Lafayette Building Demolition

**iheartthed** · January-13-10, 04:19 PM

Originally Posted by bailey

I'm curious to understand what short term is for you?

In the LB's case it's been failing or empty for 20 years [[the bulk of that time during the longest sustained time of prosperity and growth in our nation's history). Best case scenario, the region has some semblance of recovery in 10 yrs...BEST CASE. more likely longer. There is more vacant space in the suburbs than in the enitre CBD...which is more likely to fill up first? So, add another 10 onto a downtown office recovery. Can you agree that we're maybe...best case...20 years from having any demand pressure on the downtown real estate market?

But to your other point...if i had children and my children were out of the house for 13+ years ...yes, I would have redone their bedrooms.

The Book Cadillac was empty WAY longer than the Lafayette.

**ghettopalmetto** · January-13-10, 04:31 PM

Originally Posted by esp1986

The Hudson's site is not good for a few reasons... but namely because there is nothing surrounding it... the only thing near it is Compuware, other than that there are a bunch of vacant store fronts and a couple stores here and there... no real destinations.

Yeah. Let's conveniently downplay a site with on-site parking, adjacent to a 12-story building filled with high wage earners, and walking distance to Grand Circus, the stadiums and theaters, and Campus Martius. Why? Because it suits our needs to downplay it.

The Lafayette site on the other hand is located between the central business district and the only four-star hotel in town, so there will naturally be people walking by there... I have heard that there could be some interest in this site once the Lafayette is gone, and this interest is because of the Book-Cadillac across the street.

The Renaissance Center once had a W Hotel in the center tower. The complex sunk in spite of it. What point are you trying to make?

And, yes, the building is technically paid for, but you also added the word 'good' in there... that is where the line is drawn in the sand. The Lafayette's condition was far from good, and with less than a 5% chance that the building would ever be renovated, especially after three or four developers balked at the site in the last year, it became apparent that the building would never be used again because of the cost of renovation.

Please, share with us the results of your extensive investigation. Those seem to be unavailable at the moment.

You don't have conclusions from an investigation, you say? Why, that can't be true! Nobody would ever MAKE. SHIT. UP. just because it agrees with their pre-ordained ideology.

You don't want the eyesore? Repair the fucker, get it historic designation, and market the shit out of it. You don't spend money you don't have to get nothing in return, plain and simple.

Talk to me about eyesores when the Lafayette site houses the bums with brown bags who have been kicked out of the Rosa Parks Transit Center. Then tell me that the bums are driving away business.

Ignorance is Bliss.

It must be. People believing the same line of bullshit you've bought are the only ones happy about it.

**gencinjay** · January-15-10, 09:43 AM

Anyone notice there is a boarded window on the garage across the street? They knocked a piece off the Lafayette that did it. And here I was worried they'd destroy the Arcade.

**buildingsofdetroit** · January-16-10, 06:08 AM

Southern tower nearly gone.
Photo from today [[more on the site):
http://www.buildingsofdetroit.com/si...01-15-2010.jpg

**mauser** · January-16-10, 02:22 PM

I was there around 11am - watched the rest of the interior facade windows on the inner "V" bite the dust. Got it on video, but Im not sure how it looks yet - I had to run for it in the middle of the collapse because of the debris cloud.

Ill put up the vid later.

**buildingsofdetroit** · January-16-10, 02:49 PM

Originally Posted by mauser

I was there around 11am - watched the rest of the interior facade windows on the inner "V" bite the dust. Got it on video, but Im not sure how it looks yet - I had to run for it in the middle of the collapse because of the debris cloud.

Ill put up the vid later.

Please share it. Seems I'm never there for the big stuff.

**buildingsofdetroit** · January-16-10, 03:58 PM

Mauser,
In looking again at my photo from yesterday, which other inner V windows were there? Not many left yesterday: http://www.buildingsofdetroit.com/si...01-15-2010.jpg Just that upper right corner of the northern tower?

**mauser** · January-16-10, 05:37 PM

Yeah - just a few deep inside the V on the north end. It wasnt huge, but it was nice and messy when it fell. Ill work on that vid.

**mauser** · January-16-10, 07:53 PM

Heres the vid:

http://www.detroitfunk.com/?p=4050

Yeah, its just that last strip of window on the north tower inner V. But keep in mind, we are talking about 5 offices across and about 5 stories of windows going down at once. Caught the demo dudes a little off guard because it gave way without much warning.

**buildingsofdetroit** · January-16-10, 08:35 PM

Whoa! Nice catch. That's crazy how that thing just fell like that. You'd think they knew what they were doing. ... No mist machine is going to keep that much dust down.

**Guideboat** · January-16-10, 11:52 PM

I'd sure hate to be in a building or outside downwind of this action. That would be some nasty dust to breathe in. Twin Towers, anyone?

**MvGuy** · January-17-10, 12:19 AM

Well..!!! After years of Detroit NO..!! I finally was able to join the forum... The last time i tried, a person could NOT join if they had a free e-mail address.. Go figure.. why anyone would NOT have a free e-mail beats me..

I always enjoy the tour of the Boat club here at Yes.. I lived at 5067 Buckingham in the early 60's... Played pool at the que club... Hung out at the bars around Wayne "Verns" ?

had some crazy times in those days.. I remember a guy named Dan Sweet into yoga...
I thought I saw him illuminate himself once while he was meditating.. I remember a retired Ford worker. named Gorge... Someone pulled a knife on him around Forest and third an said "gimmee yer coat"..... George pulled out his knife and said "You throw yers in too an the bes man gets em both"... the guy ran... There were girls living on campus, people were getting high and there was fun in the air... I guess Dan Dickerhoff finally left his garage home by the campus and moved to the country... I miss the place in some ways.... Last time I as there 2ooo... It looked real bad then... I'm on the Island of Martha's Vineyard now.. out in the Atlantic.. 45 min boat ride or the airplane... No bridge.. It costs $53.00 to take my Mazda 2300 off the island and back this time of year. In the summer it's about $100.00.....

