What do we do with the old Wayne County Building

[szla]

We have watched in a very passive nature of some form as all sorts of historic degradation of our cultural architectural assets happened. Whether it was the old city hall, the Lafayette building, the fourth street train depot, the warehouse district, the Michigan Central Station, Brush Park, the beautiful buildings along Park Avenue, Palmer Park, old Tiger Stadium, the equally beautiful residential apartment district at Chicago and Linwood or what ever. I visited Savannah Georgia several years ago and it was a women's club that saved that city from the ravages of urban renewal of the late 50's and early 60's. The invective on this forum that we need to tear down everything is loud. There is the equally popular phrase that they've invested in the city and they are going to put a new building there and nobody is there to throw money at the old building anyway. I was very disheartened when the county moved into the Guardian Building which was a building which I thought could take care of itself. There is no other use for the Old County Building other than government. Preservation Detroit doesn't seem to have the wherewithall to do much and there is no body with real money to step up. I seem to remember reading an article about the County Building where it was stated that it was the finest building in the NW territories[[at least the states that encompassed it). What's to become of it and is there some Guardian Angel or Women's club.

[royce]

I agree that it is a beautiful building that deserves to be saved. As much as Jeffrey Fieger talks about his love for Detroit, it would seem only appropriate that his law firm would be in the city. The Wayne County Building seems like a perfect fit. If one law firm can't fill it, then maybe several law related services could occupy the building. Ficano did some crazy stuff that forced Wayne County to leave. Hopefully the new Wayne County executive can find a way to put the county government offices back where it belongs: in the Wayne County Building.

[DetroitPlanner]

Add a drive thru window and turn it into a big-@$$ mcdonalds!

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

It is a beautiful building. I have never been inside it, but I would suspect that one of the issues with repurposing it is that the interior spaces aren't conducive to modern offices [[often the story with such buildings). I've thought it would be a good fit for a boutique hotel. I hope it finds a use.

[Honky Tonk]

Add a drive thru window and turn it into a big-@$$ mcdonalds!

Abandon it, tag it, let it burn down, put a party store and parking lot on it. S.O.P.

[jackie5275]

It is a beautiful building. I have never been inside it, but I would suspect that one of the issues with repurposing it is that the interior spaces aren't conducive to modern offices [[often the story with such buildings). I've thought it would be a good fit for a boutique hotel. I hope it finds a use.

It's more conducive to office space than you think. The County did alright with it with office rooms & cubicles in there much better than the Guardian Bldg where most of the workers are sitting on floor after floor of cube city.

I think it would be tough to put in a hotel due to all the reconstruction you'd have to perform in it. The building was originally a courthouse with rather large courtrooms that were converted to offices. There is limited plumbing, old radiator heating/cooling, plaster walls [[no dry wall), lots of marble & granite, mosaic tile floors, etc. It seems like a lot to tear up to put in hotel rooms. I don't know how much a developer would want to tear up that might destroy the beauty of the interior.

[Baselinepunk]

Simple: make it like the Traverse City Commons:

http://www.thevillagetc.com/

Adaptive reuse; and loving it!

[Danny]

Let Dan Gilbert have it.

[poobert]

Metro Detroit preservation in a six easy steps:

1) Building is indiscriminately sold off to a shady/unknown character.
2) The building is allowed to fall into unbelievable disrepair. Begins to appear on German facebook pages as ruin porn.
3) Preservationists intervene, to be rudely dismissed by city elected officials for either standing in the way of "progress" or supporting a building that was built by slaveholders, or didn't let blacks in, or something related to race. Add in some anti-Semitism for good measure.
4) Said shady owners pays local crackhead $100 to torch the place. This works well since there is no mechanism, such as law enforcement, for catching said cracked-out arsonist.
5) Building is allowed to sit as a burned out shell/embarassment for all the world to leer at. International ruin porn recognition grows. May also be painted orange/covered in dots at this point.
6) Building is torn down, replaced with nothing/liquor store/Pakistani-parking lot/all of the above.

Ain't life grand.

[Eric_c]

Sell off the City-County Building and move Detroit City Government into the Wayne County Building.

