Lafayette Pavilion

**stinkytofu** · August-06-14, 01:16 PM

Anybody here have experience living there or know of people who do? I will likely be looking to move into the city in the spring...and the Pavilion intrigues me. I work downtown and am in my late 20's. Have no problem living in a studio apartment.

Pros/cons of living there? I would love to live in Midtown due to access to restaurants, but am concerned with winding up in a building with a bunch of WSU students [[no offense to students who frequent this board). The Pavilion at least is relatively close to downtown and Eastern Market and seems to be in a generally pleasant area. It's also more affordable than right downtown.

**Chris Rohn** · August-06-14, 01:36 PM

My wife and I lived there 10 years ago and we still talk about what a great place it was to live. Highly recommended.

**stinkytofu** · August-06-14, 03:28 PM

Originally Posted by Chris Rohn

My wife and I lived there 10 years ago and we still talk about what a great place it was to live. Highly recommended.

Thank you, Chris.

**southen** · August-06-14, 03:35 PM

i live in the neighborhood and have spent some time in the pavilion. its a nice building and everyone i know who lives there enjoys it. the park is great and you really arent that far from things happening downtown and in eastern market.

**stasu1213** · August-06-14, 08:48 PM

Stay the hell away from Lafayette Towers

**FormerDetroiter** · August-06-14, 10:51 PM

Originally Posted by stasu1213

Stay the hell away from Lafayette Towers

Even though he wasn't inquiring about Lafayette Towers if you're going to make a statement like that you need to at least back your statement up with some reasons why the OP should stay the hell away from Lafayette Towers.

**stasu1213** · August-07-14, 08:34 AM

Originally Posted by FormerDetroiter

Even though he wasn't inquiring about Lafayette Towers if you're going to make a statement like that you need to at least back your statement up with some reasons why the OP should stay the hell away from Lafayette Towers.

I have friends who had once lived there and a couple wgo still live there. They had said that the place is not up to par and the owner hadn't met up to his promise to renovate the property. Lafayette Towers had been onthe news a couple of times this past year for no heat and other infractions. Management is horrible. There's no 24 hours security at the front doors inside the lobbies. The guard is rarely at doors. The swimming pool is not open and management had been making excuses since May. Where had you been

**Spartan** · August-07-14, 11:50 AM

Originally Posted by stasu1213

I have friends who had once lived there and a couple wgo still live there. They had said that the place is not up to par and the owner hadn't met up to his promise to renovate the property. Lafayette Towers had been onthe news a couple of times this past year for no heat and other infractions. Management is horrible. There's no 24 hours security at the front doors inside the lobbies. The guard is rarely at doors. The swimming pool is not open and management had been making excuses since May. Where had you been

The security guards are usually at the doors, except when they're making rounds in the building. I think it'd make more sense to just have them man the doors, but whatever. The swimming pool is definitely open [[though I've never seen anyone actually use it). The winter was definitely cold [[then again, it was for everyone), management is pretty bad, and they haven't really done much in the way of renovation. Overall though, it's not too bad a place. My only major complaint so far after a year was the heat. The management definitely causes a few annoyances here and there though. If you can afford the Pavilion, it's certainly better from what I've heard [[although the cold wasn't much better this winter there).

**FormerDetroiter** · August-07-14, 12:15 PM

[QUOTE=stasu1213;446574]I have friends who had once lived there and a couple wgo still live there. They had said that the place is not up to par and the owner hadn't met up to his promise to renovate the property. Lafayette Towers had been onthe news a couple of times this past year for no heat and other infractions. Management is horrible. There's no 24 hours security at the front doors inside the lobbies. The guard is rarely at doors. The swimming pool is not open and management had been making excuses since May. Where had you been[/Q

I haven't lived in Michigan in almost 3years. Hence my screen name.

**southen** · August-07-14, 12:46 PM

Originally Posted by Spartan

The security guards are usually at the doors, except when they're making rounds in the building. I think it'd make more sense to just have them man the doors, but whatever. The swimming pool is definitely open [[though I've never seen anyone actually use it). The winter was definitely cold [[then again, it was for everyone), management is pretty bad, and they haven't really done much in the way of renovation. Overall though, it's not too bad a place. My only major complaint so far after a year was the heat. The management definitely causes a few annoyances here and there though. If you can afford the Pavilion, it's certainly better from what I've heard [[although the cold wasn't much better this winter there).

the towers pool has been closed for some time due to maintenance issues. you can get in through one of the gates but its trashed up there.

**Spartan** · August-07-14, 01:22 PM

Originally Posted by southen

the towers pool has been closed for some time due to maintenance issues. you can get in through one of the gates but its trashed up there.

Guess that explains why no one uses it! They closed the garage for construction last year in the fall and it looks like all they did was remove the grass that was around the pool. I'm not sure why they bothered to even remove the winter covering. Personally, I don't think I'd ever use it anyway, so it doesn't bother me too much.

