Quote Originally Posted by E hemingway View Post
And then there is the Lafayette building, which to me is the most unexcusable. Here is an opportunity to do something special because the tax payers have clear title to it. Instead the Cockrel administration looks at it as a burden and puts it at the front of the line for demolition. This is an action that will cost millions of dollars at a time when our firefighters are dying trying to protect abandoned houses that have burned so many times they should have been razed long ago. The Lafayette is a major downtown building and belongs to taxpayers. Before lining it up for demolition, the Cockrel administration/DEGC should have reached out to the community for ideas on what to do with it or at least put out a request for proposals. Instead we saw the rights to it shifted from one developer to another behind the scenes, while the city officials who are supposed to be protecting the tax payers' property neglect it, turning a blind eye as vandals have their way with it. And then suddenly something that was worth an investment of tens of millions to redevelop is not worth anything anymore and needs to be torn down.

City officials never considered doing something innovative, such as renovating the first floor, securing the exteroir, mothballing the rest and using the sections that face Campus Martius and the Levin Courthouse for advertising to help pay for it. This is a move that would cost much less than the at least $3 million it would cost to raze the Lafayette. It would also give the Lafayette enough of time to be available after the light rail is built. The whole development dynamic will change when the streetcars start running, enough that it could easily make a building like the Lafayette a prime candidate for redevelopment. And nevermind that the new historic tax credits combined with brownfield tax credits could knock half the cost off redeveloping the Lafayette but those aren't available if there is no building.
Personally, I like your ideas. Have you ever spoken at a City Council meeting?