Final days in a Beaux-Arts landmark
Workers set to move out of Old Wayne County Building
Louis Aguilar / The Detroit News

http://www.detnews.com/article/20091...366/1408/local

"Victory and Progress," the majestic statues of horse-drawn chariots, stood atop the Old Wayne County Building for close to a century.

But for at least two years they -- like the building they once adorned -- have come to represent unknown fate.

The Wayne County Commission gathered Thursday for the last time in the grand ballroom at 600 Randolph. By Christmas, the Beaux-Arts landmark will become virtually empty as 500 workers move to the nearby Guardian Building.

The statues sit in a Detroit warehouse due to a dispute between the contractors and the private owners of the building, the Old Wayne County Building Limited Partnership. That leaves the future of the statues and the building, completed in 1904, uncertain amid a historic commercial real estate crisis.

"It's one of the most important buildings in the state of Michigan," architecturally, said Liz Knibbe, a principal at Quinn Evans Architects in Ann Arbor. Knibbe was one of the architects who worked on extensive renovations of the building two decades ago.

But no matter how beautifully the building may be preserved, it's an ugly time to market an empty building in downtown Detroit. The only other tenant in the buildings is a children's day care center in the basement.

"This is as dramatic an example as you can find regarding the office space crisis," said Steven Chaben, managing director of Marcus & Millichap, a real estate investment service firm based in Encino, Calif. "That building is so classic and beautiful, but that actually could increase the costs for the next tenant and that is not good in this kind of market."
Move made to save money

There are some potential new tenants for the building, said Michael Layne, spokesman for the private owners of the building, Old Wayne County Building Limited Partnership.

And the children's day care center is negotiating with the building owner to stay at the site, according to Layne.

Wayne County is moving its workers to the Guardian Building, which it bought in 2007 for $14 million, to save money, said Dennis Niemiec, a Wayne County spokesman.

Earlier this year, Wayne County commissioners approved more bonds for upgrades that will push the cost to renovate the Guardian to $57 million, more than double the original estimate of $27 million. The county was paying the private owners of the old Wayne County Building $5 million a year in rent.

About 150 Wayne County employees in another downtown building, 615 Clifford Street, also are moving to the Guardian.

Commissioners old and new gathered in the board room for the last time Thursday and reminisced. Outside, a "for sale" sign stood in front of the building.

"There's obviously great history and great sentiment attached to this room," said Ed Boike, commission chairman.

"It has served the Wayne County Commission well and the citizens since the turn of the century. So now it's time to move on."
Status of statues is unclear

It's still not clear whether Victory and Progress will make it back atop the building.

Taxpayers footed the $668,000 bill to clean the 20-foot-tall, copper-plated statues. But county officials said there remains a financial dispute between the contractors who restored the statues and the building owners.

And the window is closing fast if Wayne County is expected to foot the bill.

"If we are no longer tenants, our attorneys advise us that we have no obligation to pay anything else," said Niemiec. He said the dispute has involved final costs of the restoration, but declined to disclose the amount.

Layne said the situation has been resolved and the statues could be back on the building this weekend.

That's news to Wayne County and the contractors, Chezcore and Venus Bronze Works Inc. Neither of the two firms said they were aware the situation had been resolved. The firms declined further comment.

laguilar@detnews.com [[313) 222-2760 Darren A. Nichols contributed.