Developer wants to save Lafayette

[ghettopalmetto]

At the very least, Dionysia should be required to put the total cost of renovation in an escrow account before work begins. $3-4 million is not going to get them very far.

As if Detroit should be dictating financial responsibility.... It's not as if the City has an extra $1.4 million laying around for demolition.

At what point do you get the City of Detroit's hands out of what should be private sector work? An escrow account for the total cost of renovation is a ridiculous proposition--and would be considered nonstandard in the industry. Please--let's put more red tape in the way of developers, shall we?

This is getting embarrassing for the DEGC. You have cocksure sky-is-falling George Jackson [[is that George Jackson, P.E.? I can't tell.) declaring the building "unsafe", when no engineer has been retained to assess the integrity of the structure. Dennis is proposing to do what DEGC should have already done--IF DEGC WERE INTERESTED IN OBJECTIVE DECISION-MAKING.

Dennis's $3-4 million isn't intended to cover the cost of complete redevelopment. He hasn't even submitted a plan. But in order to come up with a plan, you need to hire an engineer to evaluate the structure, develop a scope of repairs, conduct stabilization activities where necessary, and hire an architect to develop a schematic design for the new use. At that point, you figure out how much a redevelopment is going to cost, and what kind of money you can get for it through leasing, and determine whether or not the numbers are going to work.

Knock Dennis if you will, but at least he's putting up some money to make an objective decision instead of going around just knocking shit down at random. Let's see the DEGC put their actions where their lip-service to preservation is.

[GREENTROIT]

"We would like to petition the city council to give us a two-week period for a structural analysis of the Lafayette Building," Novack said. "We feel at Dionysia that we could make it a viable property. We could have workers on the ground working within 30 days, within six months, a large portion of the restoration of the facade taken care of, and we could have the first two levels viable for commercial and retail."

Wasn't a main argument by City Council and DEGC in favor of demolition that the facade was unstable and a risk for bypassers on ground level? If this is the case, and Dionysia commits to restore the facade and make the first two levels viable then Council and the DEGC have no choice but to let them poke around. They have money, a promise of workers, and a commitment to rehabilitate the property. Even if they just put up the $3-4M to fix the facade and clean the first two floors it is worth it, regardless of there are tenants or not. A structurally sound, usuable building [[even if empty) beats a parking lot every day of the week and twice on Sunday...

[Lowell]

Doesn't Kefallinos own the Fort Wayne aka American Hotel next to the Masonic? http://detroityes.com/webisodes/2000...ricanHotel.htm


I wonder how that project is going?

[crawford]

Dennis' grand plan will be for a luxury flea market on the first floor, to be completed in 2040, economy-permitting, of course.

The upper floors can be mothballed until the year 2500, give or take. I'm sure the Book-Cadillac can wait out this blight in the interim.

[Stosh]

I don't know which is worse, the fact that Kefallinos is the one buying the building, or the pissing and moaning about the fact that he is buying the building.

It's not like there's a bidding war or something, with the DEGC giving him a sweetheart deal. Money talks.

[GREENTROIT]

Crawford,

Could you explain or list the benefits of the City paying millions to demolish this building?

[gravitymachine]

Dennis' grand plan will be for a luxury flea market on the first floor, to be completed in 2040, economy-permitting, of course.

you forgot satelite versions of the bozuki, nikki's, and the loco bar.

little know fact, he petitioned city council [[unsuccesfully) to put a strip club in the russell about 3 years ago. it got at least as far as there being a public comment session before council on the matter

[EastSider]

Crawford,

Could you explain or list the benefits of the City paying millions to demolish this building?

Those millions would be worth it if it meant Kefallinos wouldn't get his slimy mitts on the building.

[Gistok]

Those millions would be worth it if it meant Kefallinos wouldn't get his slimy mitts on the building.

Yeah, let's spend it all on one downtown building just because one of the neighboring building owners would prefer a nearby parking lot.... rather than spend it on demolishing hundreds of gutted and burned out vacant homes around the city just to make thousands of neighboring homeowners happy...

Lets get our priorities straight and concentrate all our demo work downtown...

