meandering sidewalk that cuts across the property diagonally from Woodward to Warren. Other improvements will include site lighting, park benches, lawn irrigation, and planter beds for flowers and ornamental grasses, all of which will enhance this intersection as a major gateway to the campus."
All from Wayne's website.[/quote]
Wait a minute! I hope that this park with this "meandering diagonal walkway" is only temporary. I can't believe Wayne State is tearing down all of those buildings for a permanent "gateway" park. I had heard that that corner was going to house a conference center with a possible hotel. Also, I thought that the "Welcome Center" on the other side of Warren was Wayne State's "gateway?" I don't have any love for the buildings being torn down, but I do have a problem with destroying the streetwall of that corner for a "gateway" park. Constructing another Ellington or Studio One Apartments-type building would be my preferred choice for that corner. The hustle and bustle of ground floor shops and above ground residences is a better gateway in my opinion. Hopefully, the park is only temporary and that something that houses people [[hotel, conference center, or apartments) is the plan for that corner for the future.
Preservation Wayne should mobilize... oh, never mind...
Hopefully it is permanent. More greenspace in/around campus would be nice. And then connecting the bike paths to the DC, even nicer. If you want to see parking garages, wait to see what happens to the Psych and English buildings.Quote:
Originally Posted by royce
There's already enough green space on campus. I'd rather have an active street scene than MORE Wayne State green space.
Can't a park be part of an active streen scene? Look at Campus Martius.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pcm
yeah, I think that discussion moved over here, because the other one slid so far down the list.Quote:
Originally Posted by Whitehouse
That isn't a relevant example. Wayne State has abundant green space, all over its campus, and plenty of parking lots it could turn into so called "pocket parks" even though WSU already has many of these parks that are almost all underused. This is a yet another planning blunder, among hundreds, made in WSU's long history of urban renewal and campus-neighborhood relations.Quote:
Originally Posted by detmsp
In addition, this new "park" will not work because that corner will never be vibrant like Campus Martius so long as there is no buildings with people occupying them surrounding it. Campus Martius works because there are literally thousands of workers across the street. That corner is desolate and the only reason there is ever foot traffic is peoples walking to and from the bus or parking garage. The corner could be vibrant if it were lined with occupied buildings, storefronts lining Woodward and Warren.
What this "gateway" says is that you are entering a suburban campus, not an urban one. You have the nine lane Woodward that is hard to cross on one side, and Warren Ave 10 lane boulevard on the other. With the only row of stores being the building that houses Marwill. Sure, there is Barnes & Nobles on the other side, but that is nothing compared to what used to stand there...
http://nadc1.com/projects/proj_mackenzie-hall.htm
I don't know how many of you know the history of Wayne State's relation with the neighborhood, but it is far from outstanding. The University has been trying to get a "University City" started since the 1950s and 60s. A plan came about, but only one phase was ever implemented-- the destruction of the area from the Lodge to Trumbull and Warren to 94 to make way for athletic fields, the plan came about without any regard to the residents living there, and the area was deemed a slum, most likely because of race, which was the standard at the time [[see Black Bottom, Chinatown, etc). If fully implemented, the University City plan would have cleared the entire area bounded by Warren to Canfield and Trumbull to Woodward, as well as the area west of Trumbull all the way to 12th street, north of Warren. That plan was stopped by neighborhood community organizing.
In fact, the history of the University's expansion is so extreme that president Mathei wanted to demolish Old Main to make way for modern classrooms. There was a sense then that buildings are expendable, and don't hold any historical value. It seems that legacy continues today, at least in the administration.
Haha. I am complaining that the university sees the city as an obstacle to building a suburban-style campus. It's a problem of competing visions. The buildings were not all ugly, and the university was the one who emptied them. Read casscorridor's excellent post above to get a better, more informed idea about the university's relationship with the city, its residents and its architecture. Then, perhaps when you are better informed, you can add to the debate. :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by detmsp
here is where I am getting my info--
http://books.google.com/books?id=1uQ...0state&f=false
notice that it does speak favorably about President Irvin Reid, which over all I would agree with, in terms of urban development and making WSU into less of a commuter school, and opening thousands of rooms of dorms. However, he wasn't all good, but no one is perfect and he was certianly better than past presidents.
There are death fences around 51 W. Warren and the Psyschology buildings, which are each lovely and don't appear to be in poor condition. The demolition of these seems senseless, and if there is good reason for it after all, the University could do a much better job of letting the public know. Otherwise, where is the UCCA or Preservation Wayne on this one?
Past WSU presidents have been kind of a rogues' gallery of demo-happy visionary-types. Didn't Adamany once say he wanted to turn everything north of the freeway into a "sea of asphalt"? When these are the people you're trying to look good against, it's a small job to seem progressive.Quote:
Originally Posted by casscorridor
Now if the goal of that demolition is to turn that block into the front yard of Old Main, then does it seem that they surgically demoded everything behind the facade of the building that formerly housed Dominoes and Radio Shack?
There was a Radio Shack down there? Has anyone shopped at Radio Shack since 1988?Quote:
Originally Posted by Detroit Stylin
Didn't the sign on the ex-Christian Science Reading Room, since demolished, mention that a 4-story building was to take its place?
