Quote Originally Posted by 3WC View Post
Swingline: You state above: "Sure, a larger [[10-15) story building on the Statler would be more risk for the developer. The site property demands as much."

Now, Swingline, you sure sound like you know what you're talking about. So, why don't you take that added risk and try to develop the site yourself? VG obviously doesn't know what it's doing. You could join the long line of developers wanting to build high rise on the Statler site in case VG backs out. You could get lucky and make a fortune.
3WC, nice touche' with the "if you're so smart, why don't you do it yourself" argument. Presumably, you either don't ever criticize elected officials or you have gotten yourself elected to public office in order to "do it yourself." Whatever, back to the issues.

The market has improved dramatically since Village Green first proposed its Statler site project. Given that fact, who is to say that there not other developers willing to propose something better for the site? As an example, Bedrock is not settling for stick built on its Capitol Park site.

The Statler site is included in a locally designated historic district and a National Register of Historic Places district in large part because of the urban design brilliance created by the collective architectural statement made by the buildings ringing Grand Circus Park and Washington Blvd. The city should demand adherence to the urban design standards that prompted the historic designations. It's actually kind of pathetic and sad that the DEGC isn't doing this. Doing so would actually serve to add value to the project to the benefit of the developer. The city could also creatively add value to this site by aggressively and quickly working to assist Bedrock [[Book Bldg and Tower), Barbat [[Neudeck Bldg.), and Mr. Keffallinos [[Michigan Bldg. sigh) with high quality residential reuses of their adjacent buildings.

Stick-built projects will have an important role in restoring economic and civic health to Detroit. Located and executed well, they can help create very desirable neighborhoods. Some cities in better economic and physical shape than Detroit are grappling with potential long term issues presented by permitting too many of these buildings, but Detroit is nowhere there yet. http://archplanbaltimore.blogspot.co...erican_27.html

If Village Green doesn't want to make the upgrade to its Statler site proposal, it should take its project to Mr. Ilitch and help him satisfy his development obligations on one of his many vacant Arena neighborhood sites. Detroit's development braintrust should seek better than VG's proposal for a gateway site on Grand Circus Park.