Originally Posted by
animatedmartian
And yet the condos in Brush Park were built long before anyone touched Hotel Eddystone or Park Avenue Hotel.
I'm not saying the vacant buildings should be demolished on speculation, but that the buildings will remain vacant until the market supports the costs of redeveloping them to a satisfactory condition. Unless you want them to be renovated into public housing projects then they'll get renovated tomorrow with minimal restoration if any at all. But if people want the "grandeur" and quality that the buildings used to have, then Detroit's luxury market will have to greatly expand for developers to get a reasonable ROI for that quality. Who knows how long we'd be waiting for that point all the while the building still isn't being maintained and sits vacant. In the mean time, developers can build whatever the current market supports on vacant land and get a reasonable ROI.
Much like how there's a current proposal for 250 apartments in the new Statler City project and yet only 105 apartments with the renovation of David Whitney next door. DW's renovation costs $85 million compared to Statler City's new construction of $45 million. All the while, Park Avenue, Cadillac Tower, David Stott, United Artists, and the Wulitzer all still sit vacant with undetermined futures. Why is there new construction at all if these older vacant buildings aren't being utilized?