Eloise to be redeveloped on Paranormal Theme

[Lowell]

The former Eloise psychiatric hospital along Michigan Avenue has secured tax abatements by the City of Westland for a spooky redevelopment. Would you visit?

The first phase will see rehabilitation done to the Kay Beard Building and the launch of a haunted attraction, escape rooms and a new café in the former firehouse.

The second phase will consist of the creation of a ghost bar and restaurant, as well as space for events; and the third phase will see the creation of a hotel on the site. Total capital investment on the site will range between $12.8 million and $13.8 million.

Permanent jobs for the site are expected to be around 50-100 people, with additional temporary workers in the weeks leading up to Halloween each year with much of the workforce coming locally.

Hambrick [the developer who bought the site for $1] said they want to make the site a destination not just for those in Michigan but market it internationally to bring guests to the region.
https://freep-mi.newsmemory.com?publ...d695eb_1345e47

[Honky Tonk]

The former Eloise psychiatric hospital along Michigan Avenue has secured tax abatements by the City of Westland for a spooky redevelopment. Would you visit?

The first phase will see rehabilitation done to the Kay Beard Building and the launch of a haunted attraction, escape rooms and a new café in the former firehouse.

The second phase will consist of the creation of a ghost bar and restaurant, as well as space for events; and the third phase will see the creation of a hotel on the site. Total capital investment on the site will range between $12.8 million and $13.8 million.

Permanent jobs for the site are expected to be around 50-100 people, with additional temporary workers in the weeks leading up to Halloween each year with much of the workforce coming locally.

Hambrick [the developer who bought the site for $1] said they want to make the site a destination not just for those in Michigan but market it internationally to bring guests to the region.
https://freep-mi.newsmemory.com?publ...d695eb_1345e47

Personally, I think it's good for one shot. I can't see returning it over and over. Visiting a haunted house 365 days a year? I'm probably wrong.

[jackie5275]

I worked out there in the Eloise/WCGH complex in part of the 80s & 90s. There is no way I would pay to go back in the buildings of my former work site. This news of a new cafe in the former firehouse concerns me. That building has been locked up tightly for decades due to all the asbestos in it. To my knowledge, the underground tunnels still exist out there too. You run a risk of any of them collapsing. I know one did while worked there. A colleague's car fell into it. It took nearly 7 hours to get the car out. There's a lot of work that would need to be done there to make the place safe. It's one thing to do a little 3-4 week stint leading up to Halloween, but for year round events, it will take more of an investment. Like I said, I'm not going to pay to go back to my old workplace, but if they can make a go of it, more power to them.

[factoryrat]

My Grandpa [[Nathaniel O Gould) designed the N bldg. Some on the Fire house and boiler bldg., and possibly tunnels too. Is any of that stuff still around?

[EastsideAl]

One of my great-grandmothers was buried out there. Couldn't they find a better use for this property?

[JenniferL]

I think it is disrespectful to all of the people who suffered and even died there.

[Lowell]

My Grandpa [[Nathaniel O Gould) designed the N bldg. Some on the Fire house and boiler bldg., and possibly tunnels too. Is any of that stuff still around?

Apparently there are. From the article... "The redevelopment will include the removal of several blighted buildings, including the bakery and power plant."
Here's the 3D satellite view.

[Jimaz]

... Here's the 3D satellite view....

And a link:

former Eloise psychiatric hospital

for your zooming pleasure.

[yaktown]

I think it is disrespectful to all of the people who suffered and even died there.

I agree wholeheartedly. There is nothing spooky or paranormal about mental illness or psychiatric hospitals.

[13606Cedargrove]

An idea in incredibly poor taste.

[Gistok]

Besides the tackiness of the proposed site... the bigger question is if such an idea is even marketable... I mean how many people on any given day would want to visit? Anything they do requires funds... and I doubt that banks would find the use as a money making venture.

[Hypestyles]

how vast are the underground tunnels?

[Danny]

Rehab parts of Eloise to look like Erebus II. This I got to see.

[Richard]

People say a abandoned church is no longer a house of worship and is just a building with no congregation.

Until I experienced it,I never believed in paranormal activity and certainly do not seek it out,but based on the television there are millions that are fascinated by it and it would be difficult to seek that activity in a coffee shop.

I do notice that the reason people seek these places out is because of the back story,without telling the story it would be hard to embrace and respect the pain involved.

If the building was demolished it and everything would soon be forgotten as a horrible moment in history.

If the building is reverted into something like what is being proposed,does it not essentially keep the memories alive so future generations do not make the same mistakes.

It’s telling a story while allowing those believers to feel the pain and terror that was experienced by the past residents.

Considering there are 1000s of farrow cemeteries across the country that are long forgotten by the ones that laid those inhabitants to rest,people have short memories and once that generation has passed,nobody cares anymore anyways.

[401don]

Besides the tackiness of the proposed site... the bigger question is if such an idea is even marketable... I mean how many people on any given day would want to visit? Anything they do requires funds... and I doubt that banks would find the use as a money making venture.

It does seem pretty lame. Maybe they could combine it with glow-in-the-dark mini-golf.

[jackie5275]

how vast are the underground tunnels?

Pretty vast as they connected all the buildings that were once there. You see what's left on the satellite photos, but what you don't see are the buildings farther north on Merriman on the other side of the river. This is where N Building & WCGH were located. There are tunnels going from those sites down to where the main Eloise campus was along Mich Ave, in between each other, & under each building itself to get from one part of the building to another. N Building was massive just by itself. It had something like 7 miles of hallways in it.

