United Artists Theatre

[Detroitdave]

Absolutely not ! These guys are a-holes!
This family has already shown what they will do ,they can’t be trusted.
They make promises and want to build parking lots.
Absolutely Not !
Stop destroying Detroit’s history for f-ing parking lots!
Enough is enough!
The Ilitches haven’t finished ONE older building that they’ve bought from the city.
Their end game,IF they can get away with it, is to demo and add more parking to their already sea of parking lots .
Come on ! Enough is enough this is getting embarrassing.
We all know there is someone with the money and know how to have this historic beauty up to speed and his initials are DG Anyone wanna make a bet ?
This is just ridiculous. No way to this demo. Make him sell it to someone[[DG) who will do something with it and not make another parking lot out of it .sad truly sad
This family has already shown their true colors and we all know what they intend on doing with this site .

[ABetterDetroit]

Go figure.

The Ilitch developer is lying on why they need to demo.


https://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne...er/2484604001/

[mikefmich]

It will be beautifully landscaped, so there's that.

Lolololol.
Sad, so sad. Sitting here trying to remember what movies I've seen there.

[Atticus]

Go figure.

The Ilitch developer is lying on why they need to demo.


https://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne...er/2484604001/

As we all know, the plan has always been to get more parking.

And while most of us would obviously all prefer they redevelop the theater, there is/was nothing stopping them from just redeveloping the building itself, and leaving the theater as is. But they won’t redevelop the building, and we’re probably never going to. It was all smoke and mirrors to the real plan of just demolishing the theater to get more parking.

[Zads07]

This family is just the absolute worst for the city.

A loading dock. That’s what they would use the demolished theater space for.

F. Off.

[swingline]

Is there any public access to the Moten/Ilitch proposal for the UA building? What is proposed for parking? Are they proposing to use the existing lot that takes up the rest of the block, including the frontage on Grand Circus Park? [[Former Tuller Hotel site.) Does the city still have control of the rest of the block or has it been sold [[gifted) to the Ilitch Organization already? I've lost track of the status. Do the costs to the city of the UA redevelopment include the permanent commitment of Grand Circus Park frontage to surface parking? Regardless of how awful the result, no planning design blunder is impossible when it comes to these players.

[JK313]

A crains article from today also mentioned they wanted to tear down the theater because it would provide extra parking spaces that would make the apartments more marketable/attractive. So it looks like they’re planning on using the tuller/theater sites as surface parking for residents.

[Gistok]

The entire UA/Tuller block is owned by the Ilitches. I don't think that the Tuller portion [[facing Grand Circus Park) will be included as parking. It's too valuable to the Ilitches in case they ever start developing parcels.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/15...!4d-83.0530437

[NSortzi]

Funny how the need for a loading dock was their excuse for having the Hotel Park Avenue demolished too during construction of LCA. And they made a deal to develop the Eddystone in exchange...sounds eerily similar.

[DetroitGuy423]

A crains article from today also mentioned they wanted to tear down the theater because it would provide extra parking spaces that would make the apartments more marketable/attractive. So it looks like they’re planning on using the tuller/theater sites as surface parking for residents.

Which is a joke. I live in the Farwell Building at Capitol Park and we have no attached parking whatsoever. None. The Building has 84 units and only 11 are left, so the parking as a necessary marketing tool is a joke.

[EastsideAl]

A business model for the UA?

Back in 1953, the Music Hall Theater committed to a major retrofitting, so that they could book and present CINERAMA attractions exclusively. They were promised a slew of such features over time that would have long, roadshow-like runs. And for the next decade The Music Hall was, indeed, the home of CINERAMA in Detroit. When new releases thinned out in later years, the MH booked exclusive, roadshow premieres of non-CINERAMA shows like, EL CID and The Sand Pebbles.

So, perhaps the idea would be to make the UA a shrine, a cathedral to film, focusing on a particular theme. An auditorium dedicated to large formats like CINERAMA or/and IMAX could draw audiences - certainly not 7 days a week, but over long weekends, surely?

