Redford High Site sold

[MaxDetroit]

The building used to house a German Bakery that had some of the best birthday cakes I have ever eaten.

Are you sure you aren't thinking of Iversons Bakery [[actually Danish, not German) that was on Lahser north of Grand River? They had incredible BD cakes and lots of other great stuff too

[barnesfoto]

Iverson's was south of Grand River, Real Home Bakery was north of GR and whipped the pants off of Iversons...

[Pickford-Bentler]

I don't remember the name. It was on the north side of Grand River about three stores south of the Redford theater. It was where my family went to buy BD cakes. It was the same address as the sweet potato pie place I linked. I will probably purchase some pies there for my Thanksgiving visit.


Another interesting business that existed in the 1970s and 1980s was a used tool store on the north side of Grand River about two or three blocks east of Lahser. They had bins of tools that came in handy when I was working on one of my beat up cars. One time, I was rebuilding a VW Beetle engine and, to my dismay, realized that one pops the jugs over the piston. I was able to ride my bike to that store and find a ring compressor that did the job without being too big a pain in the wallet.

My father also went to a business in that Redford Theatre strip that did an excellent reupholstery of one of our 100 year old Queen Anne chairs.

My father moved out in 2008, so things might have changed since then.

[Pcm]

Last Updated: November 03. 2010 2:32AM
Former Redford High site eyed for retail complex

Darren A. Nichols / The Detroit News

Detroit —The former Redford High School may be demolished and transformed into a shopping area with a total investment of $25 million.
West Bloomfield-based Lormax Stern is pitching a plan that calls for a complete demolition of the 1 million-square-foot area on McNichols near Grand River to build a complex to be called Redford Marketplace.
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Company officials said plans still are being formed, but the preliminary concept calls for one or two retail structures on the site. City officials, who have been in discussions with Lormax Stern since the summer, are hoping any plan will include a major grocer.
Warren Palmer, director of the city's Planning and Development Department, said the proposed development is exciting because it shows that investors believe in the strength of the neighborhood and that it has economic viability.
"We're just excited to have a large credible retail developer coming to the city," said Palmer, who added that the city is working with a developer who has a track record of working with larger retailers.
"The anticipation is that it will be large big-box folks and trying to have grocery in there. The details in terms of the kind of stores are being worked out, but conceptually we're excited."
Locally, Lormax Stern projects include the Livonia Mall, which broke ground on a super Wal-Mart Supercenter in fall 2009; Fairlane Green in Allen Park, which has a Target, Barnes & Noble and Bed, Bath & Beyond; and Baldwin Commons, across from Great Lakes Crossing, which contains Office Max, DSW Shoe Warehouse and Baby R Us stores.
Opened in 1924, Redford was considered a premier high school and housed as many as 3,500 students. The school was among 52 Detroit Public Schools closed in 2007.
The school sits near the Old Redford and Grandmont neighborhoods on the city's far west side. Company officials consider the site a prime location, with 373,000 people living within a five-mile radius. Residents have an average household income of more than $60,000, company officials said.
A public hearing on the brownfield development is set for Nov. 18 before the Detroit City Council.
"We are still working out a lot of the details on this, [[so) to talk about aspects [[of the project) are premature," company spokesman Jason Horton said. "[[But) clearly the area cries out for redevelopment. You've got a million-plus, four-story building that's totally dilapidated that's being broken into and [[has) environmental hazards.
"We are looking at a retail reuse of the property. We're looking to make an announcement as soon as possible. Plans have not been developed other than in concept form."
dnichols@detnews.com
[[313) 222-2073


From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20101103/...#ixzz14KwVRMPT

http://detnews.com/article/20101103/...retail-complex

[Parkguy]

I went to the community meeting last month about the project at the Redford HS site. The developers were really interested in the site, but there are a LOT of issues with contamination. The building is full of asbestos, and the ground is contaminated from the underground fuel-oil storage tanks that were used by just about every large building [[city or suburb) from that era. In addition, when Redford HS was built, several old houses were demolished, and many of the original foundations are still buried on the site. They were ready to go through the brownfield funding process to abate the contamination, and had a couple of board meetings set for the week after the session I attended. If those worked out OK for them, city council was supposed to get the package this month.