[Detroitnerd]

Metro Detroit preservation in a six easy steps:

Hilarious but sad, poobert. Ain't it the truth.

The building should be mothballed and heavily guarded. At some point, it will be a classy office address.

[Neilr]

To mark its 1989 restoration/renovetion of the old Wayne County Building, the firm of Smith, Hinchman, & Grylls published a beautifully illustrated book that told the history of the building. Here are several photos from that book.

[MrChrome]

Where can I find this book?

[Neilr]

Where can I find this book?

The title of the book is The Renaissance of the Wayne County Building. [[Suzy Farbman & James Gallagher, Smith, Hinchman & Grylls, 1989)

I just now checked on Amazon and there seems to be 1 used copy available.

[Gistok]

Thanks for the images Neilr! Very nice building. I remember that the city had some of their courts in that building. And that incidentally is the only use I can think of... possibly moving the Federal Courts into the old County Building. It looks sort of like an old Federal Courthouse.

[RickBeall]

Poobert ... ha ha ha.

A crushed gravel parking lot, made from the crushed marble of its columns, that may be the best. When you parked, you could take a marble chip if you wanted.

[dtowncitylover]

Three years since this thread and I was wondering if anyone has any ears out there about plans for this building? Such a gorgeous structure and it seems the mothballing of it is working. Last I heard, a New York investment group bought it...

[Lowell]

I forget the exact details but a couple of years back it was sold for a sizable amount, maybe 20 mil, with the announcement that it would be repurposed for office space. There was activity outside the building, an overgrown day care kiddy playground in the SW corner was cleared away, and other exterior grounds spruced up. Since then it has been quiet.

[dtowncitylover]

Perhaps a Google search should've been done first. Here is a Crain's article from 2 years ago...

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...ing-lot-closes

[the rock]

It is a beautiful building. I have never been inside it, but I would suspect that one of the issues with repurposing it is that the interior spaces aren't conducive to modern offices [[often the story with such buildings). I've thought it would be a good fit for a boutique hotel. I hope it finds a use.

In my day, I tried a few cases in those old ornate court rooms. Judge Spivak and Judge Roumell were Wayne Circuit judges there.and a judge from Dearborn whose name I do not recall. And the old traffic court was held in the basement.Judge Maher and Judge Wise, both of whom later became circuit court judges.
The golden rule for traffic court attorneys were 3 in number:
1. Get your fee in advance.
2. The client pays the fine.
3. Get yourr fee in advance.

[401don]

Almost 30 million for the purchase and reno for single occupant use. That's a lot of money if there's no tenant lined up. Just curious, are there offices in the steeple as well?

[ParisianLesion]

I need to preface this opinion by saying that I have never had the good [[or bad depending on the reason for your visit fortune to go inside this building. That being said, I have a VERY hard time seeing this used as a single or even multi-tenant office building.

The best use for this building, although I'm not sure Detroit is quite there yet, is to turn it in to a downtown market and food court ala Boston's Quincy Market / Faneuil Hall. Phenomenal location and the type of venue and central indoor gathering space that Detroit sorely lacks.

[the rock]

[QUOTE=Gistok;388729]Thanks for the images Neilr! Very nice building. I remember that the city had some of their courts in that building. And that incidentally is the only use I can think of... possibly moving the Federal Courts into the old County Building. It looks sort of like an old Federal Courthouse.[/QUOTE


When I tried cases in those 4 court rooms, I don't recall all they were air conditioned or, if so, that it worked very well. Always hot in the summer.
there were very few public telephones in the different hallways and they were always in use, long lines etc. this was before cell phones.
Public rest rooms were also at a premium. Them were the days! The court rooms they later set up in the old Lafayette building were horrible. Another story.
I guarantee you the Federal judges would revolt if they were told to move their quarters to the old Wayne County Building! Their court rooms are very, very nice, spacious,etc.

[eastland]

Almost 30 million for the purchase and reno for single occupant use. That's a lot of money if there's no tenant lined up. Just curious, are there offices in the steeple as well?

No offices in the steeple; air conditioning was installed during last renovation in the 80s.

[MrChrome]

There has been work going on at the old Wayne County Building the past week or so. Today they were throwing away all of the old office furniture into a dumpster: