More East of Downtown Residential Rising - 1200 Units - Shapero Hall Falling

Remember the days when just one of these projects would have garnered a week's worth of excited discussion here?

• Developers share details of five projects in the area
• Total of more than 1,200 new residential units and retail planned
• Joe Muer restaurant and Friends School sites among those to be redeveloped

Full Crain's Detroit Business article here.

The biggest news among these projects, in terms of changes to the visual landscape and skyline, is the announcement of plans to demolish Shapero Hall, the former WSU Pharmacy Department of which owner Dennis Kefallinos had made a half-assed start on residential conversion.

Here is a backside picture I took in 2008 when Kefallinos was using it as a billboard for his Russell Industrial Center's Russell Bazaar. Shapero Hall is, to my taste, rather utilitarian in design and not of architectural significance. So I think few tears will be shed over its demise.

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It appears the architects are riffing on the nearby Mies Vander Rohe styles for the new buildings.

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Despite the ugliness of Shapiro Hall, I kinda wish they would have worked with it. But this is a great development for Lafayette Park. I hope they account for a future rebuild of I-375 into the site plan so there is some sort of thought given to new potential traffic patterns.

Although I find Shapiro Hall ugly, I thought it had some promise. But considering the renderings of the new building, I think that is a better choice for that property.

Exciting piece of the east downtown area/Lafayette Park that will get some life back into it.

It appear that Kefallinos had been given first pick to purchase these buildings around the downtown midtown areas to just do a half crappy ass job in renovating them. Tbe mist recent is the structure next to the Dequindre Cut. Rhe Cut was littered with debris including glass and nails by the contractors working in the building. It had taken a while for the Greenway project people to make him clean the mess

Shapero Hall is an interesting building from a historical standpoint because it was one of the first buildings built as part of the Gratiot urban renewal area. It was built when the plan still called for the buildings to be oriented according to the sun. The job of planning the urban renewal area bounced around a few architecture firms for years as the area remained undeveloped, until eventually Herbert Greenwald came to develop the land, bringing the design supergroup of Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig Hilberseimer, and Alfred Caldwell. The building is a more interesting historical artifact than 99% of the random buildings that are considered historic, and it's also not a bad example of 1940s modernism.

The new buildings do a good job of transitioning from downtown to Lafayette Park. Both in terms of typology, scale, and appearance, and also with the new pedestrian pathways which cut through the block.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/sites/d...est-main_i.jpg

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/sites/d...eWest-02_i.jpg

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A long-vacant former Wayne State University pharmacy school in Detroit's Lafayette Park neighborhood is expected to be razed as part of a plan to redevelop the 5.2 acres on which the building sits.

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The project referred to as Lafayette West is planned to have 314 apartments and 60 for-sale condominiums. It would include a 12-story mid-rise building and a five-story building.

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link

seems optimistic...what about the micro units that we're to be complete in 2015?
https://www.cpexecutive.com/post/det...ll-building-2/

Something still doesn't seem right about this development. Why raze a sound structure building that had already been gutted and half renovated just to build a cheezy flimsy development. I had always said "Follow the Money". Who benefit from this development. Whose family and friends had been awarded the contract for the construction of the development? I had never cared or trusted Council by District for it give that one person too much power on the area instead of a vote by 9.

Did Kefallinos flip this to a new investor, or is it his project? That will confirm whether or not this is legit.

Hunt Pasteur is listed as a builder and they're building City Modern so that lends some credence.

Ginosko Development Co doesn't seem to do midrise new construction.

The renderings don't seem cheesy and flimsy to me. Of course the devil is in the details, and we can't tell yet...

The parcel was purchased from Kefallinos so to me the plan is legit. Im not sure I agree with the flimsy comments, I like that they will be adding townhouses to match the existing neighborhood and the 12-story structures pays homage to the existing Mies towers. I for one am excited for it. I am also curious to see who ends up purchasing the Woodward Academy for development.

As much as I like adaptive reuse of buildings, Shapero Hall looks like public housing from the 1950's and I am not sorry to see it go.

hopefully they'll get started asap.

The Freep has a pretty good writeup on these developments which combined have over 1000 units of residential, along with substantial commercial space. I am more interested what any Forumers who live in the area think about these developments, and the 2 building losses that will take place?

https://www.freep.com/story/news/loc...jer/659175002/

I feel as though I am in the minority for people living in Lafayette Park but I am in favor of adding density to the area. I personally want more walkable neighborhoods and retail options that I can easily get to on foot. All the development along Gratiot will help that. My only concern is how parking will be addressed with all of these new residents. As it stands now we have some issues with parking since we are so close to the stadiums, so I imagine we may have to go to a permit system to make sure residents still have a place to park.

It took me a while to find where to post this update, so a renaming of this thread may be in order, or I could always start a new one.

But here's the NAC update from a few days ago. Construction starting soon on two buildings.

https://detroitmi.gov/sites/detroitm...2021_FINAL.pdf

Is this still over a thousand units? I think it got more united added actually.

The sooner they rip out 375 the better.

Great to see this still moving forward!

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Originally Posted by K-slice

The sooner they rip out 375 the better.

Great to see this still moving forward!

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I've been writing MDOT, Mary Sheffield's office, and Rashida & Brenda about 375. What I'm gleaning is that they are interested in bumping up the timeline but have more designing to do before breaking ground. But I bet if enough of us make enough noise and get them to understand it's a community priority, the BBB and infrastructure $$ will be able to bump it 2023 or 2024 [[anything's better than the scheduled groundbreaking of 2027!)