[crawford]

Crawford,

Could you explain or list the benefits of the City paying millions to demolish this building?

It's pretty simple. The Book-Cadillac's long-term viability is harmed by the presence of proximate blight.

Now you can argue all day about how this silly suburbanesque people are wrong, and that there's nothing wrong with vacant, decaying structures all over the place [[after all, they give downtown "character"), but the paying consumer disagrees.

The fact is that Ferchill has big bills coming due, and they have [[so far) not done an adequate job of filling hotel rooms or selling condo units. I have no idea whether prospective guests/residents are turned off by the presence of proximate blight, but I think it's quite likely.

What I do know is that no potential guest or resident will be turned off by the presence of a parking lot, green space, development site, or even a vacant lot. None of these scenarios repel customers like a giant rotting hulk of a building.

If you support the Book-Cadillac's continued viability, it's essential that neighboring blight is removed. There is no market to rehabilitate anything downtown right now, and won't be for a number of years.

If, one day, there is demand, well then we will have a shovel-ready site. If not, it's still much better than a collapsing hulk scaring the public.

[crawford]

I don't know which is worse, the fact that Kefallinos is the one buying the building,

What? Where did you read this?

I want to own the Eifel Tower. Doesn't mean it's going to happen.

[GREENTROIT]

That is a fair point. But by this logic, can't one argue that new development will never occur because a construction site in close proximity to the BC will hamper business? And surely a rehabbed Lafayette with first floor commercial will help the BC, right?

And this is a topic for a new thread, but the Book Cadillac's troubles filling hotel rooms has very very little to do with the Lafayette Building, and a lot to do with many other things.

[dexterferry]

we should tear down the free press building, too, because I can see it from the windows of the book cadillac. the book tower needs to go, obviously. tourists might get scared if they see that eyesore down the boulevard. the whitney and broderick towers also might offend ferchill's customers, they've got to go. and everything else in between that doesn't have a viable business in it. the old people coming out of the stott might be depressing to our out-of-town guests, maybe we should just implode it with them inside. and when is the city finally going to fumigate capitol park and herd the riffraff off to the rosa parks transit center? we can put them on a people mover train that will "just happen" to veer off the tracks into the river. you know what else scares out-of-towners? black people. maybe we should find some way to get rid of all these black people.

crawford may think the same logic that applies in Troy should apply to downtown Detroit. but if Detroit doesn't embrace [[and exploit) some of its grittiness, there's going to be nothing left but a hotel in the middle of nowhere.

[davewindsor]

The fact is that Ferchill has big bills coming due, and they have [[so far) not done an adequate job of filling hotel rooms or selling condo units. I have no idea whether prospective guests/residents are turned off by the presence of proximate blight, but I think it's quite likely.

What I do know is that no potential guest or resident will be turned off by the presence of a parking lot, green space, development site, or even a vacant lot. None of these scenarios repel customers like a giant rotting hulk of a building.

So what, Crawford? That's the BC's problem, not the taxpayers. The BC invested $200million into the BC. They're not gonna board it up next month and move back to Chicago. They knew the neighbourhood before they moved there and if they want it torn down they should buy the Lafayette themselves and tear it down on their own dime. The BC also got a 15 year tax abatement for moving there. They've got enough handouts. Here's a guy willing to take the Lafayette off the city's hands and pay property taxes on it and spare the taxpayers the cost of demolition. Last I heard, parks don't pay property taxes. Unless you want to see your taxes go up to cover the shortfall???

[davewindsor]

we should tear down the free press building, too, because I can see it from the windows of the book cadillac. the book tower needs to go, obviously. tourists might get scared if they see that eyesore down the boulevard. the whitney and broderick towers also might offend ferchill's customers, they've got to go. and everything else in between that doesn't have a viable business in it. the old people coming out of the stott might be depressing to our out-of-town guests, maybe we should just implode it with them inside.

Lets not forget how many millions in lost property taxes these missing buildings will cost Detroiters, which are already running a deficit, for the BC that's hardly paying any property tax.

