I had been by there over the weekend, and it looked as if some of the windows on that end had been replaced or cleaned... I think it has been obvious for a while now that the building is not coming down anytime soon. Something is going on with it, the question remains, what?
That photo by Andrew Moore is from an album on his site dated 2008-2009. A couple of prior photos surfaced on Flickr dated in March and June of 2009. Both of which showed a cleaned-up auditorium, but still with debris about the floor. This one at least shows the debris is gone.
I would have to imagine that this theater would nicely compliment the Fox for the Ilitches. They seem to be trying to market the building to a major tenant. If I were them, I would renovate the auditorium and retail levels, and use that to impress people and generate interest in the building. The building at least needs to be habitable before it generates a whole lot of interest. Take, for example, 1001 Woodward, Jim Pappas bought it in 2008, and has spent the last two years not only marketing it, but also fixing it up, such as upgrading the air conditioning and elevators, important infrastructure for any building, so it is now ready for a tenant buildout.
I think the big thing for the Ilitches is they aren't willing to take a risk. That is part of what happened to the Madison-Lenox. The Kraemer Design Group has on their website, a plan to turn that building into a national hotel. At the end of the day, hotels are not the Ilitches business, and it was too big of a risk for them, but they still weren't about to give up the land, so they tore it down. It doesn't change anything, but I think we are seeing it again with the UA. They are largely unwilling to take a risk.
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