United Artists Theatre

[exmotowner]

Your probably right DC, but you didnt have to be a smartass with Make him an offer. If I had the money I probably would. I guess any idea is a bad one as far as you are concerned. You got any better ideas than dumping on somebody elses???

[kryptonite]

Agreed 100%. Do you think something positive is going on with the UA building? I drove by it Sunday on my way to the Town Pump and boat show. It looks like some construction work may be going on there. I haven't seen it at night but people say exterior security lighting has been installed. And I think last year someone posted that a new roof had been put on the building. It looked to me like doors on the ground floor had been secured. The ugly awnings have been removed. It just seems that more than pre-demolition work is happening at the UA, more like some possible type of reconstruction.

[exmotowner]

One would think though that if he was "Restoring" it, he would be screaming it from the roof tops. I guess we can still hope.

[esp1986]

Agreed 100%. Do you think something positive is going on with the UA building? I drove by it Sunday on my way to the Town Pump and boat show. It looks like some construction work may be going on there. I haven't seen it at night but people say exterior security lighting has been installed. And I think last year someone posted that a new roof had been put on the building. It looked to me like doors on the ground floor had been secured. The ugly awnings have been removed. It just seems that more than pre-demolition work is happening at the UA, more like some possible type of reconstruction.

I believe all that has happened to this point is clean up work... the building has looked the same since exterior lights were installed on Bagley back in November or so... that is about when the dumpster disappeared, so with no dumpster, I can't say there has been a whole lot going on...

There have been rumors that they took the plasterwork out for bids, and the ugly wavy canopy was removed before the exterior lights were installed...

There have also been rumors that the building was being renovated for a government related tenant...

All of these rumors have previously been discussed somewhere in this thread...

It is entirely possible that they are waiting until spring to do anything else... one of the big marketing points for that building has long been it's proximity to the People Mover, and after they tore the ugly canopy off in November, it started to look like that would be the reason they tore it off... waiting for warmer weather to do any sort of exterior construction would be pretty logical if that was the case...

However, with work stalled over at the Detroit Life Building on account of the economy, anything is possible... time will tell, when it starts to warm up if there will be anything more done, but with the potential for a new arena in that area, something will certainly happen to that building sooner or later.

[DC48080]

Your probably right DC, but you didnt have to be a smartass with Make him an offer. If I had the money I probably would. I guess any idea is a bad one as far as you are concerned. You got any better ideas than dumping on somebody elses???

I'm really sorry if I hurt your feelings, but I was not dumping on you. I was merely stating the obvious [[well maybe not so obvious to many on here) fact that nobody has a right to demand that a private property owner explain what his intentions are with his private property.

I would love to see the UA and the many other beautiful buildings downtown restored but the harsh reality is that right now there is no business case that can be made for doing so. What private investor is going to shell out massive sums of money to restore a building that he does not have a committed use for? If there was a market for another gigantic theatre downtown the UA would have been back among the living years ago. If there were tennants looking for office space downtown the many large abandoned office buildings down there would be restored and opened.

Pollyanna fantasies and wishes don't equate to income for building owners. But I guess they make for a fun passtime online.

[Whitehouse]

A very detailed shot of the face now revealed by removing the marquee.
November 2009


One of that staues, in remarkable good shape.
March 2007

[b]Old postcard.

It could all be so beautiful.... Here's the LA United Artists.


I don't see that many differences with how the Detroit UA could look.

[Gistok]

Pollyanna fantasies and wishes don't equate to income for building owners. But I guess they make for a fun passtime online.

That's not quite true...

What has many here wondering is why is Ilitch spending considerable funds on a new roof for both the theatre and office block [[without pulling city permits BTW), cleaning all debris from the interior of both building parts, removing the horrible [[later modernization gone bad) wobble canopy, and supposedly having contact with plaster specialists....

... and at the same time having every single person working on the cleanup being 100% tightlipped about what and why they're doing it??

Well that raises more than a few eyebrows.

I would call that speculative intrigue!

[herbpowell]

Driving by the UA today saw a white van with the Beal Demolition logo parked right next to the building on the other side of the the fence...I'd say not looking good.

[wolverine]

Why so?

Open any renovation cd's. Towards the beginning, demolition plan, then new construction. Demolition does not necessarily mean "complete structural demolition."

[esp1986]

Why so?

Open any renovation cd's. Towards the beginning, demolition plan, then new construction. Demolition does not necessarily mean "complete structural demolition."

