Questions on 2 Detroit Buildings

Hello all, I today I drove down I-75 from 96 down to Downtown. I passed two vacant buildings that caught my eye:

Building 1: It's located at 20th street and Michigan, right next to the 75/96 interchange. It looks about 4/5 Stories tall and is white with graffiti all over it. What is the orgin of the building and how was it used?

Building 2: Located at the end of Abbott on 6th street. Wedged between 10 and sixth. Owner has windows will letters in them saying available and then a phone number. Black appearance and looks to be pretty tall. When was this building built and how was it used? Also, does anyone know who owns this?

I'd love to hear your responses. Thanks!

It appears the first building was a hospital. More info at these links:

http://zfein.com/photography/detroit/uch/index.html

http://detroiturbex.com/content/heal...uch/index.html

The second is the Executive Plaza Building.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execut...ding_[[Detroit)

I had always wondered about the hospital too. I figured it was an old hq for a manufacturing company, because of its location.

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Originally Posted by MicrosoftFan

Building 2: Located at the end of Abbott on 6th street. Wedged between 10 and sixth. Owner has windows will letters in them saying available and then a phone number. Black appearance and looks to be pretty tall. When was this building built and how was it used? Also, does anyone know who owns this?

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I don't know who owns it or if they are trying to sell it, but they will probably have a very hard time selling it. Dan Gilbert owns the three parking lots across Sixth Street. There is small adjacent parking lot that probably holds 100 cars at best. So on top of it being incredibly ugly, I think the parking issue would prevent anyone from buying it. And Gilbert isn't going to sell his parking lots. He already shuttles people as far as New Center.

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Originally Posted by dtowncitylover

It appears the first building was a hospital.

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Interesting… I wonder if that building/area could ever be redeveloped. It does seem creepy to think of an abandoned hospital. Far from the creepiest thing in Detroit.

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Originally Posted by MicrosoftFan

Interesting… I wonder if that building/area could ever be redeveloped. It does seem creepy to think of an abandoned hospital. Far from the creepiest thing in Detroit.

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Indeed. Unless Corktown/SW ever reach a density requiring a hospital, it might be hard to redevelop that site.

The second building was poorly executed, no pun intended. It's outside downtown, Howard St. is a dead end into downtown, and 6th St. isn't much of a thoroughfare. It would've done better at Michigan and 1st or Cass and Lafayette. But nope, it was built in a dead zone.

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Originally Posted by jmarie

I don't know who owns it or if they are trying to sell it, but they will probably have a very hard time selling it. Dan Gilbert owns the three parking lots across Sixth Street. There is small adjacent parking lot that probably holds 100 cars at best. So on top of it being incredibly ugly, I think the parking issue would prevent anyone from buying it. And Gilbert isn't going to sell his parking lots. He already shuttles people as far as New Center.

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According to Loveland, the same company that owns the Executive Plaza buildings, 1200 Sixth Street LLC, owns most of the parking around the buildings. I suspect Gilbert rents the otherwise empty parking lots.

History, photos, and general info about the abandoned hospital: http://detroiturbex.com/content/heal...uch/index.html

It's quite shocking how much was left behind in there, including medical waste and patient records.

The current owner of SW General has removed most of the graffiti - probably after receiving a blight notice. From a recent article in the Free Press, he is trying to sell the place.

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Originally Posted by preserve

The current owner of SW General has removed most of the graffiti - probably after receiving a blight notice. From a recent article in the Free Press, he is trying to sell the place.

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That is due to the city's graffiti-removal program, correct?

They used the hospital for filming of season one of the SYFY series 12 monkeys in summer of 2014. There were many shots of both inside and out in season 1. Made for some great post-apocalyptic scenes.

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Originally Posted by dtowncitylover

The second building was poorly executed, no pun intended. It's outside downtown, Howard St. is a dead end into downtown, and 6th St. isn't much of a thoroughfare. It would've done better at Michigan and 1st or Cass and Lafayette. But nope, it was built in a dead zone.

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Howard only dead-ended after 9/11. It used to run thru in both directions. It was a favorite short-cut of mine to get to the Lodge.

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Originally Posted by Hamtragedy

Howard only dead-ended after 9/11. It used to run thru in both directions. It was a favorite short-cut of mine to get to the Lodge.

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Did not know that. I wasn't driving then or exploring the city so I had no idea. But no matter, it doesn't help that Howard dead ends and it's still in a poor location unless you want your employees to get in and eat out.

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Originally Posted by archfan

According to Loveland, the same company that owns the Executive Plaza buildings, 1200 Sixth Street LLC, owns most of the parking around the buildings. I suspect Gilbert rents the otherwise empty parking lots.

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Makes sense. I know he rents parking in a few other places, too. [[Cobo for one.) If you walk down the One Kennedy side of Griswold all of his shuttle buses are lined up with their destination marked. I'll have to take a walk and pay better attention, lol.

After the state left the Executive Plaza buildings they were supposed to be repurposed as a headquarters for the FBI in the region. But apparently they couldn't reach an agreement with Samir Danou, who owns the building, and so decided to stay in the McNamara Building.

Mr. Danou is a rather unusual character who has been involved in some real estate controversies over in Allen Park, has unsuccessfully sued banks in federal court for discrimination based on his Iraqi origins, and has claimed that he has "the solution" for peace in Iraq. He recently tried to sell the Executive Plaza at auction, with a starting bid of $4.5 mil., but found no takers.

I remember when the Southwest General Hospital was built. It was an unusual building that garnered a fair amount of attention for its architecture at the time. It was supposed to represent a possible new model for the survival of the city's struggling small, often minority-owned, neighborhood hospitals.

The original publicity was that it would provide equitable treatment for white and black patients in a single hospital, which had not generally been the case in Detroit. But by the time the various smaller hospitals were able to come together, raise enough money, and actually build the new hospital, the racial landscape had changed quite a bit. The place struggled from the very beginning, and gained a pretty shaky reputation. It wobbled towards death for many years, before it finally closed having become a mostly empty 'ghost' hospital.

It is hard to see what that place could be used for now, particularly after all it has suffered through all that abandonment, etc. It probably is no longer suitable as a hospital, and, anyway, there really isn't a need for one there. But it is still a strikingly odd and notable building that always seems to catch the attention and pique the imagination of those who notice it for the first time.