However, and here is where all of the expense and intricate detailed work of a restoration on the scale of the UA meets the demands and requirements of large format viewing - the screen size and curvature and placement would mask the beauty of the proscenium and the rest of the front of the auditorium.

Still, if the theme were to be "Roadshow" movies - widescreen, true - but with screen requirements less challenging as with CINERAMA or IMAX formats - then perhaps the screen size could be incorporated into the restoration with far less marring of the handiwork.

A Revival House Like No Other! Welcome to Detroit's Own Motion Picture Cathedral - Welcome to The United Artists Theater!

Funny thing is, this was Detroit's main theater for the big studio "roadshow" movies back in the '50s and early '60s. Many of those films were in wide screen formats [[although not as wide as true Cinerama) and if you look at more recent photos of the condition of the United Artists you can see where the proscenium was modified, and curtains added, to accommodate the wider screen. So the UA has the capability to show a lot of classic movies of that era in something very close to their original format, which the DIA or the Redford do not have.

[Wesley Mouch]

A crains article from today also mentioned they wanted to tear down the theater because it would provide extra parking spaces that would make the apartments more marketable/attractive. So it looks like they’re planning on using the tuller/theater sites as surface parking for residents.

It also may be true that a certain number of parking spaces are REQUIRED by city codes. Its the norm that you have to provide at least one parking space per apartment. [[There are also typically square footage minimums per apartment.) These kind of zoning regulations can cause stupidity like tearing down an asset to provide parking. Sure, the Ilitches have a history of tearing down to create parking. If the city also requires it -- that's more fuel on the fire of stupidity. Think about this kind of rule when you what to create a new rule, regulation, or requirement. Things change. Today parking for apartments is less important because a lot of people just don't need cars -- even in Motown.

[Detroitdave]

Also there are plenty of parking spaces in the GCP garage under the park.

[ABetterDetroit]

It is a shame that the Ilitch family are not professionals in the entertainment business. Someone like that would be able to figure out how to make a historic theatre downtown work...

[Detroitdave]

This is how it's done folks, this can be done , don't believe what they are trying to sell you.
Here is the proof.
https://www.acehotel.com/losangeles/...tre-ace-hotel/
Mic drop

[southen]

Also there are plenty of parking spaces in the GCP garage under the park.

I feel like most of those are already spoken for from other residential projects around the park.

[Wesley Mouch]

This is how it's done folks, this can be done , don't believe what they are trying to sell you.
Here is the proof.
https://www.acehotel.com/losangeles/...tre-ace-hotel/
Mic drop

Do you know how many seats the UA-LA has?

Seeing that excellent sales photo, my first thought is that the Detroit UA is much better -- and that's saying a lot of course as the LA version is still way cool.

[Gistok]

Do you know how many seats the UA-LA has?

Seeing that excellent sales photo, my first thought is that the Detroit UA is much better -- and that's saying a lot of course as the LA version is still way cool.

When they originally opened the LA UA had 2,200 seats, the Detroit UA had 2,070 seats, and the [[now razed) Chicago UA had 1,739 seats.

For some odd reason, none of the downtown LA theatres was very large, and had no more than 2,450 seats, while the largest downtown Detroit theatres had 5,174 [[Fox), 4,050 [[Michigan), 3,384 [[Capitol/Opera House), 2,975 [[State) and 2950 [[Oriental).

[Gistok]

On Facebook's Terrible Ilitches [[scroll down a few pages) there's an entire thread about how the United Artists Theatre looked back before the Ilitches bought and let rot the building.

