Lafayette Building Demolition

[buildingsofdetroit]

How will they demo the backside of the building when it backs up to the existing structures behind it?

The foreman told me they're pulling it inward, toward Shelby.

[Gistok]

I wonder how closely I captured the "after" view of downtown "lite" from near Campus Martius... we'll know shortly....

[PQZ]

But "demolition means progress!" Don't forget the Statler and Tuller hotel sites, not to mention the site of Tiger Stadium. Kern's Block and Crowley's sat empty for 30+ years before Compuware, right? The Family Theatre and Monroe Block are going on what? Twenty years? Yet no one seems to "get it." The site will be "more marketable if it's empty." Right. Keep fooling yourself.

The flaw in that logic is that, with some notable exceptions that took massive amounts of tax payer funded government aid from all four levels of government, the vacant buildings have sat empty just as long or longer than the vacant lots. At least vacant lots don't continue to drain cash and pose environmental & physical safety threats.

Its not as if redevelopment of old buildings is a run away express that is being derailed by actions like this.

[mikeg19]

But if a building is properly sealed and mothballed so the elements and vandals can not get to it, what's to say it wouldn't last 20 years with little upkeep until somebody revitalized it? That way you keep your historic building that can never be replaced and add to the lore of downtown for generations to come.

[bailey]

But if a building is properly sealed and mothballed so the elements and vandals can not get to it, what's to say it wouldn't last 20 years with little upkeep until somebody revitalized it?

But they aren't so they won't be.

[mikeg19]

But they aren't so they won't be.

I just don't understand why anybody didn't have the foresight 25 years ago to do it. It's not a secret that the greatest cities of the world have retained their architectural gems through good and bad times; not bulldozed them and turned them into gravel parking lots. Would people flock to Rome if half the city was bulldozed for parking lots? Not in the numbers they do today.

[Whitehouse]

But they aren't so they won't be.

Though I'm not from Detroit, I can think of one example. It's a bit of a dull building but the Henry Ford Auditrium stand reasonably well preserved empty for 20 years.

[PQZ]

I just don't understand why anybody didn't have the foresight 25 years ago to do it. It's not a secret that the greatest cities of the world have retained their architectural gems through good and bad times; not bulldozed them and turned them into gravel parking lots. Would people flock to Rome if half the city was bulldozed for parking lots? Not in the numbers they do today.

Its not about foresight, its about budget.

Mothball a building or clean up illegal dump sites?
Mothball a building or put more officers on the street?
Mothball a building or repair a few miles of broken streetlights?
Mothball a building or build Campus Martius Park?

For every dollar you are putting in to mothballing, you are taking money away from something else.

For every person on this board that says no-one will move in to the City until crime goes down, there are others sayuing we need to place a priority on historic building stock.

Neither camp realizes that there is nowhere near enough money to either one at a level of quality that makes a difference.

I just don't understand how people TODAY don't have the ability to grasp exactly how dire the fiscal situation is now and has been for the last 40 years.

Held in constant dollars, the City of Detroit lost 80% of its tax base between 1950 and 1990. 80% people. How many here could live on 20% of what the make right now without making seriosu cuts to life style?

[rajdet]

Photos from the precious week. Please note the comments from other parts of the planet.
http://313.aminus3.com/image/2010-02-05.html
http://313.aminus3.com/image/2010-02-04.html

[mikeg19]

Its not about foresight, its about budget.

Mothball a building or clean up illegal dump sites?
Mothball a building or put more officers on the street?
Mothball a building or repair a few miles of broken streetlights?
Mothball a building or build Campus Martius Park?

For every dollar you are putting in to mothballing, you are taking money away from something else.

For every person on this board that says no-one will move in to the City until crime goes down, there are others sayuing we need to place a priority on historic building stock.

Neither camp realizes that there is nowhere near enough money to either one at a level of quality that makes a difference.

I just don't understand how people TODAY don't have the ability to grasp exactly how dire the fiscal situation is now and has been for the last 40 years.

Held in constant dollars, the City of Detroit lost 80% of its tax base between 1950 and 1990. 80% people. How many here could live on 20% of what the make right now without making seriosu cuts to life style?

I completely see your point. It wouldn't make sense to do those things with the financial mess that we are in currently. But what if the cost of mothballing a building was put on the owner of that particular building? I know, it's a stretch because a lot of owners don't take care of their buildings that are operational. But what if they somehow incorporated this into the blight court and made an owner pay for upkeep.

Say a building is shuttered, the Broderick for example. When a building is shuttered, the building owner would have to submit a plan to the city stating that redevelopment is either eminent over a period of so many months or there are no foreseeable developments at the time. If there are no foreseeable developments within a certain amount of months from closing, then the building would have to be properly sealed from the elements and even mothballed at the owners expense.

A) This would prevent the building from falling into disrepair and keeping it shuttered from scrappers and the elements.

B) The building could be ready for renovation fairly quickly and at a fraction of the cost that it would take had the building not been preserved.

It seems to me this would work out well for the owner of a building that has been shuttered as it would be much more attractive for redevelopment.

[LeannaM]

Photos from the precious week. Please note the comments from other part of the planet.
http://313.aminus3.com/image/2010-02-05.html
http://313.aminus3.com/image/2010-02-04.html

What is that thing on the top floor? It sure is weird looking.

[ndavies]

What is that thing on the top floor? It sure is weird looking.

Air conditioning ductwork added between the drop ceiling and the real ceiling. This building was obvioulsy designed before air conditioning was in wide use.

[PQZ]

I completely see your point. It wouldn't make sense to do those things with the financial mess that we are in currently. But what if the cost of mothballing a building was put on the owner of that particular building? I know, it's a stretch because a lot of owners don't take care of their buildings that are operational. But what if they somehow incorporated this into the blight court and made an owner pay for upkeep.

