What's Up With the Holiday Inn on Telegraph?

[BFoster]

The old Holiday Inn on Telegraph in Southfield has been on a steady downward spiral for the past couple of years. It went from a Holiday Inn to a 3rd tier knock-off [[Holiday Resort?), and then a few months ago it was "closed for repairs". Thing is, I pass by there all the time, and there was no sign of any repair or renovation taking place. A few days ago, I noticed that the sign had changed, and now reads "Closed". Does anybody know, is the place kaput? It's been a long descent from the days when the hotel had a fancy rotating restaurant on the top floor.

[crawford]

It's abandoned.

There are FAR too many hotel rooms in metro Detroit. Older hotels in iffy locations [[like this one) are going to either turn to flophouses or shut down.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

It was reported on the news a couple of months ago, that the owner owed over $500,000 to DTE energy. They had to evacuate all the tenants, and it hasn't been open since.

[softailrider]

Hotel wasn't doing very well at all, I know somebody who worked there. She told me some nights they would only have 5 or 6 rooms rented. That hotel has over 400 rooms. Hotel - motel business in this area is TERRBLE. Even new and newer properties are suffering.

[Ray1936]

Hmmm. Could Southfield be the next Detroit?

[Grundyke]

I know exactly what happened as my dad's company bid for the internet service for the new owner's. He thought he had the deal and they kept blowing him off saying next week as they were not ready. The never paid the down payment. Then a few months later DTE did shut off the power for non payment. There were people renting rooms to live in and not stay in [[some not so savory characters I hear) and they could not rent out the rooms. They still owe the power bill and they do not have any money. I believe someone is renting part of the parking lot for car storage. Assume this place will not reopen anytime soon.

[crawford]

Hmmm. Could Southfield be the next Detroit?

It already is.

Detroit, Part 2: The Sprawly, Strip Mall Version

[East Detroit]

Tear that schitt down.

I see Franklin Park Towers is now surrounded by a high fence and guards. Go figure.

I thought buying an import and moving to Southfield was a way to say you're better? Gosh, too bad.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

Tear that schitt down.

I see Franklin Park Towers is now surrounded by a high fence and guards. Go figure.

I thought buying an import and moving to Southfield was a way to say you're better? Gosh, too bad.

Now everyone's "throwing Southfield under the bus"? Why, because of a dilapidated hotel?? C'mon it's not the slums. Seems to me anytime a communities race majority changes, it's labeled the Next Detroit. Gimme a break.

[crawford]

Now everyone's "throwing Southfield under the bus"? Why, because of a dilapidated hotel?? C'mon it's not the slums. Seems to me anytime a communities race majority changes, it's labeled the Next Detroit. Gimme a break.

Did you hear about the woman murdered in Southfield last night? It's in the Free Press.

How about the one two weeks ago?

What about the waitress executed as she left work?

How about half the city council under investigation for corruption?

How about a school system that has gone from a gem to bad in 20 years?

[ConantNHolbrook]

Hotel wasn't doing very well at all, I know somebody who worked there. She told me some nights they would only have 5 or 6 rooms rented. That hotel has over 400 rooms. Hotel - motel business in this area is TERRBLE. Even new and newer properties are suffering.

I worked there 6 or 7 years ago. It was gloomy and dirty then, mostly empty and populated on the weekends by raucous kids' birthday parties at the pool and NW Detroit gangbangers. They held on to their Holiday Inn franchise for so long because an employee in the management there had done a "favor" years ago while a law enforcement officer for a son of corporate management. Definitely not a business clientele, lots of drug and prostitution traffic.

[gazhekwe]

That is a myth that Southfield has a bad school system. All elementary and middle schools in the district met Adequate Yearly Progress standards of the No Child Left Behind Act for both Math and Language Arts. Although the high schools didn't meet the AYPs they did meet the graduation objectives and have not been sanctioned for not meeting them two years in a row.

