Wurlitzer Building shedding bricks, poses threat, city say
BY STEVE NEAVLING
DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
The impact was so loud, people living in downtown Detroit called 911 to report an explosion. But what really happened keeps Chris Jaszczak up at night.
While asleep in his loft atop his popular coffee shop, 1515 Broadway café, a 50-pound chunk of decorative trim plunged 13 stories from the high-rise Wurlitzer Building next door, puncturing Jaszczak's roof and sending a ceiling beam through his front window on April 12. Shards of glass rained on Broadway. He was not injured.
Neither he nor the City of Detroit, court records show, are surprised by the incident: Glass, bricks, window frames and pieces of terra cotta have been falling for nearly a decade from the downtown building, despite the city sending notices to the owner to fix it.
The building is owned by 1509 Broadway LLC. That company is owned by a local attorney, who, along with his wife -- who is a judge -- bought the building in 1995.
The Wurlitzer illustrates, to an extreme degree, the battle that city officials have with landlords whose properties are in ruin -- and often pose a public safety threat.
Meanwhile, neighbors of the Wurlitzer live and work in fear of what might come next.
"This has been a nightmare," Jaszczak said, pointing to debris from the Wurlitzer that is scattered across his roof. "The building has been falling apart for years. I'm on edge all the time."
Continued at: http://www.freep.com/article/20110508/NEWS01/105080520/Wurlitzer-Building-shedding-bricks-poses-threat-city-says?odyssey=nav|head