Saving Michigan Central Station

[CFABDETROIT]

I think this building needs to be saved, whats your opinion?

[d.mcc]

i think this building needs to be saved, whats your opinion?

tear that schitt down!

[daddeeo]

Why?
What are you going to use it for?
Who has the money to pour into it these days
anyways?
I'd love to save it but I'm afraid it's too far gone.It's like a person with advanced cancer. You know it's just a matter of time before you have to let them go.

[CFABDETROIT]

I was thinking a combination of apartments, office space and maybe a hotel could be placed into it. And Matty Moroun who owns the building could do it.
Even if it's just for the movies that will be shot there it's worth keeping it.

[gravitymachine]

this has never been discussed. ever

[CFABDETROIT]

And what’s with Mayor Cockrel's "EMERGNCY DEMOLISHION" It's been there just sitting for over 20 years and now all of a sudden it’s an emergency???

[Maxine1958]

this has never been discussed. ever

Gave me my laugh of the day. Too funny.

[Flanders]

Turn it into a giant mausoleum with funerals performed where people waited for trains, there could be a restaurant and rooms added for church services, each floor could be designated by faith and denomination, ie Methodist, Baptist, Jewish, Muslim, Protestant, Catholic, Mormon, ect...

The MCS looks like a giant tombstone anyway, might as well make it into one, there could be many ex-Detroiters who would not mind being interred permanently in their birth city. The grounds around the MCS could also become graveyards for those who prefer being 6 feet under, and a crematory or crematories could also be constructed in the basement levels of the MCS.

[CFABDETROIT]

[quote=
The MCS looks like a giant tombstone anyway, might as well make it into one, there could be many ex-Detroiters who would not mind being interred permanently in their birth city. The grounds around the MCS could also become graveyards for those who prefer being 6 feet under, and a crematory or crematories could also be constructed in the basement levels of the MCS.[/quote]

Wow Roosevelt park cemetery????? I'm not so sure about that one lol

[Detroitnerd]

I think buildings in the 1910s were ridiculously over-engineered. That's why they often cost so much to tear down. As long as the building is secured, it can probably take another 10 years easy. [[My non-scientific opinion, of course.)

[Flanders]

Wow Roosevelt park cemetery????? I'm not so sure about that one lol

When I worked at the MCS in the 70s, I never saw many people in that park anyway, who uses it now? Hookers?

[CFABDETROIT]

When I worked at the MCS in the 70s, I never saw many people in that park anyway, who uses it now? Hookers?

That doesn’t mean it can’t be converted into something useable

[d.mcc]

That doesn’t mean it can’t be converted into something useable

If there are hookers...then its a place of business...Detroit should protect it...

[izzyindetroit]

Flanders you might be onto something.

[Flanders]

Flanders you might be onto something.

I would consider being interred after my death @ the MCS, if the cost was reasonable, as funerals and burials are not getting any cheaper. Detroit could even offer "funeral trains" to and from the MCS all over the lower 48 as a perk for the decedent[[s) and their bereaved to travel to the MCS for services and interrment, as well as visitations later, if desired.

[Toolbox]

When I worked at the MCS in the 70s, I never saw many people in that park anyway, who uses it now? Hookers?

Now that it is warm it will turn into the Roosevelt Park Campground.

[izzyindetroit]

I would consider being interred after my death @ the MCS, if the cost was reasonable, as funerals and burials are not getting any cheaper. Detroit could even offer "funeral trains" to and from the MCS all over the lower 48 as a perk for the decedent[[s) and their bereaved to travel to the MCS for services and interrment, as well as visitations later, if desired.

I really wouldn't be too dissimilar to this underwater cremation spot off the shores of Miami.

http://www.nmreef.com/AllAboutTheReef/

[Hans57]

I think Uof M and Wayne State should go in on a joint venture urban planning school. What an amazing example it would set in the "reuse" world as well as the world of planning. We do need to focus more on education to keep our heads above water.

[[for some postive input)

[K-slice]

I like that one!

[michmeister]

Tell Manny he can have his second bridge, with [[among others) the condition that he rehab the structure completely-ground floor retail and the rest apartments. The view would be awesome as there aren`t any big buildings in the direct vicinity,or are there?

[detmich]

Now that it is warm it will turn into the Roosevelt Park Campground.

Cross post to a Sure Signs of Spring.

Tell Manny he can have his second bridge, with [[among others) the condition that he rehab the structure completely-ground floor retail and the rest apartments. The view would be awesome as there aren`t any big buildings in the direct vicinity,or are there?

Fantastic idea, and well thought out. But aren't all the hookers and dealers already providing ground floor retail?

