Quote Originally Posted by Novine View Post
"Does the city have much better uses for the more than $1.4 million it would spend to mothball the Lafayette Building?"

Of course it does. It's equally true of spending that money being spent on demolition. There's 1000 things that the money should be spend on instead of demolition. Can you acknowledge that?

If the decision is between spending $1.4 million on demolition or $1.4 million plus some additional cost for mothballing, there's no doubt that the additional cost for mothballing is a better use of the money. Demolition adds zero value to downtown. It creates more vacant property, which downtown doesn't need, and which adds zero value to the surrounding properties. Mothballing the building reduces the long-term maintenance and rehabilitation costs when the building is rehabbed. As has been noted by others, the DDAs failure to maintain its buildings has resulted in millions of additional costs for those rehabilitating those buildings. If spending an extra $500,000 saves millions in future development costs, it's money well-spent.
Are you interested in buying the Belle Isle Bridge from me?