There were about 60 or 70 people there, I'd guess, maybe less. Most local concerns were about traffic in the neighborhood behind the site, the loss of the oval track, which is used quite a bit by neighbors for exercise, and that the site not allow down-scale merchants. The developers wouldn't discuss with whom they were in discussion, other than to refer to a large retailer from the west side of the state. The site plan was nice, and as far as big-box developments go, this company has a decent history, I would say. It isn't nearly as big as some of their other developments, like the one in Allen Park or Frandor in Lansing. They talked about how difficult it is to assemble clean property in the city at a major intersection, and this site gives them that-- clean both physically and in regards to title.

I haven't heard how the brownfield meetings went. I'll upload a high-resolution photo of the site plan on flickr and post a link.

[Parkguy]

Here is a link to the site plan photo. I've added more details in the caption on the photo page.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10921540@N03/5147005116/

[oldredfordette]

The original building has a LOT of asbestos. The Free Press did a story about 20 years ago listing all the teachers who had died of lung cancer at abnormally early ages - their classrooms were in that section. The school paper and yearbook classrooms were there, I worry sometimes.

[detroiturbex]

Here is a link to the site plan photo. I've added more details in the caption on the photo page.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10921540@N03/5147005116/

Thanks for the information. I'm curious to see how this will turn out too. I understand the neighborhood's concern for the loss of the running track; seems like it gets a lot of use. Football games there most weekends:

[szla]

The sweet potato cheescake is ultra fine.

I lived in Old Redford from 78-98 when the Jerry Springer family moved in next door to me. There were so many interesting sections in the area you do not see any where else in the city. There were hills, ravines, wild areas, river areas and a housing stock that resembled a small victorian village. There were a couple hundred homes pre WW1 .Maybe a hundred pre 1900. There were homes with backyards that dropped 20 feet that people had terraced [[Cooley south of GR). There was a street that butted up to Grandlawn Cemetary [[Marene) that you could have been in a forest up north. There was a forest of about 4 acres that only had peoples backyards between Lamphere, Dolphin, Grove and Dehner. It was filled with immense oaks The wild areas along the river south of 6 mile are an absolute stunning forest. It is filled with very large trees and carpets of wild flowers. There is even a large pond on the west side of the river [[about an acre). The yards on Northrup, McIntyre, Ulster, Kessler, Trinity, Westbrook and Beaverland were immense. I use to hit my son pop ups. The homes west of Lahser north of GR are a fabulous collection of pre WW2 architectural styles. There were tons of arts and craft bungalows, California bungalows, Queen Annes, Sears houses, four squares,other houses from kits, Tudors etc. Some homes which but up to the golf course are beautiful baby estates. It was a walkable, forested village. The two oldest cenetaries in the city of Detroit are in Old Redford. It truly was the closest thing to a small town that still existed in the city of Detroit. It all makes me sad. I always thought that when the Skilman foundation picked out the neighborhoods to help with redvelopement that they picked the wrong one. Not Brightmoor but Old Redford which still has a chance.

[oldredfordette]

I agree, it was like growing up in the country, until you walked "downtown" and it was urban again. I loved living there.

[Meddle]

The school sits near the Old Redford and Grandmont neighborhoods on the city's far west side. Company officials consider the site a prime location, with 373,000 people living within a five-mile radius. Residents have an average household income of more than $60,000, company officials said.

Nearly everything at Grand River and Lahser has failed. Livonia Mall failed. How busy and productive are Grandland and 7-Grand?

[Pickford-Bentler]

@szla and oldredfordette

I completely agree with both your observations,

It is rather obvious from my screen name where I resided from 1959 to 1985. Anyhow, one of the great perks of that hood, IMHO, was the cross country ski trail they had set up on the Redford Golf Course. It provided great exercise and stress relief to get one through the dark cold days of late January and early February. The track provided a nice combination of a fast icy level run along the fence by 7 mile and Lahser that contrasted with the hills and wood of the back 9,

My hood was devastated by the crack wars that plagued the 80s and 90s. However, the area on the west side of Lahser by the golf course appears to be holding on.

After he sold his home on Pickford, my father moved to a location on Bentler, one block south of 6 Mile. He got his exercise [[he was past 80 years of age) by walking over to the small shops by the corner of Grand River and Lahser. That is how I found out about the sweet potato bakery. He served me some of their pies when I visited for Thanksgiving.

[Parkguy]

City Council Hearing Set

Detroit City Council has scheduled a hearing about the proposed brownfield development on the old Redford High School site for November 18 at 10:25 a.m. in the Council chambers.

