Roxbury Group Re-Starts Book Caddy Garage Plans, Only Uglier

[aq7588]

I would like to know if there are plans for additional parking. As a resident of the Book Cadillac, I know how hectic the parking structure can get when the hotel is having a big event.

[animatedmartian]

The Book Cadillac is about 80% sold.

Are you sure that's not the rate for the hotel portion? The last article I can find on the number is from last July and it says that 32 of the 67 residences had been sold so far. That's just under half. That's not really all that great considering they've been on sale since 2008.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...default-notice

[DetroitPlanner]

AM you can review all of the ones currently open here:
http://www.bookcadillacresidences.co...24/floor-plans

It looks like there are about ten. Some of the ones are on lease.

[rjlj]

Don't blame KDG, they only come up with the concept based on the owners requirements. The design is approved and paid for by the developer.

i harassed my kdg source thinking they did it [[auburn anyone?). its not theirs...so who designed it?

[Jason]

I would like to know if there are plans for additional parking. As a resident of the Book Cadillac, I know how hectic the parking structure can get when the hotel is having a big event.

They're going to build a parking garage on top of the new apartments. And then they're going to build more apartments on top of the added garage. There may be mayonnaise involved. These plans might have been developed during lunch time.

[Detroitnerd]

That first rendering is quite interesting. I wonder how many new residential towers are capped with mansard roofs. Sigh ... I guess it was not to be.

[EastsideAl]

That rendering is hideous beyond belief. It almost looks like a bad joke about the current state of urban architecture. You have to wonder what kind of serious architectural firm would put out something like that as their best proposal.

And, the question has to be asked, why the hell are we thinking about building hideous parking structures on one of the most prominent and visible parcels downtown? This is almost as bad as that horrifying garage facing onto Woodward. Doesn't anyone around here have any basic concept of urban planning and land usage? Has anyone else noticed that working downtowns in other cities don't have ugly parking garages taking up space on major avenues? If this is actually built, we will live to regret that we wasted this location for this dubious purpose.

[hybridy]

Don't blame KDG, they only come up with the concept based on the owners requirements. The design is approved and paid for by the developer.

fair enough...sad state of our industry

[bailey]

And, the question has to be asked, why the hell are we thinking about building hideous parking structures on one of the most prominent and visible parcels downtown?

...parking deck is already there.

Doesn't anyone around here have any basic concept of urban planning and land usage? Has anyone else noticed that working downtowns in other cities don't have ugly parking garages taking up space on major avenues?

I assume these are rhetorical...but look around... clearly the answer is "no" as it applies to those who are in charge of green lighting these things.

[animatedmartian]

Actually, many cities do have ugly parking garages on major thoroughfares. But the thing is, Detroit's garages are so large and often taller than many of the surrounding buildings while in other cities the garages blend in and are almost inconsequential on the streetwall. The garage on Woodward is pretty passable by most standards. I only ever notice it when someone points it out. However, the same can't be said for many other garages downtown.

[313rd]

You either get the scaled down project, or you get no project at all. Roxbury is able to secure financing with this design. These will not be high end like your neighbor Book Cadillac, but smaller units for the budget minded. I applaud Roxbury for their continued interest in projects [[seems as though they do not get all the good press like Bedrock/Gilbert?) Hopefully this will spur a few more of those Capital Park residential projects.

I agree design one was awesome, but for reason[[s) at the time of construction it was not financially feasible. They have been trying for years to finalize this deal. At least they didn't pack up and go home, they stuck to it albeit 7 years later.

[313WX]

I actually don't think the Michigan/Griswald garage is too bad.

Before the Lafayette Build was demolished, we finally had a solid [[and scaled) street wall, which IMO is more important to the urban aestatics of downtown than how exactly the buildings look [[as long as we're not building lego block buildings).

[royce]

I dont understand why the look in the first or second renderings cant continue for the third? They were similar. Why does this design have to be so drastically different, just because its apartments instead of condos or fewer apts. Its awful plain and simple.

Also, how do they build atop the garage now when there were some supports that were supposed to go in before the garage was completed?

[Gistok]

I dont understand why the look in the first or second renderings cant continue for the third? They were similar. Why does this design have to be so drastically different, just because its apartments instead of condos or fewer apts. Its awful plain and simple.

Also, how do they build atop the garage now when there were some supports that were supposed to go in before the garage was completed?

Agreed Royce!!

