Rossetti relocation rumors

[hybridy]

I have it on good authority that Rossetti Architects is joing the suburban exodus to join Dan Gilbert's downtown empire. Formal announcement coming within a month or 2???

Rossetti is responsible for Ford Field, among other large projects. They're also responsible for the interiors of the Chase Building for Quicken

Rosetti will be vacating the Oakland Towne Square development in Southfield. I guess that 3rd tower won't ever be built.
http://signatureassociates.catylist....field-MI-48076

[SWMAP]

Wasn't Rossetti once on Washington Blvd.? I know they were downtown.

[EastsideAl]

Wasn't Rossetti once on Washington Blvd.? I know they were downtown.

I don't know if they were headquartered there, but they did do this to Washington Blvd.:



[[picture from DetroitFunk's site)

[Shollin]

Yay, more jobs shuffling around and no new job creation.

[rondinjp]

This is great news, I will tentatively keep my fingers crossed.

[Honky Tonk]

Yay, more jobs shuffling around and no new job creation.

It's like Dejavu all over again.....

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

Yay, more jobs shuffling around and no new job creation.

I imagine the moving company involved in the relocation, the contractors doing any buildout, etc. would have a more favorable view of this move.

[Gannon]

Rumor confirmed by someone in the know in my group of friends. This one used to work there...

[DetroitPlanner]

Rosetti used to be here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=washin...12,264.05,,0,0

I am fairly sure the architect of the monkey bars was in the employ of Detroit.

[EastsideAl]

I am fairly sure the architect of the monkey bars was in the employ of Detroit.

And the architect "Detroit" employed was Rossetti:



From the AIA Guide to Detroit, 2003 - a much too-friendly description of this monstrosity:




I was working as a college student at City Council research at the time this project came across our desks. I worked with several others on a report strongly opposing this foolishness, but Rossetti's presentation was too slick, the desperation and backwardness of the city's economic development department too strong, and the inexplicable '70s and '80s pull of "revitalization" via the building of wholly un-vital concrete wastelands was too compelling, to stop the thing.

[Gannon]

I was working as a college student at City Council research at the time this project came across our desks. I worked with several others on a report strongly opposing this foolishness, but Rossetti's presentation was too slick, the desperation and backwardness of the city's economic development department too strong, and the inexplicable '70s and '80s pull of "revitalization" via the building of wholly un-vital concrete wastelands was too compelling, to stop the thing.

Nice. It must've felt good, in a way, when they came down then. Other than the waste and time lost to what could've been, of course.

It is oddly funny, then, to contrast the firm high-tailing it out of town after that fiasco...only to be drawn back by the new fiasco-master, Dan Gilbert himself.

Word is out every paint manufacturer is sending Quicken cheap buckets of all the paint they haven't been able to sell...and the furniture makers are having a blast emptying out their warehouses of misfit toys. Dan Gilbert is, single-handedly, causing a revolution in handling the recycling of horrid design elements! Yay!

[gumby]

Gannon,
You know I completly respect you but I have to say I truly do not understand your hatred of Dan Gilbert. Outside of his hideous design schemes and posting of building rules in the lobby [[gotta admit I am still baffled why this is a problem) what has been negative about his investment into downtown. All he has done is buy underutilized buildings fixed them up and filled them with workers. I see absolutly no issue with this. If you don't want him in Detroit please send him up here to Flint because we need him and would actually appreciate what he has done.

Nice. It must've felt good, in a way, when they came down then. Other than the waste and time lost to what could've been, of course.

It is oddly funny, then, to contrast the firm high-tailing it out of town after that fiasco...only to be drawn back by the new fiasco-master, Dan Gilbert himself.

Word is out every paint manufacturer is sending Quicken cheap buckets of all the paint they haven't been able to sell...and the furniture makers are having a blast emptying out their warehouses of misfit toys. Dan Gilbert is, single-handedly, causing a revolution in handling the recycling of horrid design elements! Yay!