While I am not going to say he isn't going to tear it down, see Madison Lenox... I will say that the garbage chute says "Beal Construction." I do know that the Beal companies are pretty close, so there is every possibility that they just happened to be using that truck. I also know that Beal Demolition does pre-renovation abatement for asbestos and such. So it isn't all bad news. There is every possibility that the building ends up coming down, but I find it hard to believe that the Ilitches would spend the kind of money they have to clean up the building in the past couple years if they were just going to tear it down. If you look in the top of the two windows just to the left of the theater entrance off of Bagley, you can see that they are clearly doing some sort of work in those two rooms. The lights are constantly on and I have noticed changes in there over the past couple months.

[detroitbob]

A protest? That would be an utter waste of time.

The people of Detroit have a right to know Ilitch's intentions? NO, they do not have any such right at all. I'm certainly no defender of Mike Ilitch but the UA is a PRIVATELY owned building purchased with PRIVATE funds. Nobody has any more right to demand information on his plans than they do to demand to know what color you are going to paint the living room in your private home.

I would love to see the UA restored, but Mike Ilitch is a business man and unless a business case can be made for restoring said theatre there is no way he is going to do it. Just because a bunch of people on a web blog like to fantasize about a restored UA does not mean that it would be a money making project. If somebody thinks they have the financial resources to restore and operate the UA, I am sure Mr Ilitch would be happy to sell them the building at market rate and get it off of his back. Make him an offer.

I have read the comments made against the Ilitch family and companies over the years and agree completely that if anyone wants to buy the building [[UA) and restore it go for it. Respect the fact that the owners have reroofed the theatre, cleared the auditorium and office building of debris and thus, in my opinion have done more than the owners of a host of other buildings INCLUDING the City, County and State of MI. If anyone cares to research the property between Bagley/Grand River/Vernor [[now I75)Park St to Adams/Grand Circus Park you will see that this area has always been prime for redevelopment since the mid 1920's and if the crash of 1929 hadn't happened, certainly something would have happened in the area. In the late 1930's thru the 1960's it was a prime area for cheap parking and if the Fox, State Theatre, the two stadiums and other developments hadn't happened, it would not even be a viable parking area...so protest against Ilitch for what...???

No one else took advantage of the options that the Ilitch Companies and Chuck Forbes did...and they are to be lauded rather than condemned. Downtown Detroit would be worse off today than Gary Indiana of these gentlemen hadn't seized the moment in the 1980's and kicked the ball, if you will.

And I fully expect rants and raves to start about the Adams and Fine Arts Bldg again, buts it's a moot point.

[Gistok]

Detroitbob... there are a lot of Ilitch haters on this forum... and in many respects they cannot be blamed for feeling that way.

The Free Press once called the family "flawed brilliance".... they do some things that we really like, but then do a lot of really anti-preservation moves.

Back when they restored the Fox [[in 1988), they won awards from the AIA and Theatre Historical Society... but in the last few years they have [[deservedly) been put into the spotlight by the National Trust [[the Madison-Lenox was the first building ever on the 11 Most Endangered List and actually razed the year they were on the list).

The Ilitch's refused to meet with National Trust president Richard Moe after the M-L fiasco... and they were rewarded by having their decaying Detroit United Artists Building with "full window painting" on the cover of the National Trust Magazine [[circulation 700,000, readership about double that).

What is going on with the UA complex is very perplexing. I agree that the money spent would not be justified for demo work. My own personal thought is that maybe Atanis Ilitch [[the creative Ilitch) is taking up the UA as a project...[[his piece of the family business??) maybe having his friend Dan Gilbert use it at some point in the future [[delayed due to the economy?).

One rumor from theatre organ buffs is that theatre plasterwork consultants have been by the building to consult. That doesn't sound like demo work either.

I've talked with the Michigan Building owner next door, and initially he didn't think that the building was ever going to be saved.... but after seeing what is going on next door... he's now in the "don't know" camp... Aren't we all!!

[Gistok]

One other thing... for those folks who didn't read the Ford Auditorium thread [[it was minimally designed by Crane's architectural firm after his death)....

Stosh found this link to a doctorial dissertation of C. Howard Crane [[who also designed the Detroit UA) by the daughter of Michigan Opera Theatre's Executive director Dr. David DiChiera [[whom we owe the restoration of the Detroit Opera House to)....

http://www.archive.org/details/theaterdesignsof00dich

[detroitbob]

I heard a few years ago from several sources that Atanis Ilitch had been bitten by the preservation bug....and one day while driving south on Woodward, what, to my surprise did appear? The restored cornice of the Fox Theatre building. Rumor has it he gave the go ahead for that project which was completed around the anniversary of the building. Now, I miss the Madison Lenox complex from a visual perspective...and if I owned it, I would have at exhausted all my options to do something with it...but, not making apologies for anyone on this issue, not every building ends up being saved. If Forbes and Ilitch hadn't moved forward on their respective projects Merchants Row would be a shell, the Opera House project might not have developed, as there would have been far fewer audience projections to base the project on so it might have been at least significantly delayed. And not to forget the recent rescue of the flat broke Masonic Temple Association. Certainly another concert promotion organization could have/might have taken a lease on the main auditorium, leaving the rest of the building mothballed. I am not sponsoring anyone for sainthood but the overall climate downtown would be dramatically different. The Fine Arts [[Adams) facade is intact and the expense of it's caretaking, indicates that something will happen. The expense of saving the theatre and restoration was decided as not viable, as was the Madison.

