Cass Tech updates

**DetroitZack** · December-01-10, 05:39 PM

Here is a thread to keep up on any work going on at Cass Tech. Today I saw some brick salvaging.

**mcsdetroitfriend** · December-01-10, 05:43 PM

DEMOLITION • RECYCLING • REMEDIATION

according to their website, looks like Homrich Inc will be doing the demo

**canuck** · December-01-10, 07:41 PM

Too bad the parking lot they turn it into cant use the bricks as pavers!

**marcwigle** · December-01-10, 09:31 PM

Could they not have used that entrance or others in the new building? What a shame if that gets demolished with the rest of the building...

**Planner3357** · December-02-10, 09:53 AM

Originally Posted by marcwigle

Could they not have used that entrance or others in the new building? What a shame if that gets demolished with the rest of the building...

No doubt, that entrance is totally cool.

**Parkguy** · December-02-10, 10:23 AM

The entrance is supposed to be saved and used as a monument by the new school.

**tkelly1986** · December-02-10, 10:49 AM

This irritates me more than anything. Yes, I understand it has sat vacant for a few years and is in declining shape, but why the urgency to tear this beauty down? Why are we spending so much on demolition of these schools? This building is not the biggest threat to safety; there are thousands of homes throughout Detroit that are worse.

What’s the motivation? It always seems Detroit is quick to tear these gems down with no plan. Why not mothball it better and hope for something in the future [[loft development if the market turns around).

**iheartthed** · December-02-10, 10:52 AM

Originally Posted by tkelly1986

This irritates me more than anything. Yes, I understand it has sat vacant for a few years and is in declining shape, but why the urgency to tear this beauty down? Why are we spending so much on demolition of these schools? This building is not the biggest threat to safety; there are thousands of homes throughout Detroit that are worse.

What’s the motivation? It always seems Detroit is quick to tear these gems down with no plan. Why not mothball it better and hope for something in the future [[loft development if the market turns around).

Free federal money. Hungry demolition contractors who coincidentally happen to be large political donors.

**esp1986** · December-02-10, 11:12 AM

Robert Bobb came out a couple months ago and said that Cass Tech along with a few other buildings would come down for safety reasons. Abandoned buildings are a huge liability, and considering the district is just about bankrupt, they can't afford the liability. If there was a chance that the building could be reused, they may have tried to better seal it up, but they are a school district, not real estate 'speculators' like every other property owner downtown, and since the probability of reuse of such a huge building is currently almost nil, they decided to tear it down.

Given all of the land being bought up in the area, I wouldn't be shocked to hear they already have a deal in place to sell the land once it is cleared.

This irritates me more than anything. Yes, I understand it has sat vacant for a few years and is in declining shape, but why the urgency to tear this beauty down? Why are we spending so much on demolition of these schools? This building is not the biggest threat to safety; there are thousands of homes throughout Detroit that are worse.

What’s the motivation? It always seems Detroit is quick to tear these gems down with no plan. Why not mothball it better and hope for something in the future [[loft development if the market turns around).

The difference between Cass Tech coming down and houses coming down is that the district doesn't own the houses, at least as far as we know.

The reason they don't mothball it, is that they are not real estate 'speculators,' they are a school district, they aren't going to hold onto it to hope that it can be redeveloped as something else. It is ashame that they didn't just renovate and expand it a few years back, but what's done is done.

As I said, someone who is buying up land in the area has probably offered them quite a bit for the empty land, so it is a way to rid themselves of a massive liability and mediate their costs, as it makes no business sense for them to sit on it.

Free federal money. Hungry demolition contractors who coincidentally happen to be large political donors.

The money paying for this demolition isn't federal money, it is coming from the recently approved $500M bond issue, as well as a little bit that was left from the $1B bond issue from the last decade.

**iheartthed** · December-02-10, 11:57 AM

Originally Posted by esp1986

The money paying for this demolition isn't federal money, it is coming from the recently approved $500M bond issue, as well as a little bit that was left from the $1B bond issue from the last decade.

Oh okay. Different source. Same idea.

ETA