RIP Greektown: Laikon Closing

[downtownguy]

Chatted with the waitress who said that the owner of The Laikon are not the owners of the building, who made the decision to sell the property to the Greektown Casino. So it is being torn down for a walkway between the parking behind Monroe Street and the Casino entrance on Monroe.

The Laikon owner is interested in opening a restaurant elsewhere in Greektown if possible. No idea whether it would be The Laikon relocated or a completely new restaurant.

The gentleman who owns the Laikon [[restaurant, not the building) also owns the recently reopened Greek grocery store a couple of doors down. I chatted him up when I stopped into the grocery a few weeks back. He told me about the building owner not renewing his lease and selling out to the casino for a walkway. I said there must be something that could be done, but he said he had appealed to council and others in the city to no avail. Frankly, I didn't think the city would be so stupid to allow a walkway in the middle of the block, so I figured the Laikon owner was embellishing the story or had a bone to pick about something. But, sadly, I was wrong. Incidentally, the former operators of the grocery in his location are the owner of the liquor store that took over Cyprus Taverna. I've been in there a few times and am frustrated because they don't label the shelves with the price of the liquors. I thought it was state law that prices had to be conspicuously displayed. Does anybody know for sure?

[canuck]

The gentleman who owns the Laikon [[restaurant, not the building) also owns the recently reopened Greek grocery store a couple of doors down. I chatted him up when I stopped into the grocery a few weeks back. He told me about the building owner not renewing his lease and selling out to the casino for a walkway. I said there must be something that could be done, but he said he had appealed to council and others in the city to no avail. Frankly, I didn't think the city would be so stupid to allow a walkway in the middle of the block, so I figured the Laikon owner was embellishing the story or had a bone to pick about something. But, sadly, I was wrong. Incidentally, the former operators of the grocery in his location are the owner of the liquor store that took over Cyprus Taverna. I've been in there a few times and am frustrated because they don't label the shelves with the price of the liquors. I thought it was state law that prices had to be conspicuously displayed. Does anybody know for sure?

Is that ever fucked up.

I cant get over that story. Not just because it eats up Greektown, a somewhat able presence in Detroit, a city that has lost a lot of ethnic neighborhoods over time, but because whatever small businesses there are in the downtown should be protected from heavy-handed approaches. Wow! Another letdown.

[313rd]

I'm not understanding the walkway. Where does this walkway take you to the alley? or to the private surface parking lot that holds 50 cars?

Is there something that we are missing that maybe a future development might be happening in that back lot?

[cpanagio]

I'm not understanding the walkway. Where does this walkway take you to the alley? or to the private surface parking lot that holds 50 cars?

Is there something that we are missing that maybe a future development might be happening in that back lot?

A new valet garage/entryway is being erected where the existing parking lot at Beaubien and Macomb St sits. I believe this was part of the landswap that took place earlier this year. Unfortunately, the Laikon sits directly in the path of the current 2nd floor entrance and proposed connecting walkway.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...125749058.html

[Detroitnerd]

Gotta have those pedestrian tubes! It's not like we'd want anybody to walk on the street, right?

[Modusvivendi]

Gotta have those pedestrian tubes! It's not like we'd want anybody to walk on the street, right?

Yeah, no kidding. A casino does nothing to help a neighborhood if people go straight from their car to the casino. If people walked outside maybe they'd patronize another business or two. Allowing these pedestrian tubes is very short-sighted, but downright destructive when it takes out a building that contributes to the urban streetwall that made the area desirable to begin with. Who the hell approves this kind of decision? They should be fired.

[BrushStart]

A new valet garage/entryway is being erected where the existing parking lot at Beaubien and Macomb St sits. I believe this was part of the landswap that took place earlier this year. Unfortunately, the Laikon sits directly in the path of the current 2nd floor entrance and proposed connecting walkway.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...125749058.html

It really doesn't get any stupider than this. Destroying perhaps one of the only vibrant street walls in the entire city in order to build a parking garage walkway exemplifies everything that is wrong with Detroit. Other cities are doing everything possible to preserve such developments and encourage new ones. Detroit, on the other hand, seems to be completely disconnected from what is sensible development.

While they are at it, why not just level all of "Greektown" and build a giant valet parking lot to serve the casino. That way, we can shuttle in more poor and elderly folks to pour their money into that citadel of sin. I'm serious when I say that there is a special place in hell reserved for the people who are dismantling the vital remaining urban fabric of this city. I hope they will be sentenced to an eternity of living in a city where the only buildings are parking garages.

[Modusvivendi]

It really doesn't get any stupider than this. Destroying perhaps one of the only vibrant street walls in the entire city in order to build a parking garage walkway exemplifies everything that is wrong with Detroit. Other cities are doing everything possible to preserve such developments and encourage new ones. Detroit, on the other hand, seems to be completely disconnected from what is sensible development.

While they are at it, why not just level all of "Greektown" and build a giant valet parking lot to serve the casino. That way, we can shuttle in more poor and elderly folks to pour their money into that citadel of sin. I'm serious when I say that there is a special place in hell reserved for the people who are dismantling the vital remaining urban fabric of this city. I hope they will be sentenced to an eternity of living in a city where the only buildings are parking garages.

Exactly. If the whole of greektown is turned into parking lots, it won't be any different than any other empty urban space and people will stop wanting to go there. The you'll end up with empty parking lots. Sigh.