WSU to build $93 million biotech hub

**downtownguy** · April-20-12, 09:54 AM

Originally Posted by Pcm

This was posted on Tuesday. The best way to wade through the muck of Facebook's new design is to click the Highlight button, right in the center of the page, then click "Posts by Others". See photo.

Attachment 13113

Whaddya know? Thanks for the tip. Actually, the problem was I was looking on the Preservation Detroit site, not Preservation Wayne. Facebook sucks when you change names or merge. There's no way to carry your "likes" and posts over to a new site.

**Pcm** · April-20-12, 09:58 AM

Yea, it's a tragedy. I never search FB for pages, it always turns up a bunch of crap. If you search Google or whatever you use for " Preservation Detroit Facebook", the first result is the official PW/PD Facebook.

**Pcm** · April-23-12, 03:11 PM

Curbed Detroit has a writeup today of a super cool loft in the Graphic Arts lofts, next door to the American Beauty building. There's a couple of shots with the AB outside the window.

I bet if you asked the dweller of this apartment [[formerly Architect Marc Couillais, the space is for rent now) if he'd prefer a parking lot outside his window, I'm sure he'd say no.

Also, sign the petition to save the American Beauty building:

http://www.change.org/petitions/wayn...urface-parking

**Pcm** · April-24-12, 08:32 PM

Wayne State looks to bridge research and entrepreneurs with new bio-tech building

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Once planned to be the TechTwo small business incubator, the old Dalgleish Cadillac building in New Center is now set to become the future home of Wayne State University's Multidisciplinary Biomedical Research Building.

The university plans to begin renovating the former Cadillac dealership's 196,500 gross square feet in size into a research center shared by researchers from both the university and Henry Ford Health System this year. The new $93 million facility will also be a hot spot for entrepreneurs from the TechTown business accelerator across the street looking to commercialize new bio-technologies developed there.

"This is the most exciting thing I have been involved with in a while," says Allan Gilmour, president of Wayne State University. This is the biggest development project Wayne State has taken on in its existence. It is about 50 percent more expensive than the $66.6 million College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences building, which held the record until this project.

The Multidisciplinary Biomedical Research Building will house Wayne State University programs in cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity, systems biology, bioinformatics and computational biology, behavioral translational science and biomedical engineering. Henry Ford Health System will move its bone and joint center and motion analysis lab into the building.

The building will provide enough laboratory space for Wayne State University to support 48 principal investigators and their teams. It will house approximately 425 workers when it become fully operational.

The project scope will renovate and re-purpose the 127,700 gross square feet of existing space in the Albert Kahn-designed building. It will also build an additional 75,000 gross square feet of a new companion building fronting Woodward Avenue and raze the adjacent American Beauty and Iron Works building. The demolition is set to begin in July and construction will start in November. The university expects to complete the project by 2015.

Source: Allan Gilmour, president of Wayne State University
Writer: Jon Zemke

http://www.modeldmedia.com/devnews/w...ing042412.aspx

**Pcm** · April-27-12, 07:12 AM

http://www.change.org/petitions/wayn...urface-parking

We're approaching the 150 signature mark on the petition to stop the demolition of the American Beauty building. Thanks for your support, and pass it along!

**Dan_the_man** · April-27-12, 10:54 AM

Until really looking at a map today, I had no idea how much parking there was around this building. There is already a huge lot across the street and another one kiddie-corner to it. It is obscene that they could even think that they need more parking.

Why not just build a structure on one of those other lots to at least concentrate the parking if there is some how a real need for more capacity.

**MSUguy** · April-27-12, 01:40 PM

Rendering of the additon on the Woodward side.

http://www.harleyellisdevereaux.com/projects/wayne_state_university_school_of_medicine

**Detroitnerd** · April-27-12, 01:53 PM

Originally Posted by MSUguy

Rendering of the additon on the Woodward side.

http://www.harleyellisdevereaux.com/projects/wayne_state_university_school_of_medicine

Oooh, a little glass box with a parking structure attached! Neat!

I also love how they put trees in front to screen the parking lot where the building is to be demolished. Whenever you see anything parklike in these renderings, rest assured it's parking, not a park.

**Gistok** · April-27-12, 04:03 PM

So according to this map....
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=detroi...95.47,,0,-2.34

the only empty part of that entire block... about 20% will get the new building... and the 50% of the block that "was" the American Beauty building... will now become parking... making the block go from 80% filled down to 50% filled... that's not progress... especially since 1/2 of the Woodward frontage will still be without a building.

**Gistok** · April-28-12, 04:18 PM

Just read this in a Detroit Free Press article posted on the "new business friendly Detroit" thread.....

And Michael Duggan, president and CEO of Detroit Medical Center, said efforts by Midtown anchors like DMC to source more of their supplies locally would lead to a new warehouse being built in the Midtown area soon. But he gave no details of the plans.

Wouldn't the American Beauty building make a nice warehouse for Midtown? Rather than build from scratch, adaptive reuse of this building as a warehouse would save some of the remaining density along Woodward, and serve a need in Midtown.

**mccarch** · April-28-12, 06:20 PM

The American Beauty Building [[aka the American Electrical Heating Co. building) is definitely by Albert Kahn. A photo of it was published on page 265 of the June 19, 1912 issue of the American Architect. The credit line is "Mr. Albert Kahn, Architect - Mr. Ernest Wilby, Associate." [[I cannot seem to produce a .jpg file small enough to successfully attach).

