Demolition to Clear way for amphitheater in Hart Plaza

[marcwigle]

Wouldn't that site have been great for Comerica Park? Oh well, maybe the new Tiger Stadium in 2030. ;-)

[Blarf]

Why would they tear it down? It's already a theater, just use that. Rip the roof off or something.

[Hypestyles]

raze everything, convert it to expanded green/park space, with a modest area set aside for staged events..

[Gistok]

I am pretty sure the organ from Ford Auditorium has been removed long ago and the city has it in storage [[if I remember hearing correctly). Would be nice to put it in Orchestra Hall.

I'd have to defer to 56packman on that one.... but I thought it was still there... from what I gathered everything [[seats, organ, artwork) are still inside.

[Patrick]

So what was the uproar about when Comerica tried to build a new HQ on the river? I have sketches of the planned building and it looked amazing...I think Cesar Pelli was the designer.

[kenp]

The Freep article mentions of Ford Auditorium "as the acoustics began to deteriorate".... WTF does that mean??

The acoustics were horrible from day one... they didn't suddenly or slowly deteriorate... they sucked from the get go... no clue where that journalist got that idea??

Thought the same thing, how does acoustics deteriorate? Dumbest thing ever. They tried and tried to improve it to no avail as I recall.
The acoustics did go do to crap when the music stopped in the late 80's
OPEN THAT SPACE UP!!!!!!!!!!!

[mikeg19]

So what was the uproar about when Comerica tried to build a new HQ on the river? I have sketches of the planned building and it looked amazing...I think Cesar Pelli was the designer.

The building was amazing, just everybody on Jefferson facing the river didn't want their view turned into a building.

This a demolition I have been wanting to happen ever since I became interested in Detroit's architecture when I was little. I really can't see why this building should be saved, so hopefully this will proceed along smoothly. An open grassy area like Chicago's Millennium Park with a stage might be nice. Probably cheaper than an amphitheater as well.

[kenp]

The Comerica riverfront building was scrapped because people didnt want a hi rise on the river taking up prime riverfront property and blocking the view of the river from the rest of the city.
I dont recall any issue with tearing down Ford Aud. but some may have been upset.
Why would anyone want to keep that eye soar that has no future and tie up the land its on.

[K-slice]

Like I always say, don't tear things down just because you can. If there is a for sure plan to do something with the area, or the building has become unstable, let it fall. But untill then I'd rather look at a building than another cement or dirt field in the middle of a city.

[Gistok]

I believe that one of the reason to hesitate to tear down Ford Auditorium was the Ford family, which contributed heavily towards its' construction [[as did Detroit area Ford dealers).

There's only 1 surviving family member that is old enough that may have been part of the donation... Lion's owner William Clay Ford Sr., the last surviving Henry Ford grandchild. And maybe he's ambivolent about it by now...

[EastSider]

Would it be tacky to hold Ford Auditorium as leverage if Ford Sr. complains? Something like, we'll keep Ford Auditorium if you sell the Lions?

On another note, somebody mentioned Noguchi's design of Hart Plaza. That issue was declared dead in the late 80's or early 90's when substantial work was done to "enhance" what's there.

[Bob Green]

I am pretty sure the pipe organ and all the artwork have been removed and put in storage by the city. I recall it being discussed when the Spirit of Detroit statue was restored. Also if you look in the photo album on detnews website, clearly artwork that was in the lobby is currently not there.

[kenp]

Yesterday on the radio they were interviewing citizens on the street regarding the razing of Ford Aud. One guy said there are a lot of homeless people living in it. The interviewer ask how he knew this and he said that he lived in it for awhile. Then he said, "they got bathrooms up their, but they dont flush" yikes

[TheKage]

Glad to see to the Ford Auditorium go, but it sure would be nice to see the city's development plans for the riverfront include some sort of commerce. I visited Baltimore's Inner Harbor earlier this year, and Detroit has it beat in every regard, except the lack of restaurants, bars, and stores right on the water. Detroit's plan for an amphitheater had better at least include nearby business development.

[rb336]

I never saw any renderings of a comerica hq - can anyone link to some?

Are they going to continue to "green " Hart Plaza?

[mauser]

The Hudson's Building had a plan for its use post-demolition. Nothing came of said plan.

The Madison-Lenox had a plan for its use post-demolition. Nothing came of said plan.

The Statler Hilton had a plan for its use post-demolition. Nothing came of said plan.

Word.

I know about 100,000 houses that need to come down immediately that deserve those Federal funds more than yet another downtown blowjob development. How about some of the emergency demolitions around town ? Packard ? Eastown ? No ?

Okay, go tear the old schitt down and build new schitt to tear down. All makes sense to me.

Let's tear down the Detroit Symphony Orchestra too, and build a new one next to them.

