Capitol Park renovations

UPDATE: Capitol Park Renovations at full steam.

Jump to update pictures from Sept. 20, 2016 here >>

http://detroityes.com/webisodes/2016...apitolpark.png

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Original Thread starter Post from 2015 follows:

I do not know the name of the building, but the building to the south of the Farwell Building, the one that has been undergoing a renovation, is finally complete. People began moving in over the weekend.

Being the nosy sort, I decided to loop past Capitol Park after work and there is scaffolding up on the Farwell Building. Is this new? Are they finally restoring it?

Good eye, Kramer Design posted this to its facebook a few hours ago: RAM Construction Services has commenced renovations on the exterior of the Farwell Building in Capitol Park. This is an exciting time as #Detroit has waited many years for this day – actually, since about the mid-1980s when the tenants moved out. KDG is proud to continue to play a critical role in the redevelopment of this important block, as the architect, historic consultant and interior designer on the Farwell Building.



https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...0b&oe=56B90436

Stott building as well as the Book Tower are lit up tonight as well!

The building I couldn't name earlier is called the Malcomson Building.

Are they actually renovating the entire building or just the front? There's no other info out there

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Originally Posted by det

Are they actually renovating the entire building or just the front? There's no other info out there

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Entire building is being renovated. Looks like just exterior work right now. I'm guessing they want to get the buildings exterior done/close to done before winter pounds us so they can do interior work in the winter months.

Gilbert Park renovations is contributed by Dan Gilbert's Quicken Loans, Bedrock Holdings, Saches and Ram construction. Without them.,that area will be loaded with DEAD [[C)KRAK HEADS, pigeon rats, mutants and welfare folks.

I use to avoid Capitol Park on my lunchtime walks, but not any more. The area is buzzing with excitement. Each renovation adds to the vibrancy of the park and gives a real sense of momentum to the area. I can't wait for the new construction on the north end of the park. Also, I hope they add some more mature trees and greenery to the park at some point; the actual park is a bit bland.

1953

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Originally Posted by 1953

I use to avoid Capitol Park on my lunchtime walks, but not any more. The area is buzzing with excitement. Each renovation adds to the vibrancy of the park and gives a real sense of momentum to the area. I can't wait for the new construction on the north end of the park. Also, I hope they add some more mature trees and greenery to the park at some point; the actual park is a bit bland.

1953

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A bit? The amount of cement is appalling. I've got to believe it's due for a makeover when it's all said and done.

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Originally Posted by Dbest

A bit? The amount of cement is appalling. I've got to believe it's due for a makeover when it's all said and done.

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Which is sad since the last makeover wasn't that long ago. I have to believe Gilbert has some big changes up his sleeve for the park itself. I am hoping he buys the empty lots around the park and builds as well.

The real question is: when is Gilbert tearing down the strip club..?

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Originally Posted by det

The real question is: when is Gilbert tearing down the strip club..?

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What is wrong with strip club? They provide employment also.

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Originally Posted by Richard

What is wrong with strip club? They provide employment also.

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Considering it's now a burnt shell after the fire last year, there's no employment there.

some updates on projects here:


Griswold apartments
http://i.imgur.com/A5DzMjQ.jpg



Farwell building, graffiti being removed, construction underway

http://i.imgur.com/JKuAlb3.png




Bedrock's 13-story microapartments building underway
http://i.imgur.com/yJ220o9.jpg


Malcolmson building renovations complete
http://i.imgur.com/msLtNnf.png

Thanks SpartanDawg!

Love the return of a fancy top to the Malcolmson Building... including faux gable.

The Griswold Apartments... well I guess we'll have to wait until it's finished... To add the upper floors in a new different style as the lower floors is going to look very awkward.... at least in the original design they complemented each other. Don't think that's gonna happen here... but we'll just wait and see....

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Originally Posted by Gistok

Thanks SpartanDawg!

Love the return of a fancy top to the Malcolmson Building... including faux gable.

The Griswold Apartments... well I guess we'll have to wait until it's finished... To add the upper floors in a new different style as the lower floors is going to look very awkward.... at least in the original design they complemented each other. Don't think that's gonna happen here... but we'll just wait and see....

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yea hoping the griswold at least somewhat compliments the gorgeous book cadillac next door.

anyway i'll try to get more pictures throughout the summer. need to show the capitol park building renovation. that one is so close to completion!

also there was a news video from channel 4 back in february that said there is planned construction on the empty parking lot between the Farwell and the Malcolmson, from the same company that renovated both! [[Kramer design group). So i'm assuming once the farwell is complete they'll fire up NEW construction on that parking lot!! exciting stuff going on in capitol park

Wow, thanks SpartanDawg! I used to take lunchtime walks when I worked nearby, and Capitol Park was always depressing. It's nice to see the changes - I'll have to visit.

