Lee Plaza Update: Renovation Announcement

[Burnsie]

More from today.
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2022/01/18/detroit-lee-plaza-pandemic-relief-funds/6564347001/

Hopefully some of the stolen lions' heads will be reinstalled. A bunch were recovered, but are they still stored in a secure place, some 20 years later? https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/r...nt?oid=2175670

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

More from today.
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2022/01/18/detroit-lee-plaza-pandemic-relief-funds/6564347001/

Hopefully some of the stolen lions' heads will be reinstalled. A bunch were recovered, but are they still stored in a secure place, some 20 years later? https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/r...nt?oid=2175670

It seems like this time, more pieces of the financing puzzle are coming together. Fingers crossed!

[Richard]

More from today.
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2022/01/18/detroit-lee-plaza-pandemic-relief-funds/6564347001/

Hopefully some of the stolen lions' heads will be reinstalled. A bunch were recovered, but are they still stored in a secure place, some 20 years later? https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/r...nt?oid=2175670

A poster on FB who had some past involvement wrote that they are being stored at the DIA.

[Gistok]

A poster on FB who had some past involvement wrote that they are being stored at the DIA.

Good to know! For those that are still missing, they could reproduce them via 3-D printer.

[Henry Whalley]

A poster on FB who had some past involvement wrote that they are being stored at the DIA.

Mr. Belvedere has the windows

[Henry Whalley]

Why was it built so far down W. Grand Blvd.? Was there unbridled 1920’s optimism that development would spread down that far?

The optimism goes back to the 1890's IIRC from reading Clarence Monroe Burton's history of early Detroit.

P.S. The book is available somewhere online in pdf format. Burton describes a Sunday afternoon drive in one of the first automobiles along the entire length of Grand Blvd. without seeing a single other soul. But building the Blvd. was itself an expression of optimism. Perhaps we no longer create infrastructure because we lack optimism?

[Burnsie]

The optimism goes back to the 1890's IIRC from reading Clarence Monroe Burton's history of early Detroit.

P.S. The book is available somewhere online in pdf format. Burton describes a Sunday afternoon drive in one of the first automobiles along the entire length of Grand Blvd. without seeing a single other soul. But building the Blvd. was itself an expression of optimism. Perhaps we no longer create infrastructure because we lack optimism?

We build plenty of new infrastructure [[roads and utilities in suburban developments) but have a hard time repairing & replacing the infrastructure that's already here.

[Richard]

Infrastructure in the burbs is built off of a Ponzi scheme,Romans built roads that lasted over 1000 years,many of our city roads are built over a foundation of red brick that has lasted over 150 years,we can build long lasting low maintenance infrastructure,we just do not.

I wonder if Detroit’s optimism was based on its strategic location,most major cities evolved and state lines were drawn based on the waterways being the way to move goods and people.

The city always had a destiny,people get in the way of it.

Included in that link is another one,the Weber house that is also being rehabilitated,that’s pretty cool that these buildings are being rehabilitated instead of demolished.

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2022/01/12/detroit-housing-fund-affordable/9174456002/

In the comments on FB people were joking about how the roof had been replaced on the Lee Plaza in the past without replacing the windows and what a waste it was.

It is a part of the mothball process used to save buildings,once the roof is gone the rest of the building deteriorates.

England lost a lot of significant historical properties when they instituted their death tax.

Which was a tax that when you died your heirs had to pay a tax on any property that they inherited,up to 60% of the value,it had to be paid in cash,you could not go to a bank and borrow it against the property because technically it was not in your name yet.

So it was common to remove the roof and let nature take its course,it’s referred to demolition by neglect these days.

[Gistok]

I just read on Facebook that many of the Lee Plaza lion heads are stored at the Detroit Housing Commission warehouse.

Also, I just came across this old Metro Times article that talks about this, and mentions DetroitYES and Lowell....

https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/r...nt?oid=2175670

[Henry Whalley]

...Romans built roads that lasted over 1000 years...

Maybe the Romans didn't award contracts to Cosa Nostra?

[Richard]

^ at least they know how to cut through the red tape and get things done.

I have an acquaintance that is a major road builder,it takes 8 to 10 years and 14,000 pages of estimating before the first shovel is used in order to complete a 20 mile section of road,that’s why it is alway a game of catch up.

Our infrastructure problems do not arise from actually doing the work it is the red tape involved.

At least with Cosa Nostra you can get things done quickly with a few well placed envelopes or a horse head.

Did you not read the Hoffa thread where the guy single handed dug a 30’ deep hole and tossed a steel barrel with Hoffa in,300lbs,all within less then an hours time?

Heck at that rate they could probably put in a street car line from Downtown Detroit to downtown Hamtramck in a couple of days.

Thats dedication to the cause.