[Hypestyles]

I would want to see: Movie theater; sizeable grocery store; laundromat; kids' play park; at least two sit-down restaurants; some condos.

[65memories]

Just a reminder as to what Parkguy has already posted:

PUBLIC HEARING TOMORROW on REDFORD HIGH SCHOOL BROWNFIELD REDEVELOPMENT
Interested persons, take note: Thursday, Nov. 18 at 10:25 AM, Detroit City Council will consider a proposed brownfield plan for the old Redford High School site. This public hearing to receive comments from the community is your opportunity to make your views known.

Developer Lormax Stern proposes to demolish the old high school and build a shopping center on the site that would include one or two big-box retailers [[like Meijer's, WalMart, K-Mart, Target, Lowe's, Home Depot, etc.). Boundaries of the proposed 24-acre site are Grand River, McNichols, Westbrook, Verne and Burgess.

The hearing will be held in Council Chambers on the 13th floor of the Coleman A. Young Building, 2 Woodward Avenue

[Hypestyles]

hmm.. if one were to go to the meeting, at the city-county building, where's some cheaper parking at?

[Parkguy]

I went to the public hearing today at city-county building... only to find that the Redford HS item had been removed at the last minute. It was on the printed agenda, but they pulled it for some reason. Sorry that I didn't get any info on why, but my guess is that either someone couldn't make the meeting or some piece of paperwork was not ready. The whole meeting was a long list of five-minute hearings for brownfield projects.

[56packman]

Nearly everything at Grand River and Lahser has failed. Livonia Mall failed. How busy and productive are Grandland and 7-Grand?

The Redford Theater has survived quite well, thank you--due to the countless hours of work by members to the Motor City Theatre Organ Society who bought and restored the theater. We are proud and happy to have Sweet Potato Sensations as a neighbor and former tenant, there is now another bakery in that storefront that makes the best 7-Up cake anywhere. A new Coffee house just opened next to Artist's Village. The Redford pharmacy is one of very few independent pharmacies left in the city, and Paul's Barber shop is still cutting hair. I think that Grand River/Lahser has faired better than many neighborhood commercial areas. Not doing anything tonight? come see "The Philadelphia Story" this weekend, showtimes are 8:00PM on Friday, 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM on Saturday. There is plenty of free parking in our two lots on the north side of the building.

http://redfordtheatre.com/

[tonwil06]

I grew up in the Fenkell & Schaefer area from 1965-1980.Some of my classmates from middle school went to Redford High while I graduated from Cooley now closed.I am trying to get the Alumni from Cooley to help purchase the building and run it as an independent.We would have the gym & pool open on the weekends and also show classic movies on the weekends.

[Pickford-Bentler]

The Redford Theater has survived quite well, thank you--due to the countless hours of work by members to the Motor City Theatre Organ Society who bought and restored the theater. We are proud and happy to have Sweet Potato Sensations as a neighbor and former tenant, there is now another bakery in that storefront that makes the best 7-Up cake anywhere. A new Coffee house just opened next to Artist's Village. The Redford pharmacy is one of very few independent pharmacies left in the city, and Paul's Barber shop is still cutting hair. I think that Grand River/Lahser has faired better than many neighborhood commercial areas. Not doing anything tonight? come see "The Philadelphia Story" this weekend, showtimes are 8:00PM on Friday, 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM on Saturday. There is plenty of free parking in our two lots on the north side of the building.

http://redfordtheatre.com/

My father got his hair cut at Pauls when he lived on Bentler, one block north of 6 Mile. My father and my late mother enjoyed going to the Redford Theatre to see the "old time" flicks. Keep up the good work.

Sadly, our former home on Pickford was boarded up when I drove through, last Monday.

[daniel_duggan]

I've quite quite a few sources telling me that as long as this development is approved by the city, Meijer will lease the space.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...jer-in-detroit

[Parkguy]

The City Council Economic Development committee has scheduled a Brownfield hearing for the Redford HS site on July 14. Here's a link to the minutes from their last meeting:
http://www.detroitmi.gov/Portals/0/d...0PED%20-_1.pdf

[Cincinnati_Kid]

Nearly everything at Grand River and Lahser has failed. Livonia Mall failed. How busy and productive are Grandland and 7-Grand?

You couldn't have picked a more perfect screen name.