Suburban ruins

[miketoronto1]

I am planning on leading an urban planning students tour in Detroit for a day.
We are going to be looking at not only the decay, but also the areas that are reviving.
I was just wondering if there are any suburban ruins that are noteworthy. I can only think of a couple office buildings that were left vacant in Southfield. But other than that suburban Detroit does not seem to have any decay.
Am I missing anything that you residents know about?

[Detroit Stylin]

I am planning on leading an urban planning students tour in Detroit for a day.
We are going to be looking at not only the decay, but also the areas that are reviving.
I was just wondering if there are any suburban ruins that are noteworthy. I can only think of a couple office buildings that were left vacant in Southfield. But other than that suburban Detroit does not seem to have any decay.
Am I missing anything that you residents know about?

The brand new, newly build ruin out in Oaklnad County. I forget exactly where it was but it never even made it past the construction stage. There is a thread on it somewhere here I will see if I can locate it...

[ruxy17]

you mean the one on telegraph just north of square lake?

[DetroitZack]

City of Pontiac

[laurin]

you mean the one on telegraph just north of square lake?

I believe the name is Bloomfield Park. I think there was a story in the paper about it not too long ago.

[Detroit Stylin]

Yep that was it......

[luckycar]

City of Pontiac

Hey,we're not a ruin yet.Just most of it!

[BrushStart]

I guess it depends on what you mean by "ruins." If you are looking for older buildings that have been abandoned for decades, then no, there are not too many of those in the suburbs outisde of industrial sites, of which there are many. On-the-other-hand, if what you are looking for are vacated commercial buildings, there are plenty. Several large shopping malls come to mind, which are quite interesting from an urban planning/economics point-of-view. The suburbs aren't going to have a lot of interesting ruins of historical/architectual significance, because few types of those buildings were built in the suburbs. There is a lot of, as you say, "decay" in the suburbs, it is just more recent than what is in Detroit, thus the structures haven't been neglected for as long. If you are looking for residential ruins, again, the suburbs have fresher examples, some being new constructions that were never inhabitated as recently as two years ago. Obviously, they just look like empty houses. Pontiac was a good suggestion, I would argue that the Silverdome is presently an enormous modern ruin. An interesting question at the heart of this is: At what point does a structure become a ruin? Is the measurement a certain level of disrepair, or is it time driven? Are there other factors such as likelihood of reuse? Theoretically, even the oldest of "ruins," can be brought back to a functioning state. I suppose even the Colosseum in Rome could be brought back into service, at which point, it would probably no longer be considered a ruin. Consequently, any building not being used or occupied for its designed purpose, no matter how old, is also a ruin.

[preserve]

Head downriver along Jefferson, the remains of either Great Lakes Steel or McLouth Steel sit there rotting.

[miketoronto1]

Brushstart,
What you mention sounds good. They don't have to be ruins ruins. But even places like unfinished subdivisions, etc.
Or dead malls, etc.
Feel free to list them

[DetroitPlanner]

Mound Rd corridor in Warren and Sterling Heights, and Maple Rd in Troy are pretty empty.

[Baselinepunk]

There's a bunch of subs out in Orion and the likes that have vacant home sites intermixed with McMansons with weeds growing up all over the for sale signs.

[Jimaz]

There's a big recently-abandoned factory on the southeast corner of Mound Rd & 23 Mile Rd.

Google Maps shows cars in the lot but it's empty now.

[313WX]

I guess it depends on one's definition of "decay" or "ruin." Hmm, where to begin...

-Kmart Headquarters in Troy
-Old Wal-Mart on 12 Mile & Van Dyke in Warren
-Old Target on 11 Mile and Dequindre in Warren
-Old Al Long Ford on 8 Mile & Schoenherr in Warren [[hell, might as well be a ruin!)
-Old Colonial Dodge on Gratiot & Stephens in Eastpointe
-Old Farmer Jack [[briefly Mor For Less Food Store) on 8 Mile & Gratiot in Eastpointe
-Old Guitar Center on Gratiot & 13 Mile in Roseville
-Old Arby on 8 Mile & Gratiot in Eastpointe
-Old Mel Farr Dealership on 8 Mile & Meyers [[Ferndale or Royal Oak Township?)
-Old Fitness USA on Vernier in Harper Woods
-Old IHOP on Vernier in Harper Woods
-Old Burger King on 8 Mile & Kelly in Eastpointe
-Old USPS Credit Union on 8 Mile & Southfield in Southfield
-Old Old Navy on 9 Mile & Woodward in Ferndale
-Old Lone Star On 13 Mile In Roseville
-All the old Circuit City Locations
-Old Huntington Bank On 8 Mile & Van Dyke in Warren
-Old Dippin Dots on Mack in Groose Pointe Woods
-Old Mobil Station on 10 Mile & Kelly in Eastpointe
-Daily Dozen Donuts on 9 Mile & Schoenherr in Warren [[are they still open?)
-Old Rodnicks Fruit Baskets on Groesbeck in Warren
-Old Walgreens on 8 Mile & John R in Hazel Park
-Old Taystee Bakery Outley on Schoenherr & 11 Mile in Warren
-Old Kmart somewhere in Troy [[I forget in the location)
-Old National City bank on 11 Mile & Stephenson Highway [[Royal Oak?)