I don't see that happening until after 2028. When I see construction, I will believe it.

When I see that slumlord Kefallinos is behind this project watch out. He never fulfills on his promises.

It looks like the tower was scrapped for more low rise density. No problem with that, just hope this actually transpires.

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Originally Posted by kuuma

I've been writing MDOT, Mary Sheffield's office, and Rashida & Brenda about 375. What I'm gleaning is that they are interested in bumping up the timeline but have more designing to do before breaking ground. But I bet if enough of us make enough noise and get them to understand it's a community priority, the BBB and infrastructure $$ will be able to bump it 2023 or 2024 [[anything's better than the scheduled groundbreaking of 2027!)

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With how awful the redesign is I'm fine with it being delayed. It gives some more time for them to have some sense and design a good road.

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Originally Posted by Jason

With how awful the redesign is I'm fine with it being delayed. It gives some more time for them to have some sense and design a good road.

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What don't you like about the latest design? It seems like a massive improvement. The reconnections to Gratiot and Montcalm, new land in the Eastern Market, the un-cleaving of EM from Lafayette Park.. as a Lafayette Park resident there's a lot to love in there.

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Originally Posted by kuuma

What don't you like about the latest design? It seems like a massive improvement. The reconnections to Gratiot and Montcalm, new land in the Eastern Market, the un-cleaving of EM from Lafayette Park.. as a Lafayette Park resident there's a lot to love in there.

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One of the issues I have with the current redesign of 375 is that it isn't a true boulevard. MDOT has put the bulk of the land to the east of the new boulevard, making the median just three lanes wide. And with some areas having two left-turn lanes, there's not a lot of "boulevard" to the new boulevard. A true boulevard should have a much larger median, like the one on East Grand Boulevard between Mack and Gratiot or the one on Moross between Mack and Kelly Road. I would keep the service drives [[currently about three lanes). The service drive on the west side of the new boulevard would have a bike lane and maybe a parking lane in a few spots. The east service drive would act as an ally for any new businesses in the new land that will become available [[See below).

In the middle [[the median), it could be a true park or sports athletic field with room for an ice hockey rink, skate park, and basketball and tennis courts. It would look like the Midway Plaissance area in Chicago, near the University of Chicago.

Also, if MDOT is going to put all of the extra land on the eastside of the new boulevard, it should at least keep the east service drive open to serve as an alley for businesses that would go on that new land. The businesses would face the new boulevard. And with that in mind, the new boulevard should have parking along its eastern side for those businesses. In the video of the new boulevard, MDOT has made no parking available along it, anywhere.

Regarding the residential development, if MDOT created the new boulevard like I've suggested, then the side of the development facing the new boulevard could have commercial buildings or high-rise apartments with ground floor retail.

What MDOT is proposing, turning 375 into a boulevard, is a vast improvement over what's there now. However, they are still not seeing the true potential of this new development. That's my two cents.

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Originally Posted by royce

What MDOT is proposing, turning 375 into a boulevard, is a vast improvement over what's there now. However, they are still not seeing the true potential of this new development. That's my two cents.

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thanks, i love all those points, especially activating the center as athletic park space [[Chrystie St. in Manhattan comes to mind), especially that your ideas further maximize space for more useful stuff. Not sure I love allocating parking space, since the west side of the boulevard is riddled with parking towers already, but but an alleyway like off Service Street/Gratiot behind a commercial strip would be very in character for the neighborhood.

The lack of bottom floor commercial space is what bothers me most about Lafayette West. It does feel like they're just adding an extra row of residential-only instead of activating the whole area as a full use corridor. They have to know vital that space will become once the 375 project happens, but they're not rising to the occasion.

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Originally Posted by royce

One of the issues I have with the current redesign of 375 is that it isn't a true boulevard. MDOT has put the bulk of the land to the east of the new boulevard, making the median just three lanes wide. And with some areas having two left-turn lanes, there's not a lot of "boulevard" to the new boulevard. A true boulevard should have a much larger median, like the one on East Grand Boulevard between Mack and Gratiot or the one on Moross between Mack and Kelly Road. I would keep the service drives [[currently about three lanes). The service drive on the west side of the new boulevard would have a bike lane and maybe a parking lane in a few spots. The east service drive would act as an ally for any new businesses in the new land that will become available [[See below).

In the middle [[the median), it could be a true park or sports athletic field with room for an ice hockey rink, skate park, and basketball and tennis courts. It would look like the Midway Plaissance area in Chicago, near the University of Chicago.

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This new road isn't going to be anything like the other Blvds you mention. They don't exit off freeways and they aren't going to be used to access massive apartment buildings, offices, or sports stadiums. This is replacing an access freeway and cars are going to be moving fast here, for better or worse, as they exit off 75.

Putting a park in the middle would be ludicrous unless you like seeing your soccer ball run over by a GM employee in a rush to get back home to Bloomfield Hills. Or getting choked out by exhaust fumes as cars line up after a game. You must also consider that a large grassy expanse between two busy roads would, for many, be as much of a mental barrier between Lafayette Park and Downtown as the freeway is now.

I would hope MDOT has the good sense to put all the empty space on one side so they can sell the land off to developers and add density in the area. Reconnecting the whole area so someone walking on Larned or Jefferson won't have that definite feeling that they've "crossed over" some dividing line.

That's my take at least.