The right perspective on preservation

[crawford]

Orchestra Hall was only vacant a few years.

Book-Cadillac was vacant for a while, but was only rebuilt with massive taxpayer funds, and has nothing to do with a market for hotels, restaurants or apartments.

If you want to subsidize the renovation of every vacant building downtown, it can be done, but I don't think the taxpayers will put up the billions to renovate properties, especially when it will just cause currently occupied buildings to become abandoned [[see Ponchatrain and Greektown hotels).

And Orchestra Hall and the Book are extraordinary buildings, not run of the mill.

BTW, their renovations caused tons of demolition. Orchestra Hall took out every neighboring building in the neighborhood for parking lots and a temporary park. The Book Cadillac now wants the abandoned buildings on Washington to be demolished.