October 21, 2009http://detnews.com/article/20091021/BIZ/910210330Fairgrounds, Detroit school buildings among city's most-endangered sites

LOUIS AGUILAR
The Detroit News Preservation Wayne's 2009 list of Detroit's most-endangered sites range from the city's last synagogue structure to historic Fort Wayne to the Michigan State Fairgrounds.
The city's oldest and largest architectural preservation organization will formally announce the list at its annual member event Thursday night at the renovated Whittier Park near Belle Isle. The group issues the list each year in hopes of rallying public attention to the buildings and sites.
"The most difficult task in compiling the list was narrowing the selection to only 10," said Karen Nagher, executive director of the nonprofit.
The list, in fact, contains more than 10 sites. That's because it includes dozens of vacant Detroit Public Schools buildings. This year 29 schools were shuttered, bringing the number of vacant school buildings to 85, according to Detroit Public Schools. The city's population is less than half of its peak of 1.8 million in 1950.
The list also can prompt debate about what to save in a city full of dead buildings, dwindling population and tough economics. The U.S. Postal Service counts 62,000 vacant parcels in the city.
Preservationist fan Robin Boyle, chair of Wayne State University's Urban Planning and Geography department, took exception to the list.
"The Packard Plant? Really? That's impossible" to save, Boyle said.
Boyle has said the discussion needs to focus on which buildings have become obsolete and which can be saved.
"Iconic buildings that are of importance, of course, need to be saved. The city needs to identify partnership with private enterprises that are willing to invest," he said. "But you cannot expect the city or state, with its diminished resources, to shoulder the costs and let the properties be mothballed and preserved for perpetuity."
Another building on the list, the United Artists building in Grand Circus Park, was cited because the preservation group fears owner Ilitch Holdings Inc. may be preparing to tear it down.
Not true, said Karen Cullen, a spokeswoman for Ilitch Holdings.
"We continue to market the site for redevelopment,'" she said.
There's more hope for some than others on the list. The Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue has seen an infusion of young people working to save it.
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There are some properties on that list that are not owned by the City. Therefore, all of you preservationists, that believed the City controlled all of the buildings downtown, have the opportunity to connect with the owners. Perhaps with the right help these buildings won't suffer the same fate as the Lafayette Building.