Thanks for the memories and the photos........
Keep up your good werks... Tom

**Huggybear** · January-17-10, 09:34 AM

How do people reconcile [[a) talking about the beauty of old buildings, personifying them as women, and decrying their demolition with [[b) relentlessly, painstakingly, and obsessively documenting their destruction?

What I have seen [[typically) is that people who develop emotional attachments to things usually like to remember them in their best state - rather than observing their progressive decline. We don't generally take pictures of relatives with advanced cancer, go back to the old neighborhood to watch the family home fall apart, attend family autopsies, or stuff our pets.

So can someone explain the point of ruins porn where generated by preservation-minded people? As a practically minded person, I'm not sure I understand the point.

We would know that a demolition occurred from simple before-and-after pictures.
Demolition documentation doesn't in any way prove that a building is beautiful [[since historic pictures already do that) or durable [[since no building has failed to succumb to a wrecking ball, explosives, etc).
It doesn't advance any political message where the electorate is not worried about about preserving old structures.
And it seems like a positive waste of time and mental energy when there are so many threatened buildings around that could use manpower and volunteers to work on cleanups or finding legitimate developers.

And so it it's not one of these things, what is the purpose of this? Is it the rush of putting on a band-aid, ripping it off, putting another on on, and repeating?

Bearinabox · January-17-10, 10:20 AM

Originally Posted by Huggybear

What I have seen [[typically) is that people who develop emotional attachments to things usually like to remember them in their best state - rather than observing their progressive decline. We don't generally take pictures of relatives with advanced cancer, go back to the old neighborhood to watch the family home fall apart, attend family autopsies, or stuff our pets.

I have never understood this mentality. I guess I'm atypical in that sense. People have asked me "wouldn't you rather just remember it like it was?" in relation to any number of things, and my answer is invariably "no, I want to see it." The demolition of the Lafayette Building may not be pleasurable to watch, but I would rather know than not. I hope that makes sense.

**DetroitScooter** · January-17-10, 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by mauser

Heres the vid:

http://www.detroitfunk.com/?p=4050

Yeah, its just that last strip of window on the north tower inner V. But keep in mind, we are talking about 5 offices across and about 5 stories of windows going down at once. Caught the demo dudes a little off guard because it gave way without much warning.

Ha! The old girl is fighting back. Suck that dust, grave robbers!
Nice capture, mauser. Thanks.

**mauser** · January-17-10, 04:31 PM

I guess for the Darwin Award crowd, we should issue a public warning:

DO NOT GO INSIDE A HALF DEMOLISHED BUILDING TO TAKE YOUR FLIKR PHOTOS !

**ghettopalmetto** · January-17-10, 04:33 PM

Originally Posted by mauser

I guess for the Darwin Award crowd, we should issue a public warning:

DO NOT GO INSIDE A HALF DEMOLISHED BUILDING TO TAKE YOUR FLIKR PHOTOS !

That goes double when the demolition contractor can't control "whoopsies" like entire chunks of building falling into the street.

**mauser** · January-17-10, 05:20 PM

I actually think the "whoopsies" are an intended part of demolition. Ive seen that happen so many times, I think they just act like its a mistake - because they certainly benefit from the collapses.

So long as they dont get out of control, like the Donovan facade that almost dumped down into I-75. But that was a "special" demolition.

So was Madison Lenox - like the collapse at 3:10 in this video - WHOOPS !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0U7Xb97P8o

That one spewed dust for blocks and actually pelted DAC with debris.

**ghettopalmetto** · January-17-10, 05:30 PM

Originally Posted by mauser

I actually think the "whoopsies" are an intended part of demolition. Ive seen that happen so many times, I think they just act like its a mistake - because they certainly benefit from the collapses.

So long as they dont get out of control, like the Donovan facade that almost dumped down into I-75. But that was a "special" demolition.

So was Madison Lenox - like the collapse at 3:10 in this video - WHOOPS !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0U7Xb97P8o

That one spewed dust for blocks and actually pelted DAC with debris.

I don't know. Aside from an implosion, I've never seen demolition work so out-of-control. A demolition permit usually does not permit free-falling objects, especially those of the stone and steel beam variety, due to the potential danger to persons and property below. It's shocking that Adamo has so little regard for even its own employees on the ground.

**wolverine** · January-17-10, 06:54 PM

I agree as I mentioned previously this type of activity would not be permitted in any major city elsewhere. The sidewalks would be typically kept open, allowing pedestrians to pass beneath the structure under demolition. And the dust? A cloud like that would shut down a demolition site for a week.

**buildingsofdetroit** · January-20-10, 10:50 PM

Here's a rare view of the demo from the Stott Building's roof today. As you can see, there isn't much left. That angle on Michigan Avenue makes it look like there's far more left than there is.
http://www.buildingsofdetroit.com/si...freeplaf_4.jpg

**staticstate** · January-21-10, 01:23 PM

great picture! hopefully you snapped some shots of the inside of the Stott since everyone is curious what it's like in there!

**buildingsofdetroit** · January-22-10, 04:26 PM

They tore a row out of the northern tower on the Shelby Street side. I have no idea what they're doing; and I'm not sure they know either. Not that I'm a demo guy, but ...
http://www.buildingsofdetroit.com/si.../laf012210.jpg