[DetroitPlanner]

And the architect "Detroit" employed was Rossetti:



From the AIA Guide to Detroit, 2003 - a much too-friendly description of this monstrosity:




I was working as a college student at City Council research at the time this project came across our desks. I worked with several others on a report strongly opposing this foolishness, but Rossetti's presentation was too slick, the desperation and backwardness of the city's economic development department too strong, and the inexplicable '70s and '80s pull of "revitalization" via the building of wholly un-vital concrete wastelands was too compelling, to stop the thing.

I could have sworn it was Alex Pollock's work, but that was before my time.

[downtownguy]

Rosetti used to be here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=washin...12,264.05,,0,0

I am fairly sure the architect of the monkey bars was in the employ of Detroit.

I lived on Washington Blvd for most of the 80s and my balcony looked out over the monkey bars. I can't remember one person that came to visit me that was impressed by them. The only redeeming quality was that the long flourescent lights that ran under the monkey bars kept the boulevard well lit at night.

The irony was that Rosetti's office was, as DetroitPlanner points out, across the street from Cobo several blocks south of the eyesore. At least they didn't have to look at it every day. My recollection is that Rosetti didn't get much business in the city after that, and so moved to the burbs.

[Gannon]

The entire 'new' downtown is going to look like pre-school. Can't wait.

[p69rrh51]

I will give Matt a call and find out.

[D_Town]

Sooooo will all of Southfield eventually look like the Northland area with mostly empty office buildings?

[hybridy]

Sooooo will all of Southfield eventually look like the Northland area with mostly empty office buildings?

hate to point out the obvious here, but anyone realize these corporations are moving out of inner ring suburbs where minority populations are increasing to downtown where reverse white flight has been identified by the last census. i shall take this moment to usher in 'reverse corporate flight'.

[brizee]

hate to point out the obvious here, but anyone realize these corporations are moving out of inner ring suburbs where minority populations are increasing to downtown where reverse white flight has been identified by the last census. i shall take this moment to usher in 'reverse corporate flight'.

...

You just legit blew my mind.

[tkelly1986]

hate to point out the obvious here, but anyone realize these corporations are moving out of inner ring suburbs where minority populations are increasing to downtown where reverse white flight has been identified by the last census. i shall take this moment to usher in 'reverse corporate flight'.

So, what you are saying is that Detroit may be adopting the European model of urbanization where the poor live on the outskirts and the rick in the city center?

This really isn’t that new and has been seen in other cities that gentrified over the past 20 years. Detroit is just a bit behind the curve.

[hybridy]

So, what you are saying is that Detroit may be adopting the European model of urbanization where the poor live on the outskirts and the rick in the city center?

This really isn’t that new and has been seen in other cities that gentrified over the past 20 years. Detroit is just a bit behind the curve.

guess cause it never came up. i though that it was 'the elephant in the room'. i only mention because of the large scale abandonment of the cbd. that's not too normal for any city.

i always wondered what all the midrise offce towers in southfield, troy, etc all concentrated in the cbd and what that would look like [[in addition to the current building stock).

[dtowncitylover]

Correct me if I'm wrong and I'm sorry to get off topic, but wasn't Washington Blvd like it is today for most of its history? What was the reasoning behind the plaza? The same as the failed mall-ization of Woodward?

[Honky Tonk]

Correct me if I'm wrong and I'm sorry to get off topic, but wasn't Washington Blvd like it is today for most of its history? What was the reasoning behind the plaza? The same as the failed mall-ization of Woodward?

When I was young, it was a 2 way street with an island in the middle, like Woodward. There also was short term metered parking, [[good luck!) on both sides of the street. Businesses began moving out shortly after the 67 Riots, because people stopped coming downtown, and business dropped off severly. When they decided to install the People Remover, because "every growing city had a monorail", they had hoped to revitalize the area by putting in what you see there, developing some apartment living, making it more walkable, and more user-friendly. [[monorail was going to save the area! We can connect different loops all the way to 8 mile!) The idea bombed, and you have the cluster #$@& you see in the photo.

[tkelly1986]

How many people does Rossetii employ? As in, how many people could we expect to move downtown if this rumor is true?

[dbigsbe17]

This firm produces uninspired post modern architecture. Without being interrogative, can any of you who would like to look out your window and see this building in the first image, tell me why you'd prefer this to the second image?