Detroit DDA to buy $1.75M Capitol Park building

[MichMatters]

I didn't see this posted. I'm starting to be less leery of all of this purchases, as it now really does appear that they will probably be marketing these for renovation and not demolition:

Detroit DDA to buy $1.75M Capitol Park building
Louis Aguilar / The Detroit News

November 19. 2009 8:07PM

In another move to redevelop downtown Detroit's Capitol Park area, the city's Downtown Development Authority agreed to buy a $1.75 million building there Thursday.

The board of the DDA, part of the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., approved the purchase of 1212 Griswold, a building currently owned by the United Way for Southeastern Michigan.

The agency will begin soliciting requests for proposals for a redevelopment project in the first quarter of 2010, said Brian Holdwick, the DEGC's vice president of business development and finance. The DDA also recently purchased 1145 Griswold for $1.9 million. And the Michigan State Land Bank has taken steps to buy the Farwell Building at 1249 Griswold.

The DDA board also approved the use of up to $600,000 for maintenance and repair costs for the three buildings, as well as closing costs for the Farwell Building.

BTW, 1212 Griswold is the oldest [[built 1895) existing "high-rise" [[12 floors) in Detroit and is built directly adjacent to the Griswold Apartments. It was originally completed as the Detroit Savings Bank Building and then was the Chamber of Commerce Building for many years after that until becoming home to the United Way in 1987.

[1KielsonDrive]

Photos, anyone? What happened to United Way? Where did they move to? If that's the building I'm thinking of, it's very nice and was completely refurbished prior to UW moving in. I had friends who worked there and I was in it numerous times during the 80's and 90's. It's on the corner across from the David Stodt Tower, correct?

[MichMatters]

They moved to the First National Building back in August as a way to reduce costs [[reduced their floor space by 60%), which as a non-profit/charity seems a more than prudent move. They were leasing out the building, but I guess the DDA offered them a good deal and they took it.

Like I said, this is the building directly adjacent to the Griswold Apartments.

[MichMatters]

More updates:

Traking control of Capitol Park

BY JOHN GALLAGHER
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

Nov. 25, 2009

By the end of this year, Detroit's Downtown Development Authority hopes to have acquired three key buildings in the Capitol Park district as part of a long-term effort to turn the historic but derelict square into a residential and entertainment district.

The three structures are all or mostly vacant and face the park a block west of Woodward. In the 1800s, the district was the site of Michigan's first state capitol.The three buildings being acquired are at 1145 Griswold, 1212 Griswold, and 1249-59 Griswold. Once they are purchased, the DDA is to attempt to interest private developers in remaking them as loft residences on upper floors and entertainment uses on the ground level.

...

[bailey]

obviously George Jackson is somewhere behind the scenes here and all of these buildings will be demoed within 2 years.

[Fnemecek]

I doubt that any of these buildings will be demolished. The Super Bowl isn't coming back to Detroit anytime soon and the DEGC doesn't have the cash required to demolish a large historic building, absent another Super Bowl.

However, I still have a tremendous amount of skepticism about the claims that the DDA's actions in and around Capitol Park will lead to a significant amount of redevelopment in that area.

The City of Detroit spent $19 million in public funds to garner a net gain of 1 new business in Harmonie Park more than a year ago. Now, the same people are spending less than a third of the resources but promising 100 times as much in results.

It's situations such as this for which the Skipper's Rule was born.