American Beauty

[Detroit Stylin]

Walking down Cass today I saw a number of things going on, in particular the contrasting projects of the the demolition prep work being done on the American Beauty Building and the beginning of restoration on the taller building on the west side of Cass that will provide more office space for Tech Town...Attachment 14744

More images coming soon

[Detroit Stylin]

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[Hypestyles]

what kind of business was "american beauty"? is the demolition related to TechTown..

[Detroit Stylin]

No I think the AMerican Beauty Demo is related to WSU's Bio Engineering School they are building there...

[rb336]

I believe they made electric irons

[Detroit Stylin]

While right across the street we see renovation/ restoration work ongoing on an old Wayne State building [[does anyone have any idea what its original use was?)

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[Detroit Stylin]

Here is a mystery I have been trying to figure out for at least a month. Does anyone know what they are doing with this building on Cass next to the tall residential Student Housing building across the street from the Labor School?

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[Detroitnerd]

Wayne State does not want you meddling. They are improving Detroit, one parking lot at a time. All the buildings they are tearing down had to come down. All the buildings they are developing were worth saving. No more debate is necessary, so just stop investigating, stop talking about it, let Wayne State do what it must, because Wayne State is always right.

[downtown_racine]

It looks like there couldnt be a better building for re-use. They surely seem "to be doing it wrong". What a shame. Gotta have "new better buildings".

[wolverine]

Here is a mystery I have been trying to figure out for at least a month. Does anyone know what they are doing with this building on Cass next to the tall residential Student Housing building across the street from the Labor School?

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They're temporarily removing the facade to do waterproofing and insulation, then reattaching the facade. Probably inspected it and found the need for repairs. Good for them. Some building owners would just let it crumble till it falls and can't be replaced.

[Zacha341]

A bit of history on the American Beauty [[Albert Khan - architect):

http://fadeddetroit.blogspot.com/201...-progress.html

http://detroit.curbed.com/archives/2...mo-plans-1.php

Older Southend Article:

http://thesouthend.wayne.edu/index.p..._iron_building

[Zacha341]

Ah-yes, the love / can't stand thing about WSU. I hear you. Of course I am very happy to have a major university in Detroit. The benefits are there, but sometimes the parking lot issue [[building them, or what they charge to park in them, or the condition of them)... well I just stop now......

Wayne State does not want you meddling. They are improving Detroit, one parking lot at a time. All the buildings they are tearing down had to come down. All the buildings they are developing were worth saving. No more debate is necessary, so just stop investigating, stop talking about it, let Wayne State do what it must, because Wayne State is always right.

[Strathcona]

While right across the street we see renovation/ restoration work ongoing on an old Wayne State building [[does anyone have any idea what its original use was?)

Attachment 14750

Cadillac division offices

[jtf1972]

A surface parking lot??? Just what we need... This building seems like it would be perfect to convert into a parking structure... While parking structures aren't much better than surface lots, at least it would keep the facade & avoid another hole in the street wall. Oh, and it would allow more vehicles, which would avoid yet another surface lot!