Soap Building Demolished

**royce** · May-30-23, 11:21 PM

The Soap Building on Franklin Street has been demolished. That's all I know.

**kuuma** · May-30-23, 11:56 PM

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rode past it today. they made rubble of it very quickly. this one hurts, the reno renders were classy and it would have been a gem.

**Danny** · May-31-23, 05:29 AM

Horrible! Another historic Detroit building bites the dust.

**stasu1213** · May-31-23, 06:08 AM

A historic building that could had been saved and renovated. It is probably going to become another parking lot. This building probably could had been redeveloped in much less time than the former Fisher Body Plant on Piquette which I think will eventually follow the same fate as the Packard building had.

**jcole** · May-31-23, 07:19 AM

"Over the years, the building hasn't had much life. After Stone Soap closed up shop, the building was vacant for almost 20 years. In March 2017, the city selected Banyan Investments to redevelop the buildings but the plans never came to fruition.The idea was for the original Stone Soap buildings to be converted into 33 residential apartments and 30 new condos with about 13 apartments catering to affordable housing. It would have featured retail space, and the Stone Soap complex would have provided tenants with a gym, rooftop gardens, pool, storage and bike stations for residents."
Like so many other such plans, it fell through and has been sitting empty for over 20 yrs now and was considered dangerous with falling beams and masonary.

**Jimaz** · May-31-23, 07:36 AM

Originally Posted by jcole

"Over the years, ..."
Like so many other such plans, it fell through and has been sitting empty for over 20 yrs now and was considered dangerous with falling beams and masonary.

That quote was from freep.com's Detroit's historic Stone Soap buildings face wrecking ball after 116 years.

**Henry Whalley** · May-31-23, 08:39 PM

Originally Posted by Danny

Horrible! Another historic Detroit building bites the dust.

The city was hell bent on destroying the entire Warehouse District.

**expatriate** · June-01-23, 08:28 AM

"It is probably going to become another parking lot."

Hopefully Dugan's plan to alter the tax structure on vacant and decayed parcels will put an end to at least some of the surface parking lots.

**stasu1213** · June-01-23, 03:34 PM

Notice how this was done a few days before the Gran Prix start in downtown Detroit. Was this for image. To hide blighted buildings from national cameras?

**Gistok** · June-01-23, 06:30 PM

Originally Posted by stasu1213

Notice how this was done a few days before the Gran Prix start in downtown Detroit. Was this for image. To hide blighted buildings from national cameras?

Or maybe... [seen on this several years old satellite image] the building may actually have started collapsing internally as can be seen from the roof...

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Fr...zctt?entry=ttu

**Hypestyles** · June-03-23, 08:08 AM

what will be there now?

**kuuma** · June-05-23, 12:44 PM

Originally Posted by stasu1213

Notice how this was done a few days before the Gran Prix start in downtown Detroit. Was this for image. To hide blighted buildings from national cameras?

yeah the roof had a collapse in the middle, but the city has a history of doing this. how much was lost for the 2006 super bowl for parking lots that were barely used? it's more embarrassing to destroy good historical buildings due to worrying about judgy suburban visitors. they're always gonna be judgy!

maybe we should have more techno festivals throughout the year instead of a grand prix, we techno enjoyers love abandoned buildings

**401don** · June-05-23, 03:16 PM

Originally Posted by kuuma

yeah the roof had a collapse in the middle, but the city has a history of doing this. how much was lost for the 2006 super bowl for parking lots that were barely used? it's more embarrassing to destroy good historical buildings due to worrying about judgy suburban visitors. they're always gonna be judgy!

maybe we should have more techno festivals throughout the year instead of a grand prix, we techno enjoyers love abandoned buildings

Should have hung red awnings from it, although it occurs to me I'm getting old and I should stop referencing stuff from over 40 yrs. ago because most people won't get it.

**jcole** · June-06-23, 07:47 AM

I think I'd be "judgy" too if some of the façade fell off and hit me in the head.

Originally Posted by kuuma

yeah the roof had a collapse in the middle, but the city has a history of doing this. how much was lost for the 2006 super bowl for parking lots that were barely used? it's more embarrassing to destroy good historical buildings due to worrying about judgy suburban visitors. they're always gonna be judgy!

maybe we should have more techno festivals throughout the year instead of a grand prix, we techno enjoyers love abandoned buildings

**TIMT** · June-11-23, 05:37 PM

Originally Posted by 401don

Should have hung red awnings from it, although it occurs to me I'm getting old and I should stop referencing stuff from over 40 yrs. ago because most people won't get it.

I kinda get it! Was it the Statler or Book-Cadillac they did that with? I lived in Downtown Detroit from 1997-2002 and remember them doing that with other abandoned [[but relatively clean/intact) structures to try to make the city look nice for the Super Bowl selection committee, and by the time I moved, they were fast & furious into plans about what abandoned buildings to tear-down, which to spruce-up, etc. in order to make Detroit look good for the Super Bowl.

**royce** · November-01-23, 02:03 AM

I noticed that at this site and the Packard Building site [[demolition on Palmer), that they left the concrete flooring in both cases. Doesn't it seem disingenuous to tear down a building and leave its concrete floor? So, now someone willing to build new on the site has to spend extra money removing this concrete flooring?