Say a building is shuttered, the Broderick for example. When a building is shuttered, the building owner would have to submit a plan to the city stating that redevelopment is either eminent over a period of so many months or there are no foreseeable developments at the time. If there are no foreseeable developments within a certain amount of months from closing, then the building would have to be properly sealed from the elements and even mothballed at the owners expense.

A) This would prevent the building from falling into disrepair and keeping it shuttered from scrappers and the elements.

B) The building could be ready for renovation fairly quickly and at a fraction of the cost that it would take had the building not been preserved.

It seems to me this would work out well for the owner of a building that has been shuttered as it would be much more attractive for redevelopment.

You have cited the perfect example of why your idea fails. If Higgins won't even pay his fucking taxes, what makes you think he would suddenly run out and mothball the building to avoid blight court?

There would need to be a strengthening of state legislation across the board to enable this in a meaningful way. It can be done, it was done with tax foreclosure laws - after 20 years of wrangling.

Then funding would need to be found to adequately staff the blight court and enforce its rulings.

But be careful what you wish for.

As a consequence, when owners reach a point where it no long er makes sense to pay taxes and mothball the buildings, they will walk away and leave the building to the City. The City is already overwhelemed with inventory.Where are the hundreds of millions of dollars to go back and mothball what is in the inventory and then deal with a huge influx of new buildings? Think more than a billion to count, assess, plan and then mothball all buildings in the inventory as a one shot deal and then a couple hundred million a year to keep them all secured and mothballed.

Unless you plan on doing just some buildings, which will open you up for lawsuits left and right.

There is also the unintended consequence of forcing low income homeowners out of their houses if they cannot meet code. There are thousands of house holds in Detroit hat own their own homes but cannot afford to keep them fully code compliant. Are you ready to fine widowers living in the home the bought 50 years ago because they have a tarp on their roof and cannot afford to fix it? Or are you expecting the City to fix it?

I'm not saying the situation as it is today is acceptable. It's clearly not. I am just wondering how anyone thinks they can fix it without a couple billion dollars in investment?

[mikeg19]

You have cited the perfect example of why your idea fails. If Higgins won't even pay his fucking taxes, what makes you think he would suddenly run out and mothball the building to avoid blight court?

There would need to be a strengthening of state legislation across the board to enable this in a meaningful way. It can be done, it was done with tax foreclosure laws - after 20 years of wrangling.

Then funding would need to be found to adequately staff the blight court and enforce its rulings.

But be careful what you wish for.

As a consequence, when owners reach a point where it no long er makes sense to pay taxes and mothball the buildings, they will walk away and leave the building to the City. The City is already overwhelemed with inventory.Where are the hundreds of millions of dollars to go back and mothball what is in the inventory and then deal with a huge influx of new buildings? Think more than a billion to count, assess, plan and then mothball all buildings in the inventory as a one shot deal and then a couple hundred million a year to keep them all secured and mothballed.

Unless you plan on doing just some buildings, which will open you up for lawsuits left and right.

There is also the unintended consequence of forcing low income homeowners out of their houses if they cannot meet code. There are thousands of house holds in Detroit hat own their own homes but cannot afford to keep them fully code compliant. Are you ready to fine widowers living in the home the bought 50 years ago because they have a tarp on their roof and cannot afford to fix it? Or are you expecting the City to fix it?

I'm not saying the situation as it is today is acceptable. It's clearly not. I am just wondering how anyone thinks they can fix it without a couple billion dollars in investment?

At this point I know the blight court is a joke just from what I read about it in the papers. And you make a point that it would be tough to justify staffing positions to enforce the laws and actually hold building owners accountable when the city is in the red financially. I'm not saying that my idea is the end all and is perfect, but I think there are ways of building on something like that to help preserve our history.

[buildingsofdetroit]

They've got the eastern wall all lighted up light a Christmas tree right now. Looks like they could be bringing it down tonight - or at least a big chunk of it.

[buildingsofdetroit]

Just talked to foreman. Northern tower coming down tonight about 2 or 2:30 a.m. For those who want to capture the moment.

[Whitehouse]

Just talked to foreman. Northern tower coming down tonight about 2 or 2:30 a.m. For those who want to capture the moment.

You'd better be sure where the wind is coming from...

[buildingsofdetroit]

The fall of the northern wall caught on video. For those keeping score at home, the collapse happened at 4:29 a.m. last night/this morning: http://tinyurl.com/ybtvdlv

[mikeg19]

Oh wow. I didn't realize the whole thing was going to come down like that.

[old guy]

Great video. How are your lungs today.

[buildingsofdetroit]

Great video. How are your lungs today.

To be totally honest, crappy. I was so focused on staying warm, I didn't give myself an escape route and trapped myself against the wall with the tripod. "When the walls come tumbling down," as the song goes, there was no chance for escape.

[jonathanlivingstonseagull]

Excellent video. Seeing the wall swaying like that is almost surreal.

[buildingsofdetroit]

Excellent video. Seeing the wall swaying like that is almost surreal.

It was surreal. I've never seen six or seven stories of building filling almost a city block swaying at once like that. It was like an earthquake or something.

[jonathanlivingstonseagull]

It was surreal. I've never seen six or seven stories of building filling almost a city block swaying at once like that. It was like an earthquake or something.

I can only imagine how it would have looked being that close. I hope your lungs are better soon. That was a ginormous dust cloud! BTW, your website and posts here on DY are great.

[bibs]

That operator must have nerves of steel to pull down the side of a building toward him. Perhaps it was just an illusion in the video due to the angle but that's what it looked like. I wonder what his life and disability insurance policy costs him!