What is going on with the Statler Site??

[Gistok]

Has anybody heard any more info in regards to the proposed development of the former Statler Hotel site?

It has been over 18 months ago since the rather subdued apartment plan was announced. They made a big ta-doo about it involving the mayor, and DEGC. It was announced that Village Green Holdings [[who happens to be the owner of the former Trolley Plaza and Millender Center Apartments, and other complexes totaling about 43,000 other units) was going to build 200 or 300 apartments on the site along with parking and retail.

If it's still being planned, it's been awfully quiet!

Along with the Hudson's block, the Statler block is the most desirable development site in the City and I'm wondering why it is still an empty lot with nothing going on yet??

Here's a Curbed article about in from August 2014... and it's been quiet pretty much since then....
http://detroit.curbed.com/archives/2...atler-site.php

Anyone know if this is still planned? Or is it on life supports?

[ekleezy]

Well the Curbed article said "They hope to start construction in two years." so I think the earliest we could actually expect anything to start is August 2016.

[Gistok]

Well from the last I heard, they [[Green Holdings or DEGC?) have the entire block, except 139 Bagley, the parcel where the AAA Building used to be located. Unless they get that parcel, this project appears to have some problems [[they also have the People Mover tracks running across the lower left corner of the project).
https://www.google.com/maps/place/13...117695!6m1!1e1

I've never been a fan of this lowrise building design [[the middle of the building will have obstructed views from the people mover berms). If the building has to be built around the potentially missing parcel, perhaps an additional floor or two can be added... but I wonder if this will add costs that the city [[DEGC) will end up covering the difference for? As is often the situation in Detroit, with such a distant groundbreaking date, a lot can happen between now and then.

[mikeg19]

I'll be honest, but maybe I'm one of the minority who hopes this development doesn't take off. The scale of the building is terrible for that site. Put that up in Midtown or the Cass Corridor or Brush park and it blends nicely with the surroundings. A three story building next to a cluster of skyscrapers just doesn't look right, and doesn't use the potential of that site correctly.

Hopefully, the group either A) realized that and is working on a different site plan or B) shelved the project and is looking for someone else to develop the site with a more ambitious design.

[southen]

Could not agree more mikeg19. I hope the market strengthening will add some quality AND height to this proposal. The block is far too big to have one 5-story building on it. It needs to at least be the height that the Statler was if not taller.

[Mind field]

I'd like to see a well designed building on the Statler site, and height would be a great component of a well designed building. Unlike what they are going to build just to the south, The Griswold, which is a HORRIBLE looking building clunkily plopped on top of the Book Cadillac parking structure. Hopefully the statler site development respects and compliments it's neighbors instead of hoisting a giant middle finger to them all, like the Griswold does.

[Dbest]

I'll be honest, but maybe I'm one of the minority who hopes this development doesn't take off.

You just want to pick and choose what works from that armchair eh?

Just kidding Mike, you are spot on. That development is trash looking.

Unfortunately the Mayor doesn't agree with our assessment of the project, as evidenced by this quote from a Free Press story in March of last year:

The Village Green project would take at least two years to finish its project including an initial year of city planning and permitting. Duggan urged the DDA staff to work with his administration to shorten that time span.

“This is phenomenal,” Duggan said of the project as he insisted on speed. “I would like to cut out whatever we can cut out on the front end.”

http://www.freep.com/article/2014032...s-unemployment



So, yeah, as of the end of March 2014 the Mayor was trying to "streamroll" these developments after a few of the ugliest renderings ever presented to the city...

Maybe Duggan is in the "Any development, is a good development" camp, rebuild as quick as possible.

"Just be happy people want to spend money to bring the city back!" Pfft...

[southen]

The Mayor may like it but the delay does bode well for a redesign. I feel like many projects have been announced and started in the time that this thing was announced and the hard work of clearing the site was already done for them.