When the garage was built, the people that were going to develope the apartments on top paid the extra money to have the garage built to handle them. However the mortgage meltdown put a long temporary hold on that construction... until now.

[animatedmartian]

High res renderings and the view from Capitol Park.

http://www.hellyeahdetroit.com/2014/...-hotel-garage/

[Gistok]

And here I thought a detailed rendering would look better... but that didn't happen....

[Dbest]

A little blurb at the bottom of this recent article pertaining to Roxbury's development projects down town says this about the project:

"Roxbury is also developing the Griswold, a residential project to be built atop the parking garage next door to the Westin Book Cadillac."

and this:

"The Plaza and the Griswold should both open in late 2016 or so."

http://www.freep.com/story/money/bus...itch/22256813/

[Gistok]

Thanks for the link Dbest...

The Roxbury has done a nice job on the Whitney, and will probably do a nice job on The Plaza.... but they sure sucked the historic feel out of the Globe Building.... any resemblance to a 19th century building is long gone... and for a good reason.... they tore down the Globe Building. All the discussions by the state about it being saved were not true. Check out the photo gallery....

http://detroitriverfront.org/riverfr...venture-center

[Dbest]

Thanks for the link Dbest...

The Roxbury has done a nice job on the Whitney, and will probably do a nice job on The Plaza.... but they sure sucked the historic feel out of the Globe Building.... any resemblance to a 19th century building is long gone... and for a good reason.... they tore down the Globe Building. All the discussions by the state about it being saved were not true. Check out the photo gallery....

http://detroitriverfront.org/riverfr...venture-center

Haha, yeah... Thats a new building... I want to see their latest renderings and whether they are indeed going with that second look for the Griswold, hope not...

[ABetterDetroit]

The Outdoor Adventure Center sure beats a rotting globe building. It's all in the eye of the beholder you can't make everyone happy all the time. The Roxbury Group is doing good work in the city with more in the pipeline and doesn't deserve the negative tone that this thread implies.

[Gistok]

The Outdoor Adventure Center sure beats a rotting globe building. It's all in the eye of the beholder you can't make everyone happy all the time. The Roxbury Group is doing good work in the city with more in the pipeline and doesn't deserve the negative tone that this thread implies.

When the State of Michigan says they are saving part of the Globe Building to preserve some of Detroit's history... and this is what we get... then they deserve disdain for their falsehoods.

And as for "The Griswold" on top of the 10 story parking structure next to the Book Cadillac... the design changes went from nice to ugly.

The attached pic was the first version... which matched nicely with the Book Cadillac next door, and the transition from parking deck to apartments on top was a pleasing transition.

Then after it was shelved and resurrected a few years later.... this is the design we got....
http://roxburygroup.com/projects/the_griswold.html

Not exactly charming, and from historic Capitol Park, it will look even worse... ... like a giant Ghetto-Blaster on top of the parking deck.

I blame the state for the Globe demolition... they weren't exactly up front about how they were doing this. And as for some of the Roxbury's other projects, they deserve recognition... but with The Griswold.... it looks el-cheapo....

[Dbest]

The Outdoor Adventure Center sure beats a rotting globe building. It's all in the eye of the beholder you can't make everyone happy all the time. The Roxbury Group is doing good work in the city with more in the pipeline and doesn't deserve the negative tone that this thread implies.

This Griswold story goes back to 2007 when Roxbury secured air rights for this development. As Gistok cited they had a perfect compliment for the area in terms of the first architectural rendering. Everyone is giddy! Well, 7 years goes by and the downtown sees a massive influx of redevelopment and they now decide to scale back on the ascetics to what equates to an ugly box that clashes with the Book Caddy? What gives? It's total bull$hit. I wouldn't be mad if weren't so fuggn ugly. Kudos on some of their other work though.

Could the design change have to do with the switch from condominiums to apartments?

[mikeg19]

Yea that new design is horrid. I wonder what prompted the design changes? The first one was spot on as far as blending in with the surroundings.

[animatedmartian]

Could the design change have to do with the switch from condominiums to apartments?

That's exactly what it has to do with. This is not the same economy as 2007 when credit was easy and condos could sell within weeks. That's why rentals have been the choice of development in the last several years.

The condo market is coming back, albeit very slowly. Incomes and credit are slowly heading upward but is still nowhere near pre-recession levels. It may very well be a few years before a project like the original Griswold would be a viable project.

[mikeg19]

Why would the design need to change asthitically just because of apartments vs condos? Yea, I get that the interior would be different, but why completely changes the exterior appearance?