[sg9018]

The Free Press did a editoral this morning,

One last chance for ghost depot

Set a deadline for redeveloping the Michigan Central Station before forcing its razing


Call it the ghost of southwest Detroit.

More than 20 years after the last train pulled out of the Michigan Central Station, the towering, 18-story ruin haunts Detroit's booming Corktown neighborhood, nearby Mexicantown and a promising, burgeoning downtown.

Once the world's tallest train station, the gap-toothed, airy facade is now a menace -- a magnet for vandals, and because of its sheer size and visibility, a spooky symbol of the city's decay.

The depot got to this sorry state with the help of two key abettors: Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel Moroun, who has owned the structure since 1996 and done practically nothing to maintain or improve its condition; and the City of Detroit, which has allowed Moroun to neglect the depot, largely without penalty.

Neither party has met its obligation to the historic building, or the surrounding neighborhood. But now a perfect storm of renewed public interest, government money and Moroun's professed desire to make use of the property have created the opportunity for movement.

It's time to either make the depot useful or remove it from the city's landscape.

The ghost of southwest Detroit shouldn't be allowed to haunt its neighbors, or this city's image, for another year.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Michigan Central Station is an architectural gem and a real slice of Detroit's history -- what one resident called "our Ellis Island." Still, in its highly visible decay, the station has become more than an eyesore: Featured in Camilo Jose Vergara's "American Ruins," the depot has morphed into an iconic, international symbol of Detroit's decline.

Think about it: If you come into Detroit from the south, along I-75, or across the Ambassador Bridge from Canada, the depot is one of the first structures you see along the skyline. It's a shabby welcome mat for the city, and a ghastly front door to the southwest Detroit neighborhoods that surround it.

At Bagley and 16th Street, Kenneth Koehler and his wife, Tomasita Alfaro-Koehler, have operated the Honey Bee Market for 13 years. Back in the mid-1990s, one house stood on the block. Now, the neighborhood is full of rebuilt and new homes.

It's the kind of vibrant, integrated community that aspires to define southwest Detroit.

But the depot, just two blocks south, casts a pall over everything. "Everyone's praying that something will happen," Kenneth Koehler said.

It's a common sentiment in southwest Detroit.

"For people and businesses considering southwest Detroit, the first question is what's going on with the train station?" said Timothy Thorland, executive director of Southwest Housing Solutions in Detroit. "There's really no answer."

Legacy of neglect

Former Mayors Dennis Archer and Kwame Kilpatrick entertained various proposals for redeveloping the site, including turning it into a casino or the city's police headquarters. But nothing came of them. Mayor Ken Cockrel Jr. has been even more inept. He deserves credit for forcing an overdue debate on the depot, but has embarked on a fundamentally flawed plan to demolish a registered historic building with federal funds, without even talking to the depot's owner, Manuel Moroun.

Meanwhile, as the depot deteriorated, the city, under three administrations, has resisted aggressive enforcement of building and demolition codes against Moroun. The building almost certainly violates the city's dangerous building ordinance and, as such, could have been subject to a demolition order years ago.

That constitutes incompetence on a level that mystifies. Moroun is a private owner with millions in his pockets that could have been leveraged to maintain, or even redevelop the depot. If the city can't hold him to city codes, what hope would it have with the thousands of troubled structures with questionable ownership or owners who are penniless?

The depot's deterioration and the horrible local economy probably rule out much in the way of redevelopment now. But there is still an opportunity to save part of the historic structure, get rid of the crumbling tower, and turn the 14-acre site, with ample green space, into a catalyst for development in the area. The city and Moroun just have to work together.

The time is right. Mayor Cockrel's proposal to use federal stimulus money to demolish the depot and recoup the costs from Moroun has at least reignited public debate about the structure, and prompted a move by City Council to fast-track demolition proceedings against Moroun.

Both ideas have serious drawbacks, but if Moroun can be drawn into the conversation, a plan that works for everyone seems attainable.

The way forward

Dan Stamper, president of Moroun's Detroit International Bridge Co., told the Free Press that, if the train station needs to come down, Moroun would pay for it. It's absurd to use taxpayer dollars for tearing down a building that its billionaire owner is willing to pay for himself.

The $3.6 million Cockrel wants in stimulus funds wouldn't cover the costs of demolition, anyway. John Adamo Jr., CEO of Adamo Demolition Co. in Detroit, estimates that removing the building, including environmental work, would take at least $5 million. Other experts put the tab at closer to $10 million.

Moreover, Cockrel's plan to recoup the money by suing the owner is a pipe dream. Court is the last place you want to see Moroun, whose lawyers could delay any action for years while running up a fat legal tab for city taxpayers. Even if the city could put a lien on the subsidiary company that owns the depot, Control Terminals Inc. of Warren, the company likely has few, if any, assets besides the station -- worth about $350,000, according to tax records.