There was a time in NYC ,up until recently,where you could not do anything without the envelope,it was a way of life and built one of the largest cities in the country.

Until the young ones became media whores and ruined everything.

Canada did not even know the local Italian mob had ties to Italy until the mid 90s when they actually tried to fund a entire land to land 20 mile bridge and got caught.

Traffickers used to have what they called no catch zones,a no catch zone is where you can bribe a country or state all they way up to the top so people to look the other way while you land your planes in loaded with tons of product,Honduras and Panama were some,and in the United States it was Arkansas where for 1.6 million in cash you could land to your hearts content,guess who was governor at the time.

These days the mob wears suits and asks you to vote for them.

[Henry Whalley]

...At least with Cosa Nostra you can get things done quickly with a few well placed envelopes or a horse head.

The mafia roads must be rebuilt every few years. It's the Myth of Sisyphus all over again. Good for business.

P.S. I knew his sister. She was also the Sis of Mythyphus.

[Richard]

They recently resurfaced a road by me,it dead ended into a busy 2 lane,right where the 2 roads met there was a pothole on the 2 lane side.

They resurfaced to road up to the pothole and left it there,all it would have taken was to dump a few shovels full of asphalt into it,I guess they figured they would fill that in when they got the contract for the 2 lane.

I mentioned it to the county commissioner and it was filled in,but it is an example of what happens when they are spending everybody else’s money.

The roads are like everything else is anymore with planned obsolescence built in,look at the Lee Plaza building,it was built that many years ago,lived it planned use and went to derelict hell and now is still strong enough to be brought back for another 100 years compared to the houses and buildings thrown up today with a life expectancy of thirty years at best.

How old is the museum at hand? They said it will need 23 million in repairs in the next few years who built that one,38.4 million to build in 1997 and already needs 23 million in repairs?

Thats weird that you knew Mythyphus sister,I dated her for a few weeks,until her brother asked me to hold his Boulder for him one day ,we quickly parted ways,she had that whole crazy beautiful thing going on, maybe we met before?

[Henry Whalley]

Thats weird that you knew Mythyphus sister...

Small world

Her 'honey-do' list was a nightmare!

[K-slice]

Sooooo, what's going on with this project? New windows that were installed are getting broken and spray painted, works seems to have started then ground to a halt, and now the building is back to being destroyed by vandals.

Sad to see.

[Zacha341]

Maybe another 'buy-and-ditch' move? Like the Packard acreage.

[Satiricalivory]

Roxbury is really screwing up. None of their recent shit is getting off the ground, taking years and years and years for no reason. Lee Plaza got a lot of public money so not sure why the feet dragging.

[drjeff]

I drove by it yesterday and there is a for sale sign on the front. As noted, windows as broken and graffiti has begun. Roof is still wide open.

Roxbury has been doing a giant project in Ann Arbor so maybe they are too consumed with that:

https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor...rom-state.html

[Satiricalivory]

Is the for sale sign new?

If so that's an absolute joke. Fuck Roxbury.

[Zacha341]

Great! Another 'investor' who took the money and ran - it's a common story.

[401don]

Is the for sale sign new?

If so that's an absolute joke. Fuck Roxbury.

How do you know the other principal partner, Ethos Development Group, didn't back out or maybe financing fell through with rising interest rates. These deals are extremely complex. Roxbury has done some excellent restoration work in the city and should be given the benefit of doubt until we know more.

[ABetterDetroit]

How do you know the other principal partner, Ethos Development Group, didn't back out or maybe financing fell through with rising interest rates. These deals are extremely complex. Roxbury has done some excellent restoration work in the city and should be given the benefit of doubt until we know more.

401 is spot on. We need to know more before judgement. Roxbury has a impressive resume. If anyone believes that the rapid rise in interest rates in the second half of this year will not negatively affect large capital intensive projects they are incredibly naive.

[Satiricalivory]

How do you know the other principal partner, Ethos Development Group, didn't back out or maybe financing fell through with rising interest rates. These deals are extremely complex. Roxbury has done some excellent restoration work in the city and should be given the benefit of doubt until we know more.

They literally got over 7 million in public money for this. If they can't make it happen with that huge assistance then yes they're an absolute joke. Their hotel on Woodward that was supposed to be finished like a year ago still hasn't even broken ground despite having a tenant.

If this is actually for sale again then they look like incompetent morons.

[401don]

They literally got over 7 million in public money for this. If they can't make it happen with that huge assistance then yes they're an absolute joke. Their hotel on Woodward that was supposed to be finished like a year ago still hasn't even broken ground despite having a tenant.

If this is actually for sale again then they look like incompetent morons.

7 million out of 60 million required for the initial phase should be plenty. Okay.

[K-slice]

I'm not upset if it's delayed, but the fact that the building is now getting destroyed all over again is just pathetic.