Oh, a sign for the old Carolina Clearance Center [[huge brick building with a brown shading, I vaguely remember the store's name on the building in red university font letters) that used to be next to Franks Nursery in that little Shopping area on 8 Mile & Schoenherr still stands at the foot of the Schoenherr entrance [[for the nostalgia folks).

[Patrick]

Too bad you missed when the Packard Proving Grounds was in bad shape 8 years ago or so. It has been cleaned up but the Albert Kahn-designed Lutyens-esque cottage looked quite creepy covered with vines and growth.

[Retroit]

I wouldn't think that any of the buildings listed would warrant a trip all the way from Toronto. You could probably find the same empty "boxes" there.

[REL]

There was a 100+ year old farm house on the north side of 12 Mile, just east of Telegraph that was languishing for the longest time. Unfortunately, it was bulldozed a few weeks ago.

[Jimaz]

I keep thinking of ruins that aren't really significant ruins anymore. Maybe that in itself is of interest.

There was a slaughterhouse in Utica that was abandoned and became a ruin. I read that there were rave parties held there and it became unsafe. It's since been leveled with nothing but cement slabs remaining along with some curious mounds covering who-knows-what toward the back [[west) of the property. Some ruins of the Clinton-Kalamazoo Canal drain down into the Clinton River near there.

There's a curiously tiny ruin on the near north side of Hall Rd. east of Tilch Rd. This might be it. It's larger than an outhouse.

The most ruinous building in downtown Utica proper was today in the process of having its broken windows replaced. There's a lot of other construction there too. New sidewalk paver bricks. Clinton River bank bolstering[[?) west of the library. The librarian says they're to install a new dock or boardwalk on the nearby Clinton River along with a new pedestrian bridge over the Clinton to connect the Hike & Bike trail. That bridge construction has apparently begun just yesterday.

Heh. Imagine a "Preserve Our Ruins!" movement. The irony.

[EastsideAl]

I haven't been out there for years, but isn't Summit Place [[aka Pontiac Mall) empty now? I gather that the largely empty Universal Mall was torn down like Wonderland.

[CountrySquire]

Check out GM's Truck Product Center at Opdyke and South Blvd. GM pulled all presence from Pontiac too spite a particular UAW Representive I was told. I worked there in the 90s and GM spent millions updating old buildings and building new ones. Now there are weeds in the parking lot and toppled street lamps.

[partyhardy]

There's a curiously tiny ruin on the near north side of Hall Rd. east of Tilch Rd. This might be it. It's larger than an outhouse.

There's also this. It's an old farm out closer to Card Rd. There used to be more there [[I think maybe a house, if I can remember correctly), but the barn is still there amongst the trees. It used to be a lot easier to see when driving, but I guess the trees and weeds have grown a cover.

[Bearinabox]

The Warren City Pool was getting to be a suburban ruin there for a while, but I think it's gone now.

[East Detroit]

My dog left a ruin in the backyard this morning. Perhaps you'd like to investigate?

[Hermod]

In the U.P. and in the northern lower peninsula there are many ghost towns with late 19th century abandoned buildings still standing. These are old mining and lumbering towns. There are also many abandoned railroad grades and bridges.

[Don K]

I haven't been out there for years, but isn't Summit Place [[aka Pontiac Mall) empty now? I gather that the largely empty Universal Mall was torn down like Wonderland.

I just checked the Sears website, and they show the Summit Place store still open. As soon as Sears closes, SP will officially be a ruin, as they're the last store open there. BTW, Sears is barely open there. They have the bare minimum staff working. Last time I was there, I had to wait 20 minutes in line at the cashier counter despite the fact there were only 20 or so cars in the parking lot because there were only two cashiers open for the entire ground floor. I get the feeling they're just running out the string on their lease before they close.

There are plenty of empty buildings out this way [[SE Oakland), but no magnificent ruins such as MCS or the Packard plant, because nothing magnificent was built here in the first place. It's all just 50's, 60's, 70's suburban boxes. Dearborn would have had some potential in the old WHQ [[ex-Lincoln-Mercury, ex-FCSD) at Rotunda and Schaefer [[designed by Albert Kahn I believe) and the old NAAO building at Rotunda and Southfield [[better than average 50's suburban box designed by Skidmore Owings Merrill), but Ford made sure to tear down its unused buildings.