According to NCLB, schools have until 2013 to make AYP, although not meeting it for two years in a row can lead to sanctions. It is quite common for schools to miss AYP. The prior year in Michigan, of 1149 high schools, 660 made AYP and 489 did not.

According to Southfield's website: Student scores on the Michigan Education Assessment Tests have shown a steady improvement since 1990 and are above State average.

[trstar]

That is a myth that Southfield has a bad school system. All elementary and middle schools in the district met Adequate Yearly Progress standards of the No Child Left Behind Act for both Math and Language Arts. Although the high schools didn't meet the AYPs they did meet the graduation objectives and have not been sanctioned for not meeting them two years in a row.

According to NCLB, schools have until 2013 to make AYP, although not meeting it for two years in a row can lead to sanctions. It is quite common for schools to miss AYP. The prior year in Michigan, of 1149 high schools, 660 made AYP and 489 did not.

According to Southfield's website: Student scores on the Michigan Education Assessment Tests have shown a steady improvement since 1990 and are above State average.

c'mon don't let the facts spoil a good Southfield bashing!

[Vic_doucette]

The Rib Rack -- where the manager or maybe the assistant manager was murdered -- is in Lathrup Village, not Southfield.

And AFAIK, only one member of City Council -- William Lattimore -- was under investigation. He has resigned.

[Detroitgayhistoryguy]

The power was shut off by DTE for a while. I saw a generator out front one time. I'm not sure this place is going to make it.

http://detroitgayhistory.blogspot.com/

[cmubryan]

Okay, okay I must stick up for my original hometown for the first 10 years of my life...

Southfield is not the upper-income haven it once was in the 60s, 70s and 80s. In fact, some people might say its an "inner-ring suburb with inner-city problems." Is this true?

It was and is the first step out of the city for a lot of people. 40 years ago that group was Jews moving out of the city. For the last 20 years that group has been African Americans moving out of the city. Does that make it an extention of Detroit? Well, that would depend on what you mean by "extension of Detroit." Southfield is very suburban with little in the way of sidewalks and streetlamps. Yes there are many glass and steel skyscrapers but they flank the city in a very suburban style with vast parking lots surrounding them. Does not resemble Detroit in city set-up or architecture.

Probably what people refer to are the social problems that haunt inner-city Detroit. I can't say with certainty that these problems plague Southfield. Property theft is pretty common like the city, however serious crime such as murder or aggravated assaults I don't believe are. The perception of crime may be worse than it is due to other factors and stereotypes.

I manage an apartment community in the area of the [[former) Holiday Inn and [[former) Franklin Park Towers and can tell you that while on occasion there are some minor crime incidents it certaintly is not out of control. Most importantly and UNLIKE Detroit or Pontiac, the police are VERY responsive and take their jobs very seriously. The residents for the most part take pride in the community and want to keep the area as safe and desirable as possible.

In short, Southfield will never be what it once was [[the Novi or Canton of the 1960s and 1970s) but as long as the local government and police keep their act together it will not fall down the path of an "inner city" either.

The loss of the Holiday Inn is not surprising but still dissapointing. Due to a comibination of an aging product in an area that is over saturated with hotels, Southfield has lost many former high-end hotels. The Michigan Inn/Sheraton/Plaza Hotel on JL Hudson Dr at Northland is barely operating, The Sheraton/Days Hotel/Ramada on Nine Mile is abandoned, Stouffer's Northland Inn was abandoned and torn down, The Ramada on Telegraph south of 12 Mile is torn down, and now the Southfield Holiday Inn is abandoned.

However, the Marriotts, Westin, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn, Best Western, Hilton Garden Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Comfort Suites, and more have continued to operate under the same franchise for years.

[Capnhook]

One of the highlights of Southfield is the public library. We lived in Southfield when we first moved to the area in the mid-90s and somewhere along the way southfield decided to upgrade the facilities. The result is spectacular. the place is in high demand on the weekends but the setup is nice enough to spread the demand across the building.

