Lafayette Building next on DEGC hit list?

[EastsideAl]

Oh and that Fox Theater... what were they thinking. We could've had a vacant lot there too. And that Palms/State/Fillmore thing. And that wasteful opera house. We could've had a whole downtown full of nice empty lots just waiting for those nice developers. Damn! They must be passing us by because we just don't have enough empty open lots for them yet.

[DetroitDad]

Not to mention there is already a big empty lot off Campus Martius, and another off Woodward that isn't oddly shaped and already has the foundation started. It seems that either of those two would be much more desirable for new development, assuring that a site like the Lafayette will remain vacant.

[ScienceFair]

Anyone swing by Brewster-Douglas recently? That corner of real estate bounded by I-75 on the east and south looks like Hiroshima. It is crawling with derelicts and sqautters and poses an actual danger to citizens of the adjacent neighborhoods. I pass it every weekend on my way to Eastern Market, and every time it looks worse. This is a situation where demolition would clearly mean progress for the City of Detroit. Why is no one clamoring to demolish these buildings? Is it because there's not enough structural steel to make a profit?

[casscorridor]

Not to mention that the only economic purpose an empty lot serves is for a parking lot. and the last 5 years saw a parking garage building boom so there really is no reason to have any more parking. The Greektown garage alone probably has as much capacity as all the surface lots combined.

[EastsideAl]

Orchestra Hall was even closer to demolition than the Lafayette Building is now before it was saved. And you younger folks may not remember, but it was in a pretty advanced state of decay and was viewed by much of the public and the city government of that era as just as useless and outmoded as many downtown buildings are seen today. Perhaps even more so, since it was in a "bad neighborhood."

Now, the Lafayette Building is admittedly hardly Orchestra Hall, but it is a well-built building that has stood the test of time and is a whole lot better than nothing - unless you're a demolition contractor, that is [[or an economic "development" chief with some seriously out-moded ideas). And if it goes, what's next for the "demolition is progress" people? David Broderick? David Whitney? The Book Building?

In the meantime, as ScienceFair helpfully points out, the city has buildings all over the place that really are useless dangerous vacant wrecks, and that the neighborhoods around them want and need to have gone. But there's seemingly no money for that.

[Gistok]

comparing the Lafayette building to Orchestra Hall is like comparing this website to the other one up the dial.

Please put your common sense back in your pocket...you need it.

Actually comparing the Lafayette Building to Orchestra Hall is a very good analogy, for those who know their history....

In 1970 a Philadelphia based pizza company wanted to tear down Orchestra Hall in order to put in a pizza parlor. Well some DSO members started a SAVE ORCHESTRA HALL committee, and after a discussion with the pizza company, they decided to go elsewhere. The Save Orchestra Hall folks started a long uphill battle to same the hall. It took years of planning, fund raising and hard work to return the decrepit hall back to its' former glory. From that start in 1970, it took almost 2 decades of slow work to get the DSO to move back to the place in 1989.

Since then the amount os spin off has been phenomenal... Orchestra Place office building was built on the next block over to house the symphony offices, and also got the Detroit Medical Center to move their office HQ from Troy back down to Midtown, where their main campus was.

Then later another fund raiser was started to build another $100+ million addition to Orchestra Hall, [[The Max) that added a lot of additional circulation and rehersal space. All in all that 1970 saving of the derilect theatre spawned nearly $200 millioin in additional development that would NOT have happened had a pizza joint opened at that site.

The Detroit Opera House also has a long history that in many ways mirrors Orchestra Hall. The 1989 purchase of the former decrepit Capitol Theatre 20 years ago started a long slow process that was finally finished about 2 years ago [[with the Madison and Broadway office blocks finally finished as ancillary opera and dance space). And the addition of the adjacent block with the new parking structure/office space further enhanced that part of downtown.

Historic preservation requires patience and fortitude... something often lacking in the American "throw away" society of today..

[Gistok]

nobody can ever confuse the historical significance and beauty of Orchestra hall with the Lafayette building.

I don't see why not? They both had the same architect.... C. Howard Crane. Orchesta Hall's main beauty lies in its' classic interior, while the Lafayette Buildings beauty lies mainly in its' classical exterior, in a style reminiscent of the old GM Building [[Crane and Albert Kahn were friends) and Washington D.C.'s Federal Triangle.

And before a regrettable 1960s renovation, it was a stately classic building....