[detroitbob]

The sculptures were removed years ago...as far as I know the organ, donated by the Kanzler family is still installed and since it was a gift there had been some discussion years back with the family about the organs disposition should the auditorium be demolished. Several years ago the DSO had a study done by the same consultant the Chicago Symphony Orchestra used to open discussion on returning an organ to Orchestra Hall. Of course, the DSO has a few pressing problems at this point, so probably the best that can be anticipated would be removal and storage.

[Bob Green]

If the pipe organ is in fact still in Ford Aud, I am not sure how much of it will be salvageable. The metal pipes may be, but the wooden pipes, having not been in a semi-controlled environment for year, may be beyond hope. There is also leather parts in some pipes, but they can be redone. The cost to do all that may be way beyond what the DSO can afford, and I am not sure a family who donated in the first place would be willing to pay for something neglected. Again, I am pretty sure I remember hearing the organ had in fact been removed and is in storage at Fort Wayne.

[kenp]

I never saw any renderings of a comerica hq - can anyone link to some?

Are they going to continue to "green " Hart Plaza?

http://flickriver.com/photos/decojim/2838166922/

[rjlj]

I think the city directive "Demo now, plan later" is clear according to this latest MetroTimes article. Is this a progressive way to go about re-building the city?

http://metrotimes.com/news/re-detroit-1.1064791

"Henderson: For me it's demolition, because we know we have structures that need to come down. We can plan all we want. And we are going to plan all these wonderful things for the city, but the blight is still sitting there. You've got to get rid of the blight so the opportunity to repurpose the vacant land can occur. We're going to be taking down 3,000 structures this year. We've identified [[mainly federal) funding for 3,000 structures next year and hopefully we'll have some funding to get some of the commercial structures down along Gratiot and Michigan avenues. We believe we need to start addressing that so when the plan does roll out we're not then spending the next three years demolishing structures, that the land will be ripe for this new plan, whatever it may be."

[hamtown mike]

the kinds of amenities that people of leisure seek when they're strolling about.

I was trying to find a polite way of asking this... none exists. so... Just how many "people of leisure" exist in Detroit? It is a city of severely deliberate living.

[BrushStart]

http://flickriver.com/photos/decojim/2838166922/

Thank god that thing wasn't built. It's basically another RenCen and would have cut off even more access to the riverfront. At least the Comerica Tower that we got somewhat blends into the streetscape like a normal building in a normal city.

[Gistok]

http://flickriver.com/photos/decojim/2838166922/

When I saw "decojim" in the Flickr website name... I knew it was the Oakland County man who builds un-f'ing-believable models of Detroit's skyline out of LEGO....

http://flickriver.com/photos/decojim/random/

[gnome]

http://www.scribd.com/doc/3674043/Un...ctober-27-1991

a rundown of all the dreams that were never fully realized. In the link you'll find the four other RenCen towers that weren't built, as were neither the riverfront condos.

However, for this discussion on Ford Aud and therefore Hart Plaza ... you'll find a 1924 plan by Saarinen which looks more like Burnham's 1893 World's Fair gateway, than anything up in Cranbrook.

[erikd]

I presume you meant that sarcastically.

The Hudson's Building had a plan for its use post-demolition. Nothing came of said plan.

The Madison-Lenox had a plan for its use post-demolition. Nothing came of said plan.

The Statler Hilton had a plan for its use post-demolition. Nothing came of said plan.

Notice a pattern here?

As everyone ponders their next comment, I'll just pop on over to the park that was built on the Lafayette Building site and then check on development of the Tiger Stadium site.

There were no post-demolition plans for the Hudson's, Madison-Lenox, or Statler buildings. The Hudson's and Statler buildings were demolished with the hope that it would be easier to attract developers to a cleared site, opposed to a vacant building. That is a vague hope or wish, not a plan. The Madison Lenox was demolished with a government "loan" to Mike Ilitch for the very purpose of turning the site into a parking lot. The government "loan" had a clause stating that IF the property was redeveloped within five years, the "loan" would be forgiven. Of course, the site was never redeveloped, and the government forgave the "loan" as a a nice handout to Mike Ilitch.

On the other hand, there have been a number of buildings demolished recently that had real plans in place prior to demolition. The three casinos, Comerica Park, Ford Field, Merchants Row and the Book Cadillac are all recent examples of situations where old buildings were demolished for a specific purpose with an actual reuse plan in place.

Demolishing the 150 Michigan building to clear land for the construction of a new parking garage as a part of rehabbing the Book Cadillac is a plan. Tearing down an old parking garage and apartment building to clear land for the new hotel and parking garage at Greektown Casino is a plan. Tearing down the Hudson's and Statler with the hope that maybe it might be easier to attract some kind of development at some point in the future is not a plan.