David Stott being neglected. Flooding and frozen pipes. this is infuriating

[Lowell]

The David Stott -Crown Jewel of Downtown Detroit. Click pic for big view.

[Jason]

I'm cautiously hopeful that the lobby is ok enough that it could be fixed during renovation.

[mikeg19]

Where's Duggan and Gilbert flying around with their capes on when you need them?

Seriously, how the hell is this building being/has been neglected so badly the past, what, decade?
Is there any way the building can be seized from DDI?

[Danny]

If mayor Coleman A Young was alive in this era. He would comment on the DDI's irresponsibility on the Freep and Stott Buildings.

"Get those Mother______ Commies out of my city!"

[Dexlin]

Where's Duggan and Gilbert flying around with their capes on when you need them?

Seriously, how the hell is this building being/has been neglected so badly the past, what, decade?
Is there any way the building can be seized from DDI?

The Stott has been troubled since at least the mid-90s. Here is an article from the New York Times in December 1995 detailing the owner's plans to refill the faltering building:

http://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/10/us...s-detroit.html

Truth is the Stott has the same problem that the Book and Broderick had, and that's tiny floor plates not fit for modern office usage. In a lot of other cities a building like this would be able to hang on as an office building cobbling togther small tenants like law offices and such, or they'd have already been repurposed as apartment and condo buildings.

While downtown Detroit has made some incredible strides which will only continue to accelerate, I'd say we're still a few years off from being able to just go to a bank and get the financing without any hassle to repurposes buildings as tall as the Stott and Book. These size projects still require quite a bit of creative financing, you know, cobbling together multiple bank loans, city, state, and federal grants, tax credits, etc..And, to even begin this process, you first have to find a competent and determined owner as opposed to squatters waiting for everyone else around them to take the plunge so that you can flip the building.

I have no doubt the Stott's going to be renovated, but certainly not with the owner it has, now. It's pretty clear they are just trying to wait for property values to rise far enough where they can make a quick buck off of this. And now that they've allowed this to happen, they might not even get that. lol

[mikeg19]

Wow. I just read the curbed article on this and didn't realize the flooding started on the 9th floor! Holy crap, that's not gonna be cheap to reno. Oh wait, good thing these guys aren't in the reno business.

[Mackinaw]

How can we even be confident in these guys' ability to steer the building away from calamity? It might be a long cold March...what if...

[stasu1213]

Does the David Stott building sits on Griswold

[hortonz]

I have a question that may or may not be relevant. If Detroit had more clout in Washington, would the David-Stott building be in such bad shape? Downtown Windsor's crown jewel, the Paul Martin building is probably in even worse shape but lo and behold, the federal government has no trouble coming up with funds to save buildings with less historic value in Ottawa, Toronto or Calgary. If Detroit had the kind of political clout that Chicago or NY have in Washington, wouldn't the federal government find a way to move its' employees into the building. My follow-up question is this: is Detroit short-changed when it comes to the number of federal government employees who work in the city? Could Washington move the Dept. of Homeland Security into the city?

[Gsgeorge]

I have a question that may or may not be relevant. If Detroit had more clout in Washington, would the David-Stott building be in such bad shape? Downtown Windsor's crown jewel, the Paul Martin building is probably in even worse shape but lo and behold, the federal government has no trouble coming up with funds to save buildings with less historic value in Ottawa, Toronto or Calgary. If Detroit had the kind of political clout that Chicago or NY have in Washington, wouldn't the federal government find a way to move its' employees into the building. My follow-up question is this: is Detroit short-changed when it comes to the number of federal government employees who work in the city? Could Washington move the Dept. of Homeland Security into the city?

I would guess it might have something to do with the fact that the United States has 9.5 times more population than Canada; Canada's largest city has a metro area with a population only a little bit larger than metro Detroit and Windsor. So I would imagine funding those types of projects on a federal level in Canada would be considerably easier. Not to mention Canada has more historic protections available for buildings than in the United States. I always found it befuddling that a building on the National Register of Historic Places cannot be legally protected from demolition if the owner is so inclined.

In the same sense, only the feds really do have the money to restore a building such as, say, the train station. So a government tenant, as boring as that seems, may be the only hope for those types of buildings. I wouldn't mind seeing a government department at Michigan Central [[it would be foolish to reject any offer to renovate the MCS) but at the same time I would feel a bit disappointed it was not a more public use.

[Hermod]

In the same sense, only the feds really do have the money to restore a building such as, say, the train station. So a government tenant, as boring as that seems, may be the only hope for those types of buildings. I wouldn't mind seeing a government department at Michigan Central [[it would be foolish to reject any offer to renovate the MCS) but at the same time I would feel a bit disappointed it was not a more public use.

Detroit doesn't have a Robert Byrd in the Senate. He forced a lot of federal offices to move from the DC area to West Virginia.

Michigan senators never had that kind of clout and Michigan senators haven't focused so much on Detroit.

[Khorasaurus]

In the same sense, only the feds really do have the money to restore a building such as, say, the train station. So a government tenant, as boring as that seems, may be the only hope for those types of buildings. I wouldn't mind seeing a government department at Michigan Central [[it would be foolish to reject any offer to renovate the MCS) but at the same time I would feel a bit disappointed it was not a more public use.

Disagree, and I think there are several successful renovations around town that show this is false. These renovations are expensive, but not so expensive that only the federal government can afford them. There just has to be a market that will cover the cost of paying off the debt incurred to renovate the building, just as with any real estate development.

I also think the Feds are highly unlikely to renovate a building for their use. They usually build new when they need a new facility somewhere.

[p69rrh51]

Designed by Donaldson & Meier. David Stott Building 1150 Griswold built in 1929 Downtown Detroit, MI. Includes a rendering of the building from a 1928 Thumb Tack Club of Detroit publication.

There is a large number of photographs of the building under construction at the Burton Historical Collection.