[kraig]

Anyone swing by Brewster-Douglas recently? That corner of real estate bounded by I-75 on the east and south looks like Hiroshima. It is crawling with derelicts and sqautters and poses an actual danger to citizens of the adjacent neighborhoods. I pass it every weekend on my way to Eastern Market, and every time it looks worse. This is a situation where demolition would clearly mean progress for the City of Detroit. Why is no one clamoring to demolish these buildings? Is it because there's not enough structural steel to make a profit?

On this very site, I wondered why it was not being targeted at the time the City Council passed its resolution to tear down the Train Station. Everyone accused me of working for Matty Moroun. You see, people around here want things both ways.

[kraig]

i am set to unveil my plan for the Lafayette building.

As you are probably well aware, I just joined this forum today after reading all that you guys have written for years.

My plan is simple. these are the retailers that I am targting

• Boyne Sports [[becasue of the new ski hill that is going to be formed)
• Sports Authority [[becasue of all the Jerome Bettis jerseys that peoiple are going to want)
• Cheescake Factory [[nuff said)
• Gardner White Furniture or Crate and Barrell [[because of all the hipsters who are going to need furniture for their downtown lofts)
• The Gap
• Dave and Busters....becasue all the suburbanites want to spend their nights downtown becasue of the safety measures that have been taken
• Local TV station on the ground floor, so they can broadcast with all the tourists standing outside waitinng for Willard Scott
• Motown museum
• Leos Coney Island...never enough of those.
• Starbucks [[ditto)

Ironically, your joke is a better plan than anything these aspiring preservationists have come up with. LOL


Again, if someone wants to do something. Find a a building that you want saved, develop a plan, purchase the property and develop the project into what you want.

[Gistok]

About 5 months ago I photoshopped the images below..... for another thread identical to this one...

1st one is the view from Campus Martius with the Lafayette Building intact.
2nd one is the view from Campust Martius with the Lafayette parking lot.

The difference is quite startling... you decide what makes downtown Detroit look better...

[buildingsofdetroit]

And before a regrettable 1960s renovation, it was a stately classic building....

Gee, that was nice. Someone just lopped the watermark off that photo. Grr.

[Gistok]

Gee, that was nice. Someone just lopped the watermark off that photo. Grr.

What's also not funny is when someone else takes one of your own photos and adds their watermark to it... or find your DYES post VERBATIM on someone elses blog...

[kraig]

About 5 months ago I photoshopped the images below..... for another thread identical to this one...

1st one is the view from Campus Martius with the Lafayette Building intact.
2nd one is the view from Campust Martius with the Lafayette parking lot.

The difference is quite startling... you decide what makes downtown Detroit look better...

You do realize that you aren't getting the actual background?

[Gistok]

You do realize that you aren't getting the actual background?

Of course not! [[I may have missed a 4 story building in the distance.) But it's not far off, and people get an idea of what to expect as far as a Campus Martius view goes.

[buildingsofdetroit]

or find your DYES post VERBATIM on someone elses blog...

Not to threadjack, but ... ?

[leland_palmer]

Gee, that was nice. Someone just lopped the watermark off that photo. Grr.

Do you still put your watermark over photos that you could not have possible taken? Or attach your copyright to them?

http://www.buildingsofdetroit.com/pl...dillac/oldpics

[buildingsofdetroit]

Do you still put your watermark over photos that you could not have possible taken? Or attach your copyright to them?

http://www.buildingsofdetroit.com/pl...dillac/oldpics

Leland,
That is my fault. We have an automatic watermark generator on the galleries. When I upped some photos, I accidentally added the watermark and deleted the originals after upload. I've slowly [[I admit) been going through, refinding the images and reuploading and crediting them. I left the ones I haven't re-uploaded up instead of taking them down because, until this moment, no one had complained. Technically, we're a two-person operation, but in all reality, I'm the only one who does anything, so I'm trying to do my best. Again, if someone, anyone, had said anything about it, I would have taken them down. Say hello to Presto for me. I haven't seen her since Tony's birthday party in Ferndale.

[Retroit]

With all the abandoned buildings downtown [[not to mention the other 138 square miles of Detroit), I'm puzzled why a city with a $300 million deficit would find it so urgent to tear down a structurally sound building.

I say disband the Demolition Enthralled Governmental Cronies and use the money saved to clean up Detroit's neighborhoods.

