Lafayette Building next on DEGC hit list?

[kraig]

Here's a thought for any historic conservancy groups out there. Identify a building that you feel is worth saving, develop a business plan, identify funding, and get the property before it falls into the hands of the DEGC.

[ghettopalmetto]

BINGO! Hit the nail on the head

Likewise, why don't you pony up the cash for every *publicly-owned* building you want demolished?

You completely misunderstand the role of a conservancy group, which is to preserve architectural heritage and economic competitiveness on behalf of the larger community. "Conservancy" is not synonymous with developer.

Folks like Preservation Wayne and Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy have every right to demand responsible use of public resources.

[detourdetroit]

for the benefit of all the "hey would" you dig it before you spigot...

http://atdetroit.net/forum/messages/...tml?1238076936

[rjlj]

Here's a thought for any historic conservancy groups out there. Identify a building that you feel is worth saving, develop a business plan, identify funding, and get the property before it falls into the hands of the DEGC.

Already happening, though the part about getting a property before it falls into the hands of the DECG is a tough one.

[Fnemecek]

Here's a thought for any historic conservancy groups out there. Identify a building that you feel is worth saving, develop a business plan, identify funding, and get the property before it falls into the hands of the DEGC.

Trying to save a building before it falls into the hand of the DEGC is like trying to save a whale before it gets into the water. One of the fundamental problems with Detroit is that the DEGC has its hands in everything.

[kraig]

Trying to save a building before it falls into the hand of the DEGC is like trying to save a whale before it gets into the water. One of the fundamental problems with Detroit is that the DEGC has its hands in everything.

They don't have everything. List some buildings that you think are worth saving and have an idea for what can be done with them.

Or, there's always the option to bitch and moan, since we all know that works so well. [[sarcasm)

[Fnemecek]

They don't have everything. List some buildings that you think are worth saving and have an idea for what can be done with them.

Actually, they do have control over pretty much every historic building in and around downtown Detroit.

[kraig]

Actually, they do have control over pretty much every historic building in and around downtown Detroit.

That's not exactly a list now, is it?

[ghettopalmetto]

Frank and PalmettoMan,


The economy in Detroit comes back in 3 years, at best.

What do you envision at that location?

We are now closing in on 13 years of abandonment....

what can the property be used for guys?

Wow. Three whole years. Yeah, that's way too long to wait to do something with what will then be an 89 year old building. Better tear it down. You wouldn't want it to spontaneously collapse on anyone or anything. Better get a non-engineer on the DEGC to declare it structurally unsound.

[Fnemecek]

Frank and PalmettoMan,


The economy in Detroit comes back in 3 years, at best.

What do you envision at that location?

We are now closing in on 13 years of abandonment....

what can the property be used for guys?

That would depend entirely on what condition the building is in. It's entirely possible that demolition might be the best option.

Of course, we'll never know unless the City allows an inspection team into the building.

[ghettopalmetto]

That would depend entirely on what condition the building is in. It's entirely possible that demolition might be the best option.

Of course, we'll never know unless the City allows an inspection team into the building.

And that, of course, is the 800-lb gorilla in the room. Perhaps if the DEGC spent some money hiring an architect and engineer to conduct feasibility studies, they might find these empty buildings easier to market, since scopes of repair would already be defined. One would think this is part of what an "economic development corporation" is supposed to do, but why go through so much trouble when George Jackson can just look at the exterior and render his irrelevant opinion that a building is "structurally unsound".

[darwinism]

The amount of corruption runs deep. For what its worth, demolition of this building is going to make SOMEBODY lots of money. Whenever in doubt, like they always say, just follow the money trail. 99.9% of the time the answer lies somewhere along the money trail.

So, instead of arguing whether the building is sound, or whether there is hope for redevelopment, the argument should be about who GAINS with the building standing, versus who GAINS in taking the building down?

[Huggybear]

That might be asking too much.

If this goes the way people here think it will, I'll make this prediction - people will realize that they got distracted with Tiger Stadium when they should have had their eyes on the Lafayette Building, and the Lafayette Building was a distraction when people should have been trying to save Washington Boulevard. Reacting will never cut it - nor will sitting on the sidelines with a Messianic complex [[seen in the 1,000+ posts that could be summarized as "if those poor idiots only knew what they were doing, they could redevelop this property").

My fear would be that what happened with the effort to save Tiger Stadium is going to have a negative effect on marginal redevelopment projects in general.

Here's a thought for any historic conservancy groups out there. Identify a building that you feel is worth saving, develop a business plan, identify funding, and get the property before it falls into the hands of the DEGC.