Alinosi for sale - Step back in time.

[IrishSpartan]

What neighborhood? You didn't take a Google drive around the area, did you? 75% of the residential and retail neighborhood have either disappeared or are boarded up. In the 1970s and 1980s the area was still vibrant and densely populated.

Now the neighborhood [[in 2 of the poorest zip codes in Detroit, 48234 and 48205) is just a shell of its' former self.

Not a great spot for an Italian Ice Cream shop.

The neighborhood around Alinosi's by the mid-1980's was dying especially south of 6 Mile. It was not vibrant by any stretch of the imagination. Some people were trying to hang on, but it became a nightmare in too many instances. You can't characterize that neighborhood as being the "same" in the 1970's and 1980's. The neighborhood was drastically different in 1974 compared to 1984 in terms of people, businesses operating, and the crime situation.

[Gistok]

^^ Well you're better in that neck of the woods... some of my friends lived in the 6-8 Mile & Gratiot area, and the neighborhoods seemed decent back then. I grew up near Balduck Park... and we were in good shape until after 2000. The housing stock in the eastern 48224 area didn't suffer the mass extermination of that of 48213 and 48205.

[Satiricalivory]

What neighborhood? You didn't take a Google drive around the area, did you? 75% of the residential and retail neighborhood have either disappeared or are boarded up. In the 1970s and 1980s the area was still vibrant and densely populated.

Now the neighborhood [[in 2 of the poorest zip codes in Detroit, 48234 and 48205) is just a shell of its' former self.

Not a great spot for an Italian Ice Cream shop.

I did, and like I said, the immediate corridor might have lots of vacant land but a few adjacent neighborhoods look pretty well intact and obviously people can drive there from other parts of the city. We've seen new businesses pop up in equally barren parts of the city before. Somebody with vision could make it work. I think what this eventually sells for will surprise the white flight baby boomers here.

[401don]

I did, and like I said, the immediate corridor might have lots of vacant land but a few adjacent neighborhoods look pretty well intact and obviously people can drive there from other parts of the city. We've seen new businesses pop up in equally barren parts of the city before. Somebody with vision could make it work. I think what this eventually sells for will surprise the white flight baby boomers here.

You could always tell the new owners to put in a big glass window and if it gets smashed you'll pay for the replacement and theft loss.

[Gistok]

I think that whoever buys that $600K combination of building, recipes, furnishings and workers... they will not be keeping it in that location. The building itself has little value [[at the moment)... and anyone who does buy, will leave the area with all the contents, etc.

That area is the 'hood. I doubt that Spumoni is their "flavor of the month". I don't think people from other areas outside of it will be coming in to enjoy Spumoni or other desserts. I wouldn't leave my car out of my sight if I were parked there [[hard to do when the windows are cemented shut).

Not trying to insult the area... but just a reality check.

[softailrider]

I'm kind of shocked the building is still standing. I would have though somebody would have made the way up to the roof and broke in from the top down by now.

[Honky Tonk]

I think the seller is counting on the nostalgic value of the contents, that's why the high price. Gut it and move it somewhere else. Think about these 50's themed hamburger places.

[jcole]

If that is the main Alinosi "factory" so to speak, it is still producing ice cream and chocolates. I'm guessing they are selling the recipes along with the shop/factory and the two employees. It's been there forever as their main branch. They sell to corporate accts like restaurants and Vince and Joe's for their Spumoni and The Chocolate Bar Cafe in Grosse Pointe as well as Ashby Sterling Ice Cream Parlor in Shelby Twp. for retail ice cream and chocolate.
This is the sale of an active business, not just a building with a quaint ice cream parlor inside.

[Zacha341]

Yes, and the building surgically removed to somewhere else! Lovely interior photos for certain. I was not an eastsider for much of my life but would have loved experiencing this mid-summer.

Why on earth are the windows filled in with cinder blocks and why is the brick painted? Could be a great building is those are fixed.

[Lowell]

There might be a slim argument that a revival on that site could work, in that with the absence of any nearby housing and population makes it so extremely isolated that it starts to feel "safe" unlike a more densely populated setting which might be perceived as "dangerous".

The model might be Slows which, when it opened, was amid a much scarier wasteland of ruin and abandonment. I think the dive LJ's was the only other thing open around it. Yet Slow's famously succeeded even without convenient parking of which the Alinosi site has in abundance with available adjacent land that likely could be obtained cheaply for gated parking.

The Dakota Inn has survived along those lines, La Dolce Vita likewise thrives in "less than desirable" neighborhoods. Both have solid brands as is the case with Alinosi's. Thoughts?

[Maof]

Live in the D did a segment this morning with the relator......https://www.clickondetroit.com/live-...ce-cream-shop/

[Hypestyles]

curious. Well, best of luck. Broadly speaking, it would be great for urban Detroit to have more places like ice cream shops.

Fascinating to look at everything in the interior. Truly well preserved.

There are so many residential neighborhoods where there are these otherwise nondescript buildings with no markings [[or faded markings), most presumably abandoned to the naked eye, and yet... stuff like this goes on..

[Hamtragedy]

I've been searching for this building after a Metro Times article back in the early 2000s. I always thought is was located on E McNichols bewtween Davison and VanDyke. Guess I was way off as it's on the other side of the airport.

[softailrider]

There might be a slim argument that a revival on that site could work, in that with the absence of any nearby housing and population makes it so extremely isolated that it starts to feel "safe" unlike a more densely populated setting which might be perceived as "dangerous".

The model might be Slows which, when it opened, was amid a much scarier wasteland of ruin and abandonment. I think the dive LJ's was the only other thing open around it. Yet Slow's famously succeeded even without convenient parking of which the Alinosi site has in abundance with available adjacent land that likely could be obtained cheaply for gated parking.

The Dakota Inn has survived along those lines, La Dolce Vita likewise thrives in "less than desirable" neighborhoods. Both have solid brands as is the case with Alinosi's. Thoughts?

You made reference to restaurants where people go for lunch or dinner. Would Alinosi’s be a draw at that same location selling ice cream cones and boxes of candy? I don’t think there has been enough of a revival of that area or the city in general for that to happen.