[stasu1213]

I could see this building being used for ghost exploration being that it's reported of being very haunted. I wonder if it's opened for people to go into there now. I think that it is a great idea. Maybe Fort Wayne could be renovated as a museum and for ghost exploration as well.

[ABetterDetroit]

Are there really enough people that are such fans of the ‘paranormal’ that they would lay down real money, enough to make the payments on a rehab of this scale? Far from my tastes so I really don’t know. I honestly thought this kind of stuff was just for kids so their date would squeeze a little closer or a few laughs when buzzed up. Low budget, a few weeks at Halloween quick cash grab type of business.

[Richard]

^ Of the 1,000 adults interviewed Dec. 17-18, the HuffPost/YouGov poll revealed 45 percent believe in ghosts, or that the spirits of dead people can come back in certain places and situations. When asked if they believe there’s a life after death, 64 percent responded Yes. While 59 percent of adults don’t believe they’ve ever actually seen a ghost, 43 percent also don’t think that ghosts or spirits can harm or interact with living people.

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_2049485

Millions celebrate Halloween,enough that pop-up Halloween stores kick out 10,000 to rent the space for the month,there must be some money in scaring the crap out of people.

It is pretty popular.

If you think about it,people from across the world traveled to Detroit to look at destroyed buildings,if it turns a negative into a positive for the city in building up a tourist based,why not?

The Blair witch project was produced by 3 film students with a budget of 35,000 and ended up Grossing over 250 million.

Disney world and Bush gardens both invested the same amount of not more for theirs,albeit a little different concept,but people seem to be fascinated by it.

[Gistok]

The Eloise complex is huge. Want to have a haunted building [versus a house]... one building should do. That still leaves 90% of the complex empty. No bank in their right mind is going to loan money to put up a paranormal Disneyland.

We went thru that once... it was called Autoworld. It no longer exists.

[Richard]

The Eloise complex is huge. Want to have a haunted building [versus a house]... one building should do. That still leaves 90% of the complex empty. No bank in their right mind is going to loan money to put up a paranormal Disneyland.

We went thru that once... it was called Autoworld. It no longer exists.

Usually one reads the attached link first and puts the scope of the entire project into perspective,verses focusing on one piece of the entire puzzle.

Quickest way to fail,is to not even try,banks do not use their mind when making financial investment decisions,it’s more of a math thing.

Personal attachment is understandable,dictating to investment mechanisms without even knowing what the financials are and telling them they are out of their mind?

It’s kinda like me,not knowing how to cook and standing behind the chef while telling them how to cook

Who would have thought putting a mall out in the middle of nowhere and calling it the largest mall in the world would have been viable,let alone build some contraption that you get in and it moves without a horse.

Everybody said Detroit was finished,bulldoze it into the river,but yet here it is continuing to move forward,if everybody listened to the naysayers,we would still be sitting around eating raw meat necked.

They bought it for $1,which is the same price that anybody else could have bought it for,difference is they had to have a feasible plan with funding in place in order to do that,which nobody else has seemed to be able to come up with.

Sure it is a risk,but somebody calculated that risk and found it feasible,good to see somebody is trying instead of looking for so many reasons to not even take that risk.

[Honky Tonk]

Usually one reads the attached link first and puts the scope of the entire project into perspective,verses focusing on one piece of the entire puzzle.

Quickest way to fail,is to not even try,banks do not use their mind when making financial investment decisions,it’s more of a math thing.

Personal attachment is understandable,dictating to investment mechanisms without even knowing what the financials are and telling them they are out of their mind?

It’s kinda like me,not knowing how to cook and standing behind the chef while telling them how to cook

Who would have thought putting a mall out in the middle of nowhere and calling it the largest mall in the world would have been viable,let alone build some contraption that you get in and it moves without a horse.

Everybody said Detroit was finished,bulldoze it into the river,but yet here it is continuing to move forward,if everybody listened to the naysayers,we would still be sitting around eating raw meat necked.

They bought it for $1,which is the same price that anybody else could have bought it for,difference is they had to have a feasible plan with funding in place in order to do that,which nobody else has seemed to be able to come up with.

Sure it is a risk,but somebody calculated that risk and found it feasible,good to see somebody is trying instead of looking for so many reasons to not even take that risk.

People will always subscribe to make-believe. It beats dealing with the real world.

[Lowell]

Blowback on the Eloise haunted hotel idea in today's Free Press. Thoughts?

Horrified by haunted hotel idea for former Eloise mental hospital
Some speak out about it, calling project 'utterly unconscionable'

Frank Witsil
Detroit Free Press

The former Eloise Psychiatric Hospital, which has been the backdrop for a Halloween haunted house attraction, is set to undergo a $4 million renovation with state funding for a development that will turn the abandoned Westland eyesore into a new restaurant, bar, and hotel.

Is that progress? Or a crazy, irreverent idea? Kathryn Grabowski said she believes such a development could be “really insensitive” - to the living and the dead.

There are still many people who remember the hospital before it closed in the 1980s, Grabowski, 34, told the Free Press. Some, like her father, had loved ones who were patients there. The Canton resident urged the developers to respectfully honor and memorialize the buildings' history, not exploit it. Continue...

[softailrider]

I agree it's in poor taste, redevelop it in some other way. I'm kind of surprised it's even being considered.

[stasu1213]

You can't do anything else with it if there are spirits in it. I believe in the Holy Spirit myself but if someone wants to put use to it in this manner then let them go ahead. It's better than to let the building rot