David Grossman owned the building, but never had the money to fix it up. But it was still in decent [[although worn) condition....

https://www.facebook.com/TERRIBLEILI...ref=nf&__xts__[0]=68.ARCZYoHDlZTBTy1070cPVlhuRO8PVUxXPePj9Ti37X0vww KZ_yCHK1-8rKHrUWneR9Xy4qT5HSJ_EKzPg0UsCzgQ8-5ulreDloqvltvcZMxxCoRRg3GhBDlOvU7op0Qj4Ais12xb_Qym qZDacNJhoCLsFkbiyxa6gOjoegVXWOg_yCKLZRFhXm1h-rfyjeT-hqGNHKyXw0AxxFDfnJ9-D6nQmOaDmVwL7XqH8ipZw9OyEhiDG2flQRfTEf0yMnn9Awvh7q J67h52cXP-JKvaqCBM8gr2_8IPhsPxEiR1XE8ZaCEFR6Ag8wt7YOqM1Azhjd uGciSIHsiDbiGqa5s2hA9Ob_M7

[[Even though the link doesn't look like it works... the first part takes you to where you want to go...)

Now, thanks to the Ilitch's "demolition by neglect" policy over the last 22 years of ownership... the decision to want to tear it down is based on the Ilitches neglect.

[ABetterDetroit]

It also may be true that a certain number of parking spaces are REQUIRED by city codes.

What’s the point of just making shit up that fits your own ideological narrative?

There is no shortage of restored, renovated and repurposed buildings in The City of Detroit including residences in the last few years that did not add any significant parking.

“It also may be true” that it is well past the time to stop criticizing Detroit for anything and everything when you are inventing crap out of thin air that doesn’t exist just so you can affix BLAME on the city.

https://detroitmi.gov/departments/bu...t-requirements

[Pontiac6000]

Funny how the need for a loading dock was their excuse for having the Hotel Park Avenue demolished too during construction of LCA. And they made a deal to develop the Eddystone in exchange...sounds eerily similar.

But the loading dock faces Cass, across from Mariners Inn, right?

[JK313]

Looks like it’s on the agenda for the next historic district commission meeting
https://detroitmi.gov/sites/detroitm...t%20Agenda.pdf

[56packman]

The Redford has every technical capability that the UA had, the only thing the UA had that the Redford does not is the curved screen. When we first took over the Redford it had a semi-curved screen, it took up three hanging pipes backstage [[battons). The curved screen in the UA was kind of a gimmick. The movies weren't shot to use the curve, as singe projector Cinerama was, as projected at the Summit Cinerama on Lafayette. The Redford can and does show films in 70mm six-channel stereo on our 40 foot wide screen.

Funny thing is, this was Detroit's main theater for the big studio "roadshow" movies back in the '50s and early '60s. Many of those films were in wide screen formats [[although not as wide as true Cinerama) and if you look at more recent photos of the condition of the United Artists you can see where the proscenium was modified, and curtains added, to accommodate the wider screen. So the UA has the capability to show a lot of classic movies of that era in something very close to their original format, which the DIA or the Redford do not have.

[Gistok]

I hope to see some folks here at the request to demolish the United Artists Theatre meeting. It's the last downtown theatre we have that is restorable [[the National and Michigan are not). It is already mothballed, and may be needed in the future, so why raze it for parking, when there is AMPLE parking all around it... thanks to the Ilitches [[and city underground GCP garage).

Some food for thought at the meeting...

1) when the equally bad condition Capitol Theatre [[more than twice the size of the UA) was restored... it too looked horrible... but it was the plaster shell that needed restoration... over 90% of the plasterwork was replaced.

2) The Ilitch's were the ones that let it deteriorate in their 22 years of ownership [[new roof was added only about 8 years ago). They were shamed by the National Trust for Historic Places in 2005 to do something with the building, but the Ilitches ignored them.

3) This theatre has amazing acoustics, and was a Spanish Gothic/Art Deco masterpiece. It would be a travesty to demolish the last potential gem venue restoration project to be had in the entertainment district.

[EastsideAl]

This theatre has amazing acoustics

So much so that the Detroit Symphony Orchestra used it for recording in the Dorati era. Back when Orchestra Hall was a ruined shell that was in danger of falling to the wrecking ball.