Bye Bye Michigan Central Depot!!

[prenkert13]

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090...++charge+owner

well looks like no more eyesore landmark.. always know im getting close to downtown by this on the horizon!!

[tetsua]

I think we all knew this was coming, it's depressing non the less.

[Rocko]

Is there any kind of plan in place for the property afterwards?

Have they considered that a portion of the station structure sits beneath the roadbed of an active rail line? How are they going to demolish that, exactly? They can't stop trains from running in the tunnel exactly.....

Glad to see we've all thought this through...

[brandon48202]

It is likely that the cost of demolition will greatly exceed the market value of the property. Matty can choose to not pay th demo bill, in which case the city would obtain title to the property through property tax foreclosure. The city would then be able to sell the property.

This demo plan sounds a little half-baked.

[ruxy17]

i wonder how many burnt-out abandoned homes $3.6 million dollars could raze? MCS may be an "eyesore," but the blighted residential buildings are eyesores AND dangerous.

This city council is so disgustingly out of touch with what the citizens need.

[dcmorrison12]

It's letter writing time, I just sent mine to the Mayor and Joann Watson.

[rb336]

i wonder how many burnt-out abandoned homes $3.6 million dollars could raze? MCS may be an "eyesore," but the blighted residential buildings are eyesores AND dangerous.

absolutely correct. the trouble is, I doubt the city could get funding to do the homes, and there is no deep-pocket landlord from whom they could collect

[Bobl]

The Tobacco Road School of Detroit architecture preservation:

A Ignore for decades
B Bring dynamite, and a crane, blow it up, start all over again....
usually with a parking lot.
C Hope for another beautiful strip mall

[E hemingway]

This is all about political theater. City Council doesn't care about the the blight this is causing or doing its job. This is an election year and Council's members sense the voters anger toward them. They need to look like they're doing something remotely positive for the public, and sending a city demo crew over to take down the biggest eye sore in Michigan is the easiest way to do it without actually doing any real work. This is a desperation move.

Part of me wants to say this wont happen. It's going to cost a lot more than $3 million to tear that down. We're talking at least eight figures to level it. Plus, Maroun is a billionaire. Billionaires usually get what they want. I wouldn't be surprised if MCS continued on its current state until Maroun decides otherwise. He might have already made that decision. We'll know by what type of response, if any, his underlings make.

[DetroitHabitater]

Think they'll increase the size of Rosevelt park? It will be pretty odd though with a fenced rail line behind it. How many of those rails are active, 2?

[lilpup]

If Maroun wants to keep it he should slap a few mil into it to make it bare bones offices, then use it for low to no rent space for non-profit agencies. He'd still own the property, have a tax write-off for a money losing venture, and could still boot the occupants when some better use came along.

[ghettopalmetto]

Terrific. We all know damn well that Matty Maroun isn't going to pay a bill issued to him by the City of Detroit--not when the City trespasses on his property and demolishes one of his assets. Are they not anticipating a lawsuit? How does the Council of Geniuses propose to pay for this needless destruction, the legal fees, and the budget cuts that will be necessary?

With the number of buildings it demolishes, Detroit must be the wealthiest city on earth.

[digitalvision]

There is a lot of public pressure from people who would never post on this forum to do this.

The entire council and the mayor is going to win a lot of points with the majority of the population with this move. Goodbye MCS.

I'm going to get flamed, but I'd rather see that go than the Lafayette, mainly because the MCS is all by itself without any context and it's actively hurting the property values of the surrounding area [[as I have been told by many realtors) and there is much better prospects for the Lafayette doing something with it's location than the MCS.

It's time to move forward. There's thousands of people who are really sick of seeing an empty hulk out their window every day.

[gravitymachine]

There's thousands of people who are really sick of seeing an empty hulk out their window every day.

exactly. though i don't mind looking at it so much as the people and shady activities it attracts to the area. if matty's holding company just bricked up all the entrances to the place, to actually keep people out, i'd be satisfied.

[unclefrank]

Maroun is a true asshole. He has no right to harbor a nuisance, and the city has every right to condemn it. Besides, he is not allowing the place to be used for filming anyway. Just blow it up and make that shithead pay for it.

[Ghetto_butterfly]

Gistok made a good point about this same topic in another thread. He cited the example of a famous ruin in a German city, that's been standing there for about 2000 years [[the Porta Negra in Trier). Tourists, visitors just come there to admire it, take photographs and it doesn't serve any other purpose than that. It was never restaured nor will it ever be, just being preserved as is. So - if there is no way to save the MCD, why not just do what is being done in so many cities in Europe that have old ruins. Preserve it as is and let it continue to be the great landmark for people to see and admire.

[Genesyxx]

I'm extremely happy over this news. Argue the building's history and architectural greatness all you want, its still a empty dead building sitting on a ton of empty dead land, and Moroun had no plans to renovate or rehabilitate this building. He's just another landowner looking to hold onto parcels until he can sell it for a profit to somebody who wants to actually do something for the city. I don't care if nothing ever gets built there in 50 years, just as long as we don't have that enormous structure as a defining model of our strife.

Good job to the mayor and city council [[wow, how many times will I say that?!). Now I just hoe they can go through with it.

[Irvine Laird]

I'm hopeful that if we can keep the station standing for a few more years, we can make it an economic engine for the city again. The fulcrums are these [[in no order):

1) Will the federal government under the Obama administration fast-track a comprehensive national transportation plan that allocates funds and genius toward high-speed passenger rail?

2) Will the market increase its demand for passenger rail?

3) Will federal and state authorities approve and fund a passenger rail link to Toledo, thereby making it possible for Detroiters to travel east to Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York City, Washington, D.C., etc., without traveling all the way to Chicago first?