Walking through the park this morning, I couldn't help but notice that significant portions of the hardscape were removed. Anyone know what the plan is? I have long thought that the recent renovations were a little too, for lack of a better term, concrete.

Here's hoping for a little more greenspace!

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I totally agree about the park not being very park-like with all the concrete. To be fair, it was a vast improvement over the previous wasteland. But it wasn't very welcoming. Perhaps the lack of greenspace was due to the lack of anyone to maintain it? Regardless, and greening there is welcome. Even at its worst, I always thought that Capital Park had the capacity to be a super cute & very active mini-neighborhood. That is happening and it's great thing.

My thought is the planters were removed to accommodate construction equipment. Their permanent removal would actually make the park less green.

Here is what was around Capitol Park in 1943.

Attachment 31661

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Originally Posted by K-slice

My thought is the planters were removed to accommodate construction equipment. Their permanent removal would actually make the park less green.

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You're probably right about the construction equipment. As for the park being less green without them... that depends on if there were other changes. The park has a very high concrete to green ratio right now [[with the planters). If they could incorporate more grass, shrubs, flower gardens [[at both ground and elevated levels) I think it would make a much nicer park. But let me reiterate a thought from my post above: the park, East Germanic though it is, is lightyears better than the blighted, broken scary place it was ten years ago.

While not really a "renovation" in Capitol Park, the micro apartment building is coming along nicely. I like the dark brick on the lower floors.

http://detroit.curbed.com/2016/9/21/...ising-downtown

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Originally Posted by CassTechGrad

Here is what was around Capitol Park in 1943.

Attachment 31661

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Let's hope those type of businesses - clothing stores, shoe stores, banks, jewelry stores, bakeries, and restaurants - begin to surround the park again as the neighborhood is revived.

Well I was wrong, they have a ton of the park torn up right now with bulldozers and other equipment! Wish I would have gotten a picture. Looks like they are redoing most of it, again.

Haha half of downtown is torn up right now for various utility work and street improvements anyway but I agree and hope to see it much greener when put back together again!

Does anyone have pictures of the park from early to mid 2000s prior to the most recent renovation?

It is absolutely amazing and wonderful what is going in Capitol Park. Several projects are in progress simultaneously and the whole place is buzzing with activity. Here's a little taste from yesterday.

The gateway to the triangular-shaped Capitol Park, whose trees can be seen to the right, is to the park's south, at Michigan Avenue. Long-in-coming condos sprout atop the Griswold parking structure and near completion. It sets the tone for the flurry of activity below. Behind it, the kick off renovation for this area, the grand Cadillac Hotel, gleams in the midday sun. It opened in 2008 after decades of abandonment with total interior ruin.

http://detroityes.com/webisodes/2016...k/Griswold.png

Action at the north end. A micro apartment building is being tinker-toyed together. It will be 13 stories high and is being created to accommodate lower income techies for nearby Quicken Loans. To the right, on Grand River, the Kresge Building has a dump chute indicating work. Beyond it is seen the orange corner of the soon-to-be-converted Shinola boutique hotel. Across the street to the right reno continues on a building whose name I don't know. It is interesting to note that all buildings in the background were vacant and decaying in recent decades. All have been or are being revived, most stunningly the furthest back skyscrapers of the Whitney Building and the Broderick Tower.

http://detroityes.com/webisodes/2016...apitolpark.png

Work is proceeding on the magnificent Stott Building, although it appears to be largely exterior work at this time. This is one of the crown jewels of Detroit architecture that received severe damage while it was being held for speculation.

http://detroityes.com/webisodes/2016...park/stott.png

Construction stages likewise adorn the Farwell Building on its front and side.

http://detroityes.com/webisodes/2016...rk/Farwell.png

Stevens Mason, Michigan's first guv and who is interned in the park, has been there through all the changes. How good he must feel to see his resting place change from a derelict bus transfer point surrounded by decaying buildings to its new magnificence. Behind him rises the glistening newly renovated The Albert apartments, named after its architect Albert Kahn. I notice that Sy Thai, the successful Thai restaurant in the Auburn Building at Cass and Alexandrine, is another 'coming soon' in the Albert.

http://detroityes.com/webisodes/2016...evensMason.png

I'm befuddled as to why the park grounds are being torn up and what it will become in its new form. Maybe there is discussion on this that I am missing? The park has not been redone that long ago. It didn't look that bad. It did have a bit of a 'keep moving' feel to it as seen in the anti-bum napping bench in the Farwell pic above.
http://detroityes.com/webisodes/2016...k/ParkReno.png

Easily my favorite spot downtown. I love modern architecture but for the life of me I can't figure out what they were trying to accomplish with the Griswold. It's pretty brutal.

