Original cost of the Ren Cen? Present day value?...

**Detroitej72** · February-07-10, 11:41 PM

Originally Posted by 3WC

It is a well known fact that as the basements were being dug, Ford took Taubman on a tour of the site and Taubman told Ford that the best thing he could do for Detroit was to fill them in and abandon the project. When it came to real estate Taubman was far smarter and more practical than Ford and of course Al was 100% correct.

Taubman and Max Fisher were the driving forces behind the Riverfront Apartments in an effort to stimulate commercial development downtown but they knew going in the the apartments would never ever be profitable. Ford had no idea the Ren Cen would be a disaster.

3WC, through the years, I've read your posts, with mixed emotions, as I'm a Detroit Lover, and defender, I must say, keep up the posts[[weather they are incorrect or correct!).

**iheartthed** · February-08-10, 10:27 AM

Originally Posted by Detroitej72

3WC, through the years, I've read your posts, with mixed emotions, as I'm a Detroit Lover, and defender, I must say, keep up the posts[[weather they are incorrect or correct!).

He tends to discredit himself by offering his projections of the future as if fact. Por ejemplo:

The Ren Cen is one of the major real estate financial disasters of all time. In addition to the several hundred million dollars lost by the owners and lenders, the Ren Cen decimated the downtown office market, which has never recovered,

Fair enough statement, right? But...

and never will.

How do you go from saying that the Ren Cen was a failure to casting doom on the downtown Detroit office market for eternity? Leaping logic much? I mean seriously... In the year 2110, the downtown Detroit office market will still be faltering because the Renaissance Center was built 140 years before? Does anyone else realize how absurd a statement that is to make?

**Hermod** · February-08-10, 10:58 AM

Henry the Deuce filled the RenCen by economic extortion. When he saw that it would not fill in and of itself, he strong armed all kinds of law firms and accounting firms to put offices in there If you wanted to continue doing business with Ford, you had to have an office in the RenCen.