**stasu1213** · August-08-14, 04:23 AM

The pool remained closed due to an outer wall on the patio away from the pool not being repaired. My friend and other tenants had called the office asking when the pool will open only to be told "soon". That was two months ago. There are many repairs that needed to made there. The lobby door had been broken since March, elevators constantly break down, the building still uses fuse boxes instead of circuit breakers which inspectors missed everytime the buildings there are inspected. True, the conditions are not horrible as other slum apartment buildings in the city are; but the conditions there at the towers are no where as good as Lafayette Pavillion. Few tenants who moved to Detroit, I was told, had moved to Lafayette Towers on an incentive program. They probably were blindsided by pool remaining closed throughout the summer and the lack of renovations that was to be done to the buildings. Few tenants wonder why the owner failed to make repairs to the patio and closing the visitors parking during the fireworks for the reasons of repair then to open the visitors parking the day after and no repairs were done. The guards only sit at the front desk for an hour or so then make rounds leaving the lobby unsecure for anyone to come in the buildings. You cant expect tenants there to fend off unwanted guest once that person comes in behind a resident. Let's face it. Lafayette Towers were sold to the owner which appeared to be on a sly. I had spoken to other investors who own properties in the city. They had said that they would had paid the $10,000,000 wanted by HUD for the buildings but HUD had sold the buildings to the city and then the city had flipped it to Jackson[[owner) for only $5 million. I say stay away from Lafayette Towers if you want better living conditions and better security. Move there if you want just the bare basic living condition and everything at your own risk

**Zacha341** · August-09-14, 10:56 AM

Pools are expensive to maintain and staff so as to keep down problems and keep out non-tenants.

Just a noose for an already struggling building with cheap management. Of course the pool is closed. They can just keep referencing it in advertising as an easy pull to those interested.

**stasu1213** · August-09-14, 02:10 PM

Originally Posted by Zacha341

Pools are expensive to maintain and staff so as to keep down problems and keep out non-tenants.

Just a noose for an already struggling building with cheap management. Of course the pool is closed. They can just keep referencing it in advertising as an easy pull to those interested.

False advertising will be a good excuse for the tenants to use to break their leases

**Danny** · August-09-14, 02:12 PM

My friend used to live the Lafayette Pavillion. Well kept up and maintained. It's quite diverse and security tight.

**stinkytofu** · August-14-14, 10:03 AM

Well, this is concerning...

http://detroit.curbed.com/archives/2...-residents.php

Anybody know if these car thefts are legit or is this embellished to help push the renovation?

**Spartan** · August-14-14, 10:08 AM

Originally Posted by stinkytofu

Well, this is concerning...

http://detroit.curbed.com/archives/2...-residents.php

Anybody know if these car thefts are legit or is this embellished to help push the renovation?

Not sure if it's legit, but would you artificially inflate something that would actively steer people away from your property?

I can't figure this one out:
"Currently the Pavilion pays two parking lot guard cars to operate from 6:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m."

Seems like something like 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. would be much more effective. If you want to steal a car, just do it after 4 a.m.!

**stinkytofu** · August-14-14, 10:26 AM

Originally Posted by Spartan

Not sure if it's legit, but would you artificially inflate something that would actively steer people away from your property?

I can't figure this one out:
"Currently the Pavilion pays two parking lot guard cars to operate from 6:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m."

Seems like something like 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. would be much more effective. If you want to steal a car, just do it after 4 a.m.!

Hmmmm...I'm guessing they needed approval from the group to make the renovations. Perhaps they inflated it to make the case more "sellable" to the group, but intentionally kept it quiet from residents to not freak them out.

**Zacha341** · August-16-14, 09:04 AM

Car theft or having possessions stolen from your car is common downtown. I've had it happen to me twice years past. It would be one the main reasons I'd not move downtown unless my car could be secured in some kind of parking structure.

Originally Posted by stinkytofu

Well, this is concerning...

http://detroit.curbed.com/archives/2...-residents.php

Anybody know if these car thefts are legit or is this embellished to help push the renovation?

**Mackinaw** · August-18-14, 06:59 PM

For a car loving city, you'd sure expect to see more locked-down underground or under-residence parking. Maybe that's where we'll be headed with new downtown residential construction. But people shouldn't act like a surface lot spot outside their front door is a God-given right. To the extent it is, you do so at your peril. Urban living is awfully easy, let me tell you, when you don't need to stash thousands of dollars worth of machinery in open air, often on dark/quiet/eye-less streets. To me it's just one more reason to go carless. And for those that need cars, it should be one more reason to demand a place with secured parking. Pull out of these silly LP facilities and send them a message that they need to build underground, sealed garages. They have a whole mile of empty green space to work with, for gosh sakes.

Do the LP buildings have roof decks or any type of amenities? [[Aside from the falsely advertised pool?). This seems like something I am not seeing enough of in Detroit, and it is taken for granted in other cities, including northern ones.