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Originally Posted by southen

Easily my favorite spot downtown. I love modern architecture but for the life of me I can't figure out what they were trying to accomplish with the Griswold. It's pretty brutal.

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Plus it surrenders it's most dramatic vista point to a stair well! The acute corner that looks into the heart of Campus Martius. What were they thinking?

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Originally Posted by Lowell

Plus it surrenders it's most dramatic vista point to a stair well! The acute corner that looks into the heart of Campus Martius. What were they thinking?

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So disappointed in the Griswold. It looks likes something that would've been built 50 years ago

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Originally Posted by Lowell

Plus it surrenders it's most dramatic vista point to a stair well! The acute corner that looks into the heart of Campus Martius. What were they thinking?

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I am hoping that it was the will of the client and budget restrictions and not conscious design choices. It looks like they designed it to top the Z-Garage. I think the same design would have looked 100x better if the facade color matched that of the garage and Book Cadillac next door. Im not sure why you would want to draw that kind of attention to something so bland.

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Originally Posted by Lowell

Plus it surrenders it's most dramatic vista point to a stair well! The acute corner that looks into the heart of Campus Martius. What were they thinking?

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Well it aligns with the stairwell of the garage so I don't think there much they could have done. That is something that should been though about when they built the garage.

whats the story with that building right across Griswold from the Stott Tower? I've stopped and looked at it and it seems to have had windows at some point then there were covered up by some giant piece of marble or something. Anyone know the story on that building?

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Originally Posted by K-slice

whats the story with that building right across Griswold from the Stott Tower? I've stopped and looked at it and it seems to have had windows at some point then there were covered up by some giant piece of marble or something. Anyone know the story on that building?

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I've always wondered about it as well. Looks to be pretty old from the alley side of the building. Also the old Rite Aid/What About Bob building where there are always one or two homeless people sleeping in the entrance appears to have another façade under that horrible stucco covering, I would be curious if it matched the building around the corner on State St next to the Stott, it appears to be attached and possibly the same building from the satellite view on Google maps and also the little bit of the original façade that is showing appears to be the same color and material.

The Griswold is soooooo ugly. The original rendering would have fit with the garage and the Book Cadillac. The new design pays homage to nothing.

Capital Park was last ripped apart just 7 years ago when in September 2009 the Downtown Development Authority spent and wasted $1.1 million of "captured tax money" for a modern design that was like overlaying a square design onto a triangular park.

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Originally Posted by Gistok

The Griswold is soooooo ugly. The original rendering would have fit with the garage and the Book Cadillac. The new design pays homage to nothing.

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I just drove by it and was looking at the garage. They actually did a rather nice job masking the fact that the building is a garage, which is smart design given the size of it. Then they plop that white box on top and all it really does is draw attention to the fact that it is sitting on top of a giant garage.

Capital Park needed a redesign. It always felt like a place waiting to be used, if only someone would plant a shade tree.

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Originally Posted by Gistok

that was like overlaying a square design onto a triangular park.

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Brilliant way of putting it!

While I have my own aesthetic gripes with many buildings in Detroit, I try to keep in mind a few points. 1) It ain't my money. 2) Even the "nicest" cities, architecturally speaking, have their fair share of clunker buildings. 3) Sometimes buildings grow on you. The pyramids at The Louvre were largely reviled when they were installed; now they seem a perfect juxtaposition. Of course, some buildings don't grow on you. 4) All the activity downtown now is a real plus, even if all of the activity isn't what you would do with the time, money and property. 5) It still ain't my money! Building ugly is better, I think, than not building. Except for the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice. That building should be demolished ASAP.

BTW Lowell, thanks for the pics!

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Originally Posted by SaintMe

Does anyone have pictures of the park from early to mid 2000s prior to the most recent renovation?

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My best advice is to track down the many folks who used to reside at 1217 Griswold overlooking the park. That was a hopping place full of people in the 90's. Bands used to practice there. Activists lived there. They were media mongers, so documentation is available. I'd start with any of the former members of the Immigrant Suns; they used to live and practice out of there.

There used to be some amazing art installations and parties there. Some folks, however, got kicked out:http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...a-Classic-Rant

New high end steak house, Prime + Proper, set to open in Capital Park.. It sounds amazing.

http://www.dbusiness.com/daily-news/...se-in-America/

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Originally Posted by Armin

New high end steak house, Prime + Proper, set to open in Capital Park.. It sounds amazing.

http://www.dbusiness.com/daily-news/...se-in-America/

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Fantastic location in one of my favorite buildings. I have been curious as to why they have left up the billboard framing on either side of the top of the building...