[Novack]

Kefallinos is an old selfish whore monger like most of his upper level staff. He needed an honest looking/sounding face, which he found in Eric Novac, the biggest scam artist liar I've ever met. I lived in the Russel Industrial Center for a year because Eric fed me a ton of lies and I ate them up and signed a lease.

Can I put this on my resume?

[detourdetroit]

go novack go!

[Fnemecek]

It's pretty simple. The Book-Cadillac's long-term viability is harmed by the presence of proximate blight.

Let's take a moment and review the lengthy list of reasons why this is incredibly stupid.

1. The Lafayette Bldg. can't be seen from the majority of the WBC's windows.
2. For those rooms where one could see it, one wouldn't be able to see it until after they've rented said room.
3. If someone wanted to rent a hotel room in downtown Detroit, but didn't want to stay at the WBC because of its proximity to the Lafayette Bldg., they would instead have to rent at a different hotel with a view of a different vacant building. This is simply because almost everything in or near downtown Detroit has at least one vacant building within its field of view.

All of this, of course, is on top of the greatest stupidity of all. If all one really wants to do is not have the appearance of blight within the field of view of WBC guests, why in the world would anyone in their right mind want to prevent someone from redeveloping the Lafayette Bldg.?

[Fnemecek]

Can I put this on my resume?

I would be disappointed in you if you didn't.

[Downtown diva]

This will certainly look bad for the D.E.G.C. and the D.D.A. if they don't take a good hard look at this. The fact that demolition over any chance of development is even considered is a mockery of these institutions.

For those that don't know, D.E.G.C. and D.D.A. stand for the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation and the Downtown Development Authority, respectively; because somehow economic growth and development have become synonymous with demolition for vacant landscaped lots, unsightly parking garages, and surface parking lots. This has happened so much in the City of Detroit that many Detroiters now cringe whenever the word development is used. On the other hand, economic growth projects are now viewed by most Detroiters as buzz words, leading many Detroiters to scoff at so called economic development projects and say; "we'll believe it when we see it".

I agree, Sean!

[Huggybear]

This will certainly look bad for the D.E.G.C. and the D.D.A. if they don't take a good hard look at this. The fact that demolition over any chance of development is even considered is a mockery of these institutions.

Kefallinos is the real estate equivalent of the guy with 10 rusted-out, dysfunctional old cars parked on blocks his front lawn - and when he wants to drive one [[if ever), instead of doing a body-off restoration, he breaks out the duct tape, Bondo and Krylon. If you don't like Ilitch or Higgins, you're really not going to like Kefallinos.

[Fnemecek]

^ How is that any better than the DEGC's proposal for a vacant lot with overgrown weeds and trash that never gets collected?

[EastSider]

^ How is that any better than the DEGC's proposal for a vacant lot with overgrown weeds and trash that never gets collected?

Better question, why do we expect a Kefallinos project to be better than what we currently have at the Lafayette building?

[detourdetroit]

with all due respect to the idea that Keffalinos is not a proponent of the highest standards, and as a former disgruntled resident of one of his buildings, I find myself arguing on his behalf.

While he has some structures like the American, etc. that are currently vacant, he has many that are not. In fact, of the landlords of his ilk, his efforts to get the number of historic properties that he does own activated and put into productive use, are pretty remarkable.

Keffalinos may not be the best for the job, but he is good for the job. And if the choice is between a DEGC smoke screen pocket park reminiscent of the weed strewn blight that is the Statler site and the potential for an effort that is reminiscent of the Boydell building, as a city lover I'd choose the latter any day of the week.

[Retroit]

I'm not in favor of tearing down the building, but I'm also not in favor of selling it to someone who is not able to do a decent restoration of it. The City of Detroit shouldn't sell the building for $1 to someone just because they have a some plan and some money. Can the city afford to be picky? If they want to stop the cycle of absentee landlordism, they'd better start being picky.

A decent restoration would probably cost $40 million [[uneducated guess), so giving the building to someone who only has $4 million would be like giving a home that needs $100,000 worth of restoration to someone that can only afford a $10,000 worth of restoration.

Until Dionysia submits a complete proposal and can come up with the complete amount to fulfill it, they should not be taken seriously.