Judge signs order to demolish Charlevoix Hotel

[p69rrh51]

FINALLY! You preservationists get all bent out of shape about a building that has been exposed to the elements for decades and is raining bricks on cars and people and you have the nerve to fault the CoD. Hey, how about blaming the damn property owner who let this shit happen? Private entities or individual property owners own the majority of the buildings in a city. The CoD only owns a small fraction and probably rents the rest.

The property owner is the person responsible for keeping up the property. Yeah, the CoD should have fined the owner up the butt, but what usually happens is that the owner finds a lawyer, promises to make repairs and never does, and the building just sits there rotting while the owner, lawyer, and city/county work out a payment plan. Remember the property rights of a private citizen supercede the rights of a government body [[CoD here). Then years later when the property becomes dangerous the CoD or Wayne County steps in and tears it down. Isn't that Higgins POS property on Bagley still standing. Where are the preservationists on that one?

Now, don't get me wrong, I would love to save as many old buildings in downtown Detroit as possible. The David Whitney and the David Stott are two I would love to see renovated. Although they have been vacant for the most part for years, they haven't been exposed to the elements like the Hotel Charlevoix. The owners chose to protect the buildings as best they could. Even the Book Building's owner has made an effort to preserve the building. However, it seems like the owner of the Hotel Charlevoix didn't give a f**k about his building. Hell, there were for sale signs on the building but who in their right mind would want to buy the shit when the windows had been removed, exposing the building to the elements, not for a month, but for decades.

I'm sure the businesses in the area [[Cliff Bells and the Park Bar) put pressure on the city to do something about the Hotel Charlevoix and they rightfully should have. I only wish it had been done years ago. Putting that stupid chain-linked fence around the building was an abomination. An emergency demolition order should have been filed one minute after those bricks came crashing down on the cars below. I'm sure it would have happened if a pedestrian was struck and killed by those bricks.

There still remains many abandoned buildings in downtown Detroit. I believe some can be saved [[Whitney, Stott) and some need to be torn down [[Hotel Charlevoix, Higgins POS on Bagley, and the Metropolitan). I am glad to see Dan Gilbert take over many of these buildings. I have a strong feeling he won't just sit on them and let them rot. Too bad other property owners can't be more diligent with taking care of their properties, but in the end the vacant properties are THEIR properties. Preservationists go after them and not the CoD.

Your lack of knowledge on building design is astonishing! The Hotel Charlevoix is so overbuilt the decades of neglect have not done much to damage the actual structure of the building. The bricks falling while a major nuisance and should be repaired as soon as possible have absolutely nothing to do with the structure of the building they are just decoration.
Also if you did a little bit of reading on here you would find that the owner is in the top 2 or 3 neglectors drawing the most ire on this forum, and yes the CoD is as much to blame as the owner!
Last since you seem to very uniformed this building is one of just a handful of designs left by architect/Detroiter Henry S. Joy.
What we don't need is another stupid parking lot!
A link to few more of Joy's designs for those who have a Facebook account.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...6515382&type=3

[rjlj]

Yes, well said.

Your lack of knowledge on building design is astonishing! The Hotel Charlevoix is so overbuilt the decades of neglect have not done much to damage the actual structure of the building. The bricks falling while a major nuisance and should be repaired as soon as possible have absolutely nothing to do with the structure of the building they are just decoration.
Also if you did a little bit of reading on here you would find that the owner is in the top 2 or 3 neglectors drawing the most ire on this forum, and yes the CoD is as much to blame as the owner!
Last since you seem to very uniformed this building is one of just a handful of designs left by architect/Detroiter Henry S. Joy.
What we don't need is another stupid parking lot!
A link to few more of Joy's designs for those who have a Facebook account.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...6515382&type=3