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Originally Posted by Armin

New high end steak house, Prime + Proper, set to open in Capital Park.. It sounds amazing.

http://www.dbusiness.com/daily-news/...se-in-America/

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I love the developing food scene, and I think it's great we're able to support some high end restaurants. That said, some of this is bordering on ridiculous: personal steak knives for regulars, a secret bar mentioned in the press release and this:

“We will tell the story of why we are serving a particular selection, what we are serving" - "Tonight you'll be eating Herbie, a dark brown steer from the thumb region..."

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Originally Posted by archfan

That said, some of this is bordering on ridiculous: personal steak knives for regulars, a secret bar mentioned in the press release and this:

“We will tell the story of why we are serving a particular selection, what we are serving" - "Tonight you'll be eating Herbie, a dark brown steer from the thumb region..."

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Yea my thoughts were on par with that. But then again, this is coming from Birmingham, so that should say enough.....

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Originally Posted by archfan

I love the developing food scene, and I think it's great we're able to support some high end restaurants. That said, some of this is bordering on ridiculous: personal steak knives for regulars, a secret bar mentioned in the press release and this:

“We will tell the story of why we are serving a particular selection, what we are serving" - "Tonight you'll be eating Herbie, a dark brown steer from the thumb region..."

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I lost it at, "There will be handwritten checks using a quill pen..."

My ears perked up for a steakhouse, then I read what they are going to do and I will happily avoid this place. There are plenty of higher quality establishments in the city now that don't have this level of ......y-ness to them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by archfan

I love the developing food scene, and I think it's great we're able to support some high end restaurants. That said, some of this is bordering on ridiculous: personal steak knives for regulars, a secret bar mentioned in the press release and this:

“We will tell the story of why we are serving a particular selection, what we are serving" - "Tonight you'll be eating Herbie, a dark brown steer from the thumb region..."

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I appreciated the smooth transition between threatening to cultivate my nose and playing up their partnership with local knife smiths. Terrifying.

Regarding that steak restaurant, I remember when it was a dollar store, before that finally closed down. Wow. Apartments above, hmm. Wonder how much they will cost...

Good luck to them. you can still request 'well done' at these places, right?

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Originally Posted by archfan

I love the developing food scene, and I think it's great we're able to support some high end restaurants. That said, some of this is bordering on ridiculous: personal steak knives for regulars, a secret bar mentioned in the press release and this:

“We will tell the story of why we are serving a particular selection, what we are serving" - "Tonight you'll be eating Herbie, a dark brown steer from the thumb region..."

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It is pretty funny. Not so much for Herbie...

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Originally Posted by Hypestyles

Good luck to them. you can still request 'well done' at these places, right?

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You can, at your own risk. According to Anthony Bourdain's first book, grill cooks believe anyone ordering well done steak is clueless, so they feel justified giving them the nastiest piece of meat in their bin. That might be true - better order medium well just in case.

Walked by the park today and to my surprise the park had been replaced by a large event "tent". Security said "no pics" but I discretely snapped a few. It appears though that the park will be completely redone and they want some input from the community. My guess is that they already have a Gilbert Approved design ready to go.

As for the tent I am 99% sure that it is for a grand opening event that Lear is putting on next week. Beyond that I wonder if they will keep it up for winter programing like they tend to do with Cadillac Square.

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Originally Posted by southen

Walked by the park today and to my surprise the park had been replaced by a large event "tent". Security said "no pics" but I discretely snapped a few.

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Huh? How can a private security guard tell you to take no pics on a public sidewalk of a street scene? That makes no sense.

Good for you for not heeding security. It's our constitutional right to take photos from public sidewalks, despite what security says.

http://content.photojojo.com/photo-technique/tips/legal-rights-of-photographers/

P.S.: I've had private security try to tell me the same.

Yeah I have run into issues in the past and since it was just some quick phone shots I decided not to get into a debate with them. They do love to push photographers around though, so it is always good to know your rights.

How dare you take pictures of a public park from a public street. Troublemaker!

This views from the just completed Griswold apartments.

http://detroit.curbed.com/2017/2/10/...wntown-detroit


https://cdn1.vox-cdn.com/uploads/cho...iswold_109.jpg

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Originally Posted by MSUguy

This views from the just completed Griswold apartments.

http://detroit.curbed.com/2017/2/10/...wntown-detroit


https://cdn1.vox-cdn.com/uploads/cho...iswold_109.jpg

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Oh man! I hope someone has an eye for those mural ads in the foreground and on the Farwell building. Those should be brought back.

All of those ads are going to be covered up by new construction.

Looks like Gilbert's micro apts are about done with the exterior work too.

Good to hear about...

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...-park-district

If you can't get into the link, Google the headline.

"DDP selects Toronto-based firm to modernize Capitol Park district"

That firm has some pretty solid designs, full of green space and not concrete. Capitol Park is going to be incredible in 2-3 years.

The Farwell is getting a painted advertisement today.

Attachment 34343