I dont know what it is like to live in a Village Green building, but as someone who walks by their properties on a regular basis I am fearful of the garish design elements that they are going to incorporate into this site. I am half hoping Bedrock comes along as says "Hey guys, let's team up and do this right," but they have so many projects underway that I doubt they will get involved. In the very least I would like to see them ax the underground parking and use that to elevate the building a few floors while getting residents up and above the People Mover.

[Mackinaw]

The design problem is its combination of lack of height and inordinate width. Makes for a very uninteresting look. I am fine with a 5-story building on a PORTION of the Statler site, but not the whole site. Unfortunately, developers think block by block and in monolithic, pre-fab terms. As Gistok alluded, if they don't own the whole block yet, they are probably just sitting and waiting. And that show's what's wrong with their approach. ...Nevermind that in other cities you see 50-stories built on a 40-60 foot wide footprint.

Fat and wide is a stupid look for a building in a downtown. The only way this height makes sense is if you re-create what 1905 Detroit looked like-- but nobody is going to build us a diverse array of low-rise townhouses and commercial buildings each 30-50' wide. Forgetaboutit. And if anyone here in 2015 did try, it would probably look absurd due to the lack of craftsmanship.

[Richard]

I am beginning to think that there is a book of apartment design with standard blueprints out there.

These renderings mimic what is being built in downtown Tampa and Orlando,albeit on a much smaller footprint and much taller,personally,I am not into that style but at least here they are streetwall and have the shops on the bottom floor [[required) which seem to be working out pretty well.

I guess two out of three is not bad,but it does make it clear that the early style of architecture from the 1800s to the early 40s will never be reproduced which makes it all the more important to preserve what is left because once it is gone it will never be replaced.

It seems like if one wants to do anything in the city Roxbury is or must have a hand in it to get anything done.

[MSUguy]

Well from the last I heard, they [[Green Holdings or DEGC?) have the entire block, except 139 Bagley, the parcel where the AAA Building used to be located. Unless they get that parcel, this project appears to have some problems [[they also have the People Mover tracks running across the lower left corner of the project).
https://www.google.com/maps/place/13...117695!6m1!1e1

I've never been a fan of this lowrise building design [[the middle of the building will have obstructed views from the people mover berms). If the building has to be built around the potentially missing parcel, perhaps an additional floor or two can be added... but I wonder if this will add costs that the city [[DEGC) will end up covering the difference for? As is often the situation in Detroit, with such a distant groundbreaking date, a lot can happen between now and then.

You heard correct there is a lawsuit pending over the site.

The owner of the former "CARE" building in downtown Detroit — a five-story structure that was featured in a Kid Rock video and later demolished upon a court order — has filed a lawsuit against the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation [[DEGC), claiming the agency extorted him into selling the property at an unacceptable price.

In a one-count complaint filed in Wayne County Circuit Court on Monday, developer Anthony Pieroni alleges the DEGC and its outgoing executive vice president, Brian Holdwick, made a threat last year to withhold any tax credit or subsidy to prospective buyers of the Michigan Building — which was also owned by the 76-year-old developer. The purpose of the threat, the complaint alleges, was to compel Pieroni to sell the CARE building at 139 Bagley to a company with plans for the former Statler Hotel site at a price far-less than what he considered fair.
After learning about the $40 million Village Green project in March, Pieroni arranged a meeting with Village Green's chief, Jonathan Holtzman, and said he'd sell 139 Bagley for $4 million, court records show. It was a standard price for real estate, Pieroni argued, at 10 percent of the total project cost. But discussions quickly broke down. The complaint alleges Holtzman then said he would get the city to tear down the CARE building at Pieroni's expense.

In late April, Pieroni arranged a meeting with Holdwick to discuss potential development of the site. The pair talked about Village Green's project, and Pieroni said he'd cooperate on a sale price if the compensation was "satisfactory," the complaint says. Holdwick didn't budge. According to the complaint, Holdwick allegedly said Pieroni should accept Holtzman's offer, and if he didn't, "the DEGC would not extend ordinary benefits, credits, approvals, and licenses to the purchaser of the Michigan Building." A DEGC spokesperson declined comment.

http://www.metrotimes.com/Blogs/arch...ding-sues-degc

[Richard]

You heard correct there is a lawsuit pending over the site.