[leland_palmer]

Leland,
That is my fault. We have an automatic watermark generator on the galleries. When I upped some photos, I accidentally added the watermark and deleted the originals after upload. I've slowly [[I admit) been going through, refinding the images and reuploading and crediting them. I left the ones I haven't re-uploaded up instead of taking them down because, until this moment, no one had complained. Technically, we're a two-person operation, but in all reality, I'm the only one who does anything, so I'm trying to do my best. Again, if someone, anyone, had said anything about it, I would have taken them down. Say hello to Presto for me. I haven't seen her since Tony's birthday party in Ferndale.

No worries. You might want to reconsider putting your copyright in the captions section on the photos that are not yours also. There are more IP lawyers in this town than you might think, and they are looking for billable hours right now. I'll say hi to J for you.

[buildingsofdetroit]

No worries. You might want to reconsider putting your copyright in the captions section on the photos that are not yours also. There are more IP lawyers in this town than you might think, and they are looking for billable hours right now. I'll say hi to J for you.

My girlfriend is teaching me A LOT about intellectual property rights on the Internet. I know nuthin' 'bout nuthin' 'cept for Detroit buildings.

[Fnemecek]

They don't have everything. List some buildings that you think are worth saving and have an idea for what can be done with them.

Actually, they do have control over pretty much every historic building in and around downtown Detroit.

[Fnemecek]

Frank and PalmettoMan,


The economy in Detroit comes back in 3 years, at best.

What do you envision at that location?

We are now closing in on 13 years of abandonment....

what can the property be used for guys?

That would depend entirely on what condition the building is in. It's entirely possible that demolition might be the best option.

Of course, we'll never know unless the City allows an inspection team into the building.

[ghettopalmetto]

That would depend entirely on what condition the building is in. It's entirely possible that demolition might be the best option.

Of course, we'll never know unless the City allows an inspection team into the building.

And that, of course, is the 800-lb gorilla in the room. Perhaps if the DEGC spent some money hiring an architect and engineer to conduct feasibility studies, they might find these empty buildings easier to market, since scopes of repair would already be defined. One would think this is part of what an "economic development corporation" is supposed to do, but why go through so much trouble when George Jackson can just look at the exterior and render his irrelevant opinion that a building is "structurally unsound".

[darwinism]

The amount of corruption runs deep. For what its worth, demolition of this building is going to make SOMEBODY lots of money. Whenever in doubt, like they always say, just follow the money trail. 99.9% of the time the answer lies somewhere along the money trail.

So, instead of arguing whether the building is sound, or whether there is hope for redevelopment, the argument should be about who GAINS with the building standing, versus who GAINS in taking the building down?

[HazenPingree]

[quote=kraig;33737]

Compuware -Hudson's
Campus Martius -Hudson's
Ernst & Young -Kennedy Square Garage
Ford Field -Vacant Row Houses
Comerica Park -Vacant Row Houses
Greektown Hotel -Parwycke Apts, City Garage
One Detroit Center -Old Greyhound Bus Station
Brewery Park [[may be a little more than 20) -Stroh's Brewery
Chene Square -Vacant Property
IHOP on Jefferson -Little Harry's
Starbucks [[soon to be Tim Horton's) on Jefferson -Vacant Property.

Compuware and Campus Martius, along with the Premiere Garage, utilized tax credits that were connected to the Hudson's building. Compuware would not have moved into the heart of Downtown Detroit without parking. They also received their own parking garage. But hey, what's a few thousand jobs? After all, there were so many people that had been working at the abandoned Hudson's building, right?

The others, buildings were torn down and new buildings were put up.

Compuware - You're confusing Hudson's with Kern's, no?
Campus Martius - What was demolished to create this?
Ernst & Young - You're counting a garage here... wasn't it just really a park, anyway?
Brewery Park [[may be a little more than 20) -Was'nt this mostly an adaptive reuse project?
IHOP on Jefferson - This was an illegal night time demolition of one of Detroit's oldest homes. Thanks Anita Baker.
The other buildings: Ford Field, Comerica Park, Greektown Hotel, One Detroit Center, etc...
Few people on here are arguing against demolishing RIGHT NOW for some big development that is coming in RIGHT NOW. Though hard to swallow, that is different and somewhat easier to understand... what the DEGC is doing is demolishing RIGHT NOW for a development that might happen in 30 years, but most likely never...

Ok, so that leaves us with two correctly identified vacant properties that have been redeveloped in the past 20 years. That's awesome!
Chene Square -Vacant Property
Starbucks [[soon to be Tim Horton's) on Jefferson -Vacant Property.