Finally, the mayor's plan ignores the property's listing on the National Register of Historic Places. That prohibits the use of federal money to demolish the building without an exemption from the National Park Service. The owner, however, is free to tear it down.

The best use for stimulus money on the site could be for a redevelopment plan centered on the station at the foot of the depot's tower. With its ornate columns and grand spaces, it could easily anchor a retail space, and help spur development along Michigan Avenue.

For merchants and residents in southwest Detroit, it's imperative that something be done. Leaving the depot in ruin any longer hurts the neighborhood and the city.

If the structure cannot contribute to Detroit's rebirth, it should no longer define its decline.

http://www.freep.com/article/2009042...ng+ghost+depot
Also the Free Press has photos of MCS from 1982,
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/g...4250808&Ref=PH
More on the Michigan Central Station:
[[Links below also in artilce)

• Jeff Gerritt: Detroit's 'Ellis Island' still impresses
• Interactive: Explore the depot's exterior
• Interactive: In-depth look inside Michigan Central Station
• 360 degrees of the Michigan Central Station in Detroit
• http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=videonetwork&videoID=1103082367"> Video: Free Press editorial board examines the depot
• http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=C4&Dato=20090425&Kategori=NEWS&Lopenr =904250807&Ref=PH">Photo gallery: Michigan Central Station train depot
• http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=C4&Dato=20090425&Kategori=NEWS&Lopenr =904250808&Ref=PH">Photo gallery: Michigan Central Station in 1982
• http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=C4&Dato=20090425&Kategori=NEWS&Lopenr =904250809&Ref=PH">Photo gallery: Postcards of Michigan Central Station

[michmeister]

Cross post to a Sure Signs of Spring.




Fantastic idea, and well thought out. But aren't all the hookers and dealers already providing ground floor retail?

Diveeeeeerrrrrrssssssiiiiiiffffffyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!! !!

[HazenPingree]

why can't the first floor just be bricked up every couple of years and the building left a ruin?

It is exquisite.

[Supersport]

I have two ideas for Michigan Central Station, both of which would include [[drum roll please) a train station. First off, I would suggest people see what they did in Kansas City with their train station when it fell upon similiar disrepair as MCS. Not only did they organize/volunteer until a plan was in place, ultimately, regionalism won out and a bi-state plan between Kansas and Missouri restored their gem. 3 counties in Missouri, one in Kansas. Today, their Union Station includes shops, restaurants, Amtrak, a train museum, IMAX theatre, Science Museum, and also can be rented as a hall for weddings/receptions and also host conventions.

People come to Detroit expecting to see two things, a Motown Museum and Cars. While both can be found in various museums within the region, a central location extensively displaying both would be more of a tourist dstination. So, below are my two proposals, both of which focus on saving the ground level/main station. I'll mention the tower after.

http://www.unionstation.org/timeline.html

Proposal #1: Restore the train station, building a museum that focuses on Motown Music and the Automobile [[depending on what happens with GM and Chrysler it could be a historical museum). The Michigan Sports Hall of Fame truly deserves a better exhibit than a discrete wing at Cobo as well, so I would recommend relocating it to the restored station. Amtrak service, along with planned ties into the regional mass transit system including light rail and bus would be included in the development plan. IMAX theatres are alway a big draw and having one at the station would give travelers one more thing to do while waiting on the train.

Proposal #2: With the Cobo deal up in the air, the future for Cobo is uncertain. My second proposal would involve using the train station as a convention center. With the Roosevelt building next door, there should be plenty of ground floor space for conventions as well as a parking garage. This plan would also contain a functioning mass transit depot, again with Amtrak as well as light rail/buses. To me, it would be the most efficient means to get people to and from metro airport to the regional convention center. Corktown and Mexicantown are already fairly thriving areas and would only benefit from the year round traffic of a convention center.

With either plan, perhaps converting the tower into a hotel would be feasible. With a train station, and either a convention center or museum, there may be enough visitors to support a hotel, with perhaps apartment or condos in a portion of it.

Regardless, when the buildings owner is a billionaire, trying to build a second span to Canada, I don't think it would be asking too much to throw a little love at the MCS. Even if the timing isn't right for a full blown restoration/renovation, surely a few hundred thousand could be put into it to put a new roof, windows, and secure it from urban explorers/the elements. As for tearing it down? I personally feel there are thousands of other vacant houses/buildings that I'd rather see torn down. MCS is hardly a threat, and no more of an eye sore than the vacants that litter all parts of the city.