Always somebody has to get greedy,The Amway arena in Orlando had a holdout that ended getting paid 6 million for a piece of property that was worth $25,000 in its best day.

[mikeg19]

Thank god Kwame knocked down the Statler. I mean, that would'a really been an eyesore for the SuperBowl. There was NO CHANCE that it would have been renovated.

Sarcasm off. It's such a waste we lost the Statler and Lafayette buildings. Yea, the recession killed a lot of possible developments, but it makes it even worse knowing that in today's hot market, they more than likely could have found a developer to rehab them.

Now we have a garden and FANTASTIC 5 story apartment block to take their places.....

[Danny]

Hold on fellas Gilberttown's development of the Statler Hotel Site is coming soon. Be patient. Rome wasn't built in a day.

[mikeg19]

Hold on fellas Gilberttown's development of the Statler Hotel Site is coming soon. Be patient. Rome wasn't built in a day.

Gilbert doesn't have anything to do with Statler site development.

[cmubryan]

Has anybody heard any more info in regards to the proposed development of the former Statler Hotel site?

It has been over 18 months ago since the rather subdued apartment plan was announced. They made a big ta-doo about it involving the mayor, and DEGC. It was announced that Village Green Holdings [[who happens to be the owner of the former Trolley Plaza and Millender Center Apartments, and other complexes totaling about 43,000 other units) was going to build 200 or 300 apartments on the site along with parking and retail.

If it's still being planned, it's been awfully quiet!

Along with the Hudson's block, the Statler block is the most desirable development site in the City and I'm wondering why it is still an empty lot with nothing going on yet??

Here's a Curbed article about in from August 2014... and it's been quiet pretty much since then....
http://detroit.curbed.com/archives/2...atler-site.php

Anyone know if this is still planned? Or is it on life supports?

As a former Village Green manager/director, these types of ground-up developments can take quite a while to put together before ground is broken. There is the whole planning portion but on top of that is the financing portion which sometimes takes a lot longer. I do not know anything about this project but I could guess that when VG announced the project they had not put together the financing for this. During my time working there, it took years to put together financing for big projects in Ann Arbor, St. Louis, and Chicago. VG often holds very little financial ownership in it's projects but agrees to fee manage all of the assets they have a small ownership stake in.

[Gistok]

I was checking out some old images of the former Statler Hotel... and realized just how underwhelming a 5 story apartment building with a massive footprint will look in one of the most important blocks in the city.

The first image is of the People Mover crossing the lower section of what used to be the Statler... the new building will likely not rise above where the white stonework on this image is replaced by red brickwork... so the PM track will blot out part of the view of at least one, maybe two of the 5 story apartments...won't that be a marketing challenge!

But what really caught me by surprise is what the bulk of the former Statler will be replaced by, as seen in the 2nd image taken from Comerica Park. With a 5 story replacement only going as high as the lower stonework... most of those apartments would have a difficult time seeing above the GCP forest canopy..... and anything resembling a "streetwall" will be a joke... from either Washington Blvd., Bagley, or especially GCP, as the 3rd image shows with the Statler as it once overlooked the park [[instead of the other way around).

Is Mayor Duggan really that hard up for just ANY project here??

[gthomas]

I couldn't agree more, it's too much of an important site and location for something so disappointing. I don't want to hear, "Detroit's market only support a 5 story building". Bullsh@t! If you build a residential building there either the same height as the David Whitney or taller it will easily fill up with residents. Some people and developers are so out of touch with the demands and market for new construction.

The mayor and DDA should put in place policies and regulations for developers to have a complete design and blueprint of the full potential of the site. Nothing downtown should be built less than 10 story at this point. Go big or go home, set a standard.