4) Will Detroit's core industries recover and will new industries emerge as economic drivers for the region? In other words, how much will people need to travel to Detroit for business and how much money will there be in this town?

5) Will city and/or regional leaders fund a light rail line along Michigan Avenue?

6) Will downtown continue to grow? In other words, will foot traffic, residents, and demand for office space--along with all those services necessary to support more people--increase? Will that density nudge toward Corktown?

7) Will Detroit increase its appeal as a convention and tourist destination?

8) Will initiatives like "One D" include Detroit's historic architecture as a community asset and allocate funds to promote Detroit as an architectural destination city. Will historic architecture become an impetus for investment?

9) Will demand for the Detroit border crossing drive the need for more capacity, including a rail crossing?

10) Will federal, state, and local officials have the brilliance, courage, and integrity to cast a vision, craft a plan, and see it through to success?

I the answer to all or even most of these questions is "yes," then Michigan Central Station has a viable future. It could be the downtown equivalent of Metro Airport.

However, if we go forward status quo, I see no hope for the station. Several things have to change around here first.

[gravitymachine]

once again, make him HONESTLY seal that place up, with bricks and mortar, not that plywood dog and pony show they just did on the roosevelt school warehouse, and leave it at that.

as of this weekend, the back side of the station along newark street has about 3 openings in it, one the size of a garage door, which goes to show no effort is being made where the bad PR does not shine.

[DetroitScooter]

I love this place! Great comments and plans everybody, thanks for that.

I just had an idea of how we could accelerate these plans and comments into action. What this project needs is a face, and a famous one at that. I think that someone like Roger Penske would be able to present a cogent, reasonable plan for the active use of the MCS that integrates some of the ideas presented here. He is one of the few people who can call Matty and credibly present some action plans, and he can do the same with the city council... and they will listen.

Roger could present a reasonable action plan that increases green space in the area, turns an eyesore into an asset [[restore part of the MCS - either the facade idea or restore the station as part of the SE Michigan transportation initiative - light rail spur or the 'real deal' mentioned above), continues the renaissance of the Detroit/Corktown border area with a combination of a weekly farmer's market and a couple of area festivals [[St. Pats, naturally and what, MCS day?) to be hosted in the restored waiting hall and surrounding green space. Put transportation from the 'burbs in place and watch that intersection explode.

I was feeling very optimistic about the MCS the other day in my blog, [[http://www.examiner.com/x-3223-Detroit-Scooter-Examiner) and I believe that we can save the MCS, or at least part of it. The key is to have the plans taken seriously, and to present a credible, self-funded or minimal financial/maximum re-use and revitalization impact.

Let's be realistic and say goodbye to the office building structure, as it never was fully successful [[top floors never occupied) and right now there isn't a credible need for the thousands of square feet of office/loft space anywhere in Detroit, never mind on the Corktown fringe. It's sad, but in order for the plan to go forward, we've got to be realistic. Amputate an arm to save the life, anyone?

We should pick our battles carefully, and have someone with some clout and respect shake up the players before it's too late. If not Roger, then who? Dave Bing? Anyone have a contact with either of them?

[Flanders]

I love this place! Great comments and plans everybody, thanks for that.

Let's be realistic and say goodbye to the office building structure, as it never was fully successful [[top floors never occupied) and right now there isn't a credible need for the thousands of square feet of office/loft space anywhere in Detroit, never mind on the Corktown fringe. It's sad, but in order for the plan to go forward, we've got to be realistic. Amputate an arm to save the life, anyone?

Being someone who worked on the 9th, 10th and 11th floors of the MCS in the mid-late 70s, I have to say that although the 10th-13th floors were not finished, with the exception of the top floor [[13th) which was used to store old paper records in hundreds of file cabinets, there definitely were dozens of railroad employees working on those floors, with the exception of the 12th having perhaps only a few, too long ago for my hazy memory to recall the 12th floor offices.

[ghettopalmetto]

I'm extremely happy over this news. Argue the building's history and architectural greatness all you want, its still a empty dead building sitting on a ton of empty dead land, and Moroun had no plans to renovate or rehabilitate this building. He's just another landowner looking to hold onto parcels until he can sell it for a profit to somebody who wants to actually do something for the city. I don't care if nothing ever gets built there in 50 years, just as long as we don't have that enormous structure as a defining model of our strife.

Good job to the mayor and city council [[wow, how many times will I say that?!). Now I just hoe they can go through with it.

Yup. As soon as a building goes empty, it should be demolished. We don't need to learn from failure. Detroit is wealthy enough that it can afford to demolish old buildings and rebuild brand-new every time it wants to reinvent itself. Don't let massive budget deficits get in the way of the promise of attractive empty lots!

[Novine]

"I don't care if nothing ever gets built there in 50 years, just as long as we don't have that enormous structure as a defining model of our strife."

Maybe you've missed the news but the national news articles that talk about Detroit these days don't focus on MCS or other abandoned buildings, they talk about the massive wasteland of vacant land turning into urban prairies. That's Detroit's national image these days, a place so destitute and abandoned that nature is taking over from what man built. The only thing that demolishing MCS will accomplish is millions of taxpayer dollars diverted away from doing something that will actually benefit Detroit to line the pockets of demolition contractors and private property owners.

[E hemingway]

Novine hits the nail on the head. Well written.

[iheartthed]

Back when Kilpatrick wanted to use MCS as the police HQ, didn't he say that it would cost more to demolish the building than it would to renovate it? In that light, I don't even see why demolition is an option. It just sounds like a political ploy. Why aren't they as concerned about the Packard Plant? Don't they own the Packard Plant?!