The UA auditorium is very restorable...such work will cost more money than Orchestra Hall, the Opera House, and probably the FOX combined. But I have a hunch that one day I [[we) will walk through the lobby, thru the rotunda and into a restored auditorium. I may be wrong...but time will tell!

[DetroitDad]

The chain link fences that used to bisect the Tuller site have been removed, and the entire gravel parking lot has been cleaned up and painted with yellow lines.

They are back to work on the United Artist Building, apparently with construction crews in the top floor of the building. Vehicles have been going in and out of the fenced in area surrounding the United Artist construction site all week. On Tuesday the crew was using the huge bright yellow garbage shoot that hangs from the front of the building, all day. Loud crumbles and crashes shook the tube, and created huge plumes of white smoak that hovered over the Detroit boulevards and avenues below.

Grand Circus Park seems to be a little more alive when crews are working. The Fountain in West Grand Circus Park has been working on and off this month, leading me to the logical posibility that the water lines in the area are being worked on. Regular utility shut offs were commonplace during the Kales renovation and Statler Demolition. Additional work on the street under the Adams facade is being done. Work has resumed at Shields in the Kales Building and the Subway at Grand Park Center has extended their hours. Work has also been going on in the building next to the FYFE Building. Restaurant equipment has been delivered. In the Fyfe Building itself, Proof has changed names to the Hard Luck Lounge.

The marble base surrounding the West Obelisk has still not been replaced.

[mikeg19]

It'd be great to hear something official from the Illitch camp about this. I think at this point the work going on is more than merely cleaning it up for prospective investors or buyers. There has to be something in place already.

[esp1986]

It'd be great to hear something official from the Illitch camp about this. I think at this point the work going on is more than merely cleaning it up for prospective investors or buyers. There has to be something in place already.

Well a few months ago now, Karen Cullen, former communications executive with Ilitch Holdings, was asked about the UA, along with the Red Wings arena situation... after speaking briefly about the arena, it was suggested that the UA would come down [[shortly after a story by the News I believe), and she replied, "Not true, we continue to market the building for redevelopment." I can't find the article anymore, but that was the quote. It could very well be that they are doing much what has been done with 1001 Woodward, slowly working on it with the hope that it will generate interest, keeping in mind, the closer it is to habitability, the more likely they will be able to lease it.

[dawn26]

I was up in Detroit a few weeks ago. The doors were open to the UA, but the workers were not hip to me sneaking a few pics. Said they had to sign confidentiality agreements on what they are doing there, so no new info....

[Gistok]

Thanks dawn26.... Hmmm signed confidentiality agreements.... gotta love the intrigue......

[OriginalG313]

Some of the doors are boarded up, now. I noticed it last week.

[DetroitUA]

Hey guys - has there been any updates to the UA? Anyone notice anything going on?

[Kimberlaina]

Some more fuel for your speculative intrigue.

[Gistok]

Thanks for the photo Kimberlaina...

That image shows how nicely the tons of debris littering the auditorium floor has all been nicely cleaned up.... not something they would bother with if a demolition were imminent.

Is that a daytime image?? If so it also confirms the new roof on the auditorium, since the left auditorium wall was especially well illuminated with daylight streaming in from holes in the roof.

It's nice to see that the most intricate plasterwork in the auditorium, namely the organ grilles and procenium arch canopy are still in relatively intact condition. The procenium itself had parts of the ornate plasterwork cut out in the 1950s Cinerama era to handle a wider screen [[later covered over with drapes to hide the butchery).

The 2,070 seat Detroit United Artists Theatre was known as "The Jewel Box" among downtown movie palaces, since it's smaller size and intimacy didn't stop it from being packed to the hilt with ornate plasterwork that gleamed [[with its' very colorful cove lighting) like something out of the Arabian Nights...

[Jimaz]

That looks like one of Andrew Moore's photos

[Gistok]

That looks like one of Andrew Moore's photos

Yes it does... looks like Mr. Moore doesn't do much in the way of image identification. His images certainly aren't going to be found using a specific Google search.