[gazhekwe]

I can vouch for police response. They are here in five minutes or less, whatever you call about. In my case, I called about open windows on an empty house across the street twice. Once the front double sliders had fallen in. The police were there in minutes, thoroughly inspected the place, and had the boarders there by morning. The other time, a front window was wide open, and I thought the place was empty. Police came, went in and found a guy sleeping upstairs. Turns out, he had the owner's permission to be there, but the power was off so no lights were ever on. Another time, the police woke me up at 2 a.m. to see if the dog they found was mine. No, but I knew whose it was, and they went there and returned the dog. Southfield is a great place to live.

[leland_palmer]

There were also numerous code violations with their renovations. The building department was investigating when they closed.

[FlyingJ]

I have a fondness for those old 70's style round Holiday Inn's[[they're always adjacent to a freeway...reminds me of the Lakewood record swap), 2nd only to the Holi-Domes, but this place has the worst reviews this side of the Leland;

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=s...esult&resnum=1

[REL]

CinnKid, the word "dilapidated" doesn't apply here.... if you want to use that word, I can think of many other hotels/motels in the area.

From what I heard via the design project manager, the two main partners involved keep butting heads and accusing each other of ripping the other off [[not to mention, the whole no electricity thing might be cramping their style and affecting business). I will see if I can dig up any other dirt.

[cmubryan]

AroundTown, you just triggered my memory. It was December of 2008, I was sitting at Pi Bar on a Saturday night at 12 and Northwestern when I met one of these partners. He was claiming that the hotel would become a Wyndham hotel within the next couple of months. This is still what their website claims: hisouthfield.com

[REL]

From the sounds of it, the partners seem like all talk & no action. Or funds, for that matter. It's a shame, the hotel is a local landmark and has good potential with a very convenient location. I hope they pull it together.

[Zimm]

The loss of the Holiday Inn is not surprising but still dissapointing. Due to a comibination of an aging product in an area that is over saturated with hotels, Southfield has lost many former high-end hotels. The Michigan Inn/Sheraton/Plaza Hotel on JL Hudson Dr at Northland is barely operating, The Sheraton/Days Hotel/Ramada on Nine Mile is abandoned, Stouffer's Northland Inn was abandoned and torn down, The Ramada on Telegraph south of 12 Mile is torn down, and now the Southfield Holiday Inn is abandoned.

cmubryan-you seem to be a bit of a resident expert on the area. i have been wondering about a building that appears to be a former hotel. it's a large tower, roughly 20 stories that lies right across the street from the entrance to the OCC campus. do you have any background on this building?

from some angles, it has a very "soviet block" look to it, especially the side with the long faded red elevator tower. looks like it's been abandoned for decades.

it amazes me that OCC is willing to sink millions into an expansion of their southfield campus when the neighborhood is full of vacancies and this rotting hulk lies right axcross the street...

[Detroitgayhistoryguy]

I can vouch for police response. They are here in five minutes or less, whatever you call about. In my case, I called about open windows on an empty house across the street twice. Once the front double sliders had fallen in. The police were there in minutes, thoroughly inspected the place, and had the boarders there by morning. The other time, a front window was wide open, and I thought the place was empty. Police came, went in and found a guy sleeping upstairs. Turns out, he had the owner's permission to be there, but the power was off so no lights were ever on. Another time, the police woke me up at 2 a.m. to see if the dog they found was mine. No, but I knew whose it was, and they went there and returned the dog. Southfield is a great place to live.

I've never lived in Southfield myself. But if your a fan of really large Ranch homes, Southfield has some great huge ranches. I've seen some really cool ones from the 50s and 60s. Another great thing is that many of them are on really large lots. I'm a real estate appraiser and I've seen some really cool ranches for sale [[foreclosures) for cheap. You can get yourself one hell of a big cool ranch with a huge basement on a large lot for cheap.

http://detroitgayhistory.blogspot.com/