The Detroit City Directories list the American Electrical Heating Co. at a State Street address through 1908, and the 1909 City Directory is the first to list the Company at the corner of Woodward and Burroughs.

Ernest Wilby is the mystery-man in the Albert Kahn saga. He was with Kahn for a while, then he wasn't; but the firm's architectural work in the time he was there is surely some of the finest that Albert Kahn [[the firm) ever did, including the American Electrical Heating Co. building.

It would be a crime to tear this building down to join the sea of surface parking that presently exists.

**stinkytofu** · May-07-12, 08:32 AM

Front page news...and a shout out to DetroitYes!

http://www.freep.com/article/2012050...text|FRONTPAGE

**casscorridor** · May-07-12, 10:34 AM

Originally Posted by stinkytofu

front page news...and a shout out to detroityes!

http://www.freep.com/article/2012050...text|frontpage

word up!!!!!! First quote from dy to be quoted by the news!!

**Detroitnerd** · May-07-12, 11:36 AM

Ah, now the truth comes out: They need to demolish the building for a "staging area." From that I presume the contractor doing the job probably has no experience building anything in a dense urban area. What a measly reason for losing a Kahn...

**BasementBeat** · May-07-12, 12:48 PM

"To me it just does not make any sense to leave that building in place when you're going to be investing $93 million in a state-of-the-art research building immediately adjacent."

You have got to be kidding me. They can't still be that shortsighted can they?

**Gistok** · May-07-12, 01:04 PM

It seems that 38 years after the fight to save the Queen Anne style home of WSU's first president David MacKensie, that WSU still doesn't seem to "get it"... they wanted to tear that house down for a "drain" of all things. That fight [[which WSU didn't win) begat Preservation Wayne, now Preservation Detroit.

WSU's excuse reminds me of the lame excuse for the near destruction of the Women's Exchange Building on GCP.... for a decorative sidewalk for Comerica Park!

**Kathleen** · May-07-12, 06:57 PM

As a Wayne State University alumni, I'm inclined to withhold my annual pledge of monetary support if this is how they treat the historical heritage of the area!!

**Kathleen** · May-07-12, 07:00 PM

Anyone want to respond to Rick Nork, here's his contact info:

Wayne State University
Rick J. Nork, Vice President for Finance and Business Operations
5700 Cass Avenue - Suite 4900
Detroit, MI 48202
TEL: [[313) 577-5580
FAX: [[313) 577-2338
rick.nork@wayne.edu

**Kathleen** · May-07-12, 07:03 PM

Preservation Detroit's statement:

"We are not in favor of this demolition. Like many others, Preservation Detroit affirms that there is not only ample parking in the area for the Biomed hub, but also that there are opportunities for Wayne State University to utilize the American Beauty Iron Building in several ways that would benefit the University and the Detroit community. ..."

http://preservationdetroit.org/2012/...lition-by-wsu/

**Gistok** · May-07-12, 07:38 PM

Thanks Kathleen... I doubt anyone here could have said it any better....

**noise** · May-08-12, 07:30 AM

This demolition doesn't bother me much, but we may be viewing Detroit as a whole entirely different. Either it's in trouble or it's not. Personally, I can't justify telling other people how to spend their money. Tearing down one abandoned building in order to renovate another sounds like a small price to pay for an overall positive, which the city needs a lot more of.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the perfect utopia where all of our dreams come true. In that, I support these efforts. I just won't lose any sleep over it, myself.

**downtownguy** · May-09-12, 07:25 AM

Originally Posted by noise

This demolition doesn't bother me much, but we may be viewing Detroit as a whole entirely different. Either it's in trouble or it's not. Personally, I can't justify telling other people how to spend their money. Tearing down one abandoned building in order to renovate another sounds like a small price to pay for an overall positive, which the city needs a lot more of.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the perfect utopia where all of our dreams come true. In that, I support these efforts. I just won't lose any sleep over it, myself.

Your apathy overwhelms me.

**Gistok** · May-09-12, 09:10 AM

^ I have to agree Downtownguy... WSU has never been that keen on preserving the historic fabric nor the density of its' campus area. The loss of the beautiful and historic Gleaners Building along Woodward... was for parking.

The loss of the American Beauty Building along Woodward... is again for parking. Just how much parking along our major thoroughfare in the city is acceptable?? The answer should be obvious... none!!

But [[and I've mentioned this earlier)... the biggest loss to the density that makes Midtown so unique in our otherwise spread out metropolis... was the loss of WSU's [[at Cass & Putnam) Arts & Crafts styled MacKenzie Hall [[with its' Pewabic lined lobby)... and guess what replaced it... a parking lot and parking structure... most people on this forum are surprised that this leviathan ever existed... disappearing without a trace in the 1980s...

**noise** · May-09-12, 11:38 AM

Originally Posted by downtownguy

Your apathy overwhelms me.

As long as it's not misconstrued for overall apathy. I suppose I just pick my battles. This one doesn't hold as much weight as others to me.

**casscorridor** · May-09-12, 11:58 AM

My quote calling WSU's decision arrogant and misguided was directed precisely at this mode of thinking:

"To me it just does not make any sense to leave that building in place when you're going to be investing $93 million in a state-of-the-art research building immediately adjacent."

There is no reason we can't have both! Find another ****ING lot for your damn staging area!! I can't even count the number of vacant lots in the immediate area with two hands.