Book Tower & Washington Blvd Developments

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...mbitious-plans

A nice article in Crain's detailing the painstaking work that it's going to take to rehab the Book Tower, specifically the exterior. They comment that it's going to be a 3 year project restoring the ornate detail.

Also of note:

• they mention several projects on Washington Blvd getting ready to take off. Statler City Apartments is mentioned as breaking ground "in the fall", so keep an eye out for that.
• Developer Karp associates [[Farwell building also) is going to demolish the Gateway center and build a 15 story mixed use building [[already announced earlier)

If the above link only gives you an abbreviated article, Google "Detroit Crain's Book Tower Development" to get the full story. :)

I find $400 million price for the Book Tower/Building restoration cost way more than I had ever imagined. For that price I would have thought they could have built part of the 81 story Book Tower II, at the complex's south end.

And that brings me to the question.... the 81 story Book Tower II was never built due to the depression. But is that 2 story building on the site [[as well as the foundations underneath it)... the beginnings of the 2nd Book Tower? Or just some later building?

I would love to see that as the base or location of a new tower but my fear is that they need for parking will be so high for this that it will be sacrificed for that. With that said though, Karp is building a 15 story structure with enough parking for 800 vehicles at the corner of Washington and Michigan, so maybe they have something worked out with them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gistok

.... the 81 story Book Tower II was never built due to the depression. But is that 2 story building on the site [[as well as the foundations underneath it)... the beginnings of the 2nd Book Tower? Or just some later building?

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I read somewhere, probably here, that it was indeed the base for the 2nd tower. But that needs confirmation. It may have been on a thread concerning Gilbert's acquisition of the building and the need for parking.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gistok

If the above link only gives you an abbreviated article, Google "Detroit Crain's Book Tower Development" to get the full story. :)

I find $400 million price for the Book Tower/Building restoration cost way more tan I had ever imagined. For that price I would have thought they could have built part of the 81 story Book Tower II, at the complex's south end.

And that brings me to the question.... the 81 story Book Tower II was never built due to the depression. But is that 2 story building on the site [[as well as the foundations underneath it)... the beginnings of the 2nd Book Tower? Or just some later building?

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I was pondering the same questions Gistok. Book Cadillac was $200M renovation and had been shuttered and raped by scavengers and the elements for 25 years. How can the Book tower cost double and the building was used as late as 7 years ago? It's going to be interesting to see what the actual buildout is going to be.

And as for the planned 81 story tower, that small two story building I've read does in fact have the foundations to support that large never build structure, but lets be realistic. Gilbert is going to be building a monster building on the Hudson's site. I doubt he has plans for a 81 story tower on Washington as well.

I had also heard that the 2 story building was sitting on the base for what would have been the 80 story tower. I agree that the Hudson's site is obviously their top priority, however if such is the case, I wouldn't be surprised to see something taller planned for that site at least on the scale of the current Book Tower in a few years.