I thought that "sea of asphalt" was the term Preservation Wayne used right before it failed to prevent him from creating just that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Detroitnerd
Fuck ornamental grasses.
I try to avoid all Radio Shacks due to the over inflated pricing and horrible employment practices. I do recall going to that one back in the 80 hen I did not have a car. I recall the Tandy Leather store next door back in 76 -- I was a teen ager and used to love to go in their to get craft kits or look at them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick
Demolition continues at Warren & Woodward. My first impression is that it will be remarkably odd for this little Subway shop to be standing all alone in a sea of grass. That alone ruins the "gateway" effect to me, whatever they are going for. How did this happen so quickly, and what is the University's reasons for demoing almost an entire block besides the ones listed? I am thinking there must be something else behind all of this. The demos seem very selective. Why knock down a whole row of three- and four-story commercial & institutional buildings and leave a dinky little Subway all alone?
Wayne State's destruction of the street wall for an open space is an abomination. I'd write a letter, if I thought anyone on their campus would care.
I'll reserve judgment until I see what they actually put there. I'm ambivalent about some of the new developments, but excited about the Midtown greenway.
Is there any news regarding the 4 story apartment bldg on the North side of Hancock, between Cass and Woodward? It's across from 95 Hancock - the WSU Theatre shops. Back when, I spent months working on the rehab [[by Ed Black) from a single room tenement/flophouse to it's current config as apartments. Just wondering if it's at risk.
Sounds like someone should join.... :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Huggybear
The National Trust For Historic Preservation states this.... "not every old building can nor should be saved... preservation groups should pick their battles wisely". ;)
As for "onamental grasses"... when the wind blows... they make a nice catch basin for "ornamental trash"!! :[[
Just found this on the Wayne State Master Plan website:
http://www.facilities.wayne.edu/projects/park.php
The Psychology building was/is non-descript, not much in the way of architecture... full of cockroaches, rats and water lines that we were told not to drink from. Good riddance.Quote:
Originally Posted by Joseph C. Krause
I thought the Psych and English buildings were going to be replaced by a parking structure?
They've proven that if they put their mind to it they can produce decent mixed use development that seems to hide the parking from the streetwall[[Studio One). What happened here?
Seriously, who is doing the planning in this town? Why do we keep demolishing the great old buildings that shape our communities? Its one thing to demolish a dilapidated building, but another to intentionally empty out and render useless the wonderful buildings that shape our principle commercial districts. This has to stop. Detroit has plenty of vacant land for those who desire green space. Woodward Avenue, if anywhere, should be a thriving commercial hub, with dense, mixed-use developments along its sides for as many miles as it stretches. It is our main street and abuts so much green space its ridiculous! Stop ruining Detroit you thoughtless developers!
You said it 1953, I see the SW corner of Woodward ave and Warren to be a desolute brownfield with little or no streetscape and predstrian life. I see it and a white folk's way to make Midtown, a pre-suburban liking. WE WANT NEW STORES AND HOUSING, NOW!
WORD FROM THE STREET PROPHET!
As Midtown develops into NOTHINGLESS!
Neda, I miss you so.
I went to WSU today, to buy my textbooks and they seem to be clearing the land at a relatively good pace.
A park at the most important development corner to the University? Completely assanine! Buildings make street corners what they are, corners to urban fabric. Now this corner will look like the SW corner of Mack and Woodward with some landscaping. Further deconstruction and suburbanization of our city. I was starting to be encouraged with WSU planning. Please tell me this is just a place holder for a future project.
You hit the nail on the head. I like the idea of integrated green spaces, but this demolition of a really nice stretch of shops in a city appallingly lacking street level activity sucks. The fact a nondescript Subway is left in the scheme is all the more depressing and insulting. Wayne University should lead by example but is instead erasing interesting architecture. Rehab would cost less andQuote:
Originally Posted by 1953
landscaping one of their huge parking lots on another part of campus would surely do more to enhance the area. This nice stretch on Woodward should be helped out, augmented by helping small businesses locate in these buildings instead of being rooted out. Students would be better served, and so would the university. Why cant Wayne state fund that kind of initiative. Why put up bulwarks against the city? There should be sidewalk cafes all around the campus streets. If Burlington Vermont can do it, so can Detroit. Burlington is a gem, it even feels like a rich city because it is filled with people on its major street which was turned into a pedestrian mall. There will always be ample parking anyway, that is never a problem.
Wayne State campus is vastly improved in comparison to the early 1980's. Then the campus was ugly - many gravel parking lots, the islands on Warren were dirt, no grass, trees were not plentiful, the campus had the appearance of a drab urban hosptial complex. It was not at all attractive.
Adamany and succeeding presidents have admirably addressed the issue of the hideous urban campus syndrome.
Nowadays WSU is much more appealing in terms of the physical campus than 30 years ago. Give them credit for beautifying their properties and for being an asset to the area.
From what I heard from a relative working at WSU, they want to tear down subway too, but they have a lease that WSU could not break. Once that lease is up, I am sure Subway will be gone as well. I would actually bet that you won't see any progress on that "Park" until subway is removed as well.
I believe the park is a short term plan while funding and planning for the site's future use are obtained.
So they are tearing down 5 buildings for a proposed 'greenfield'! What a waste almost good Warren and Woodward Block. We will get predestrian life but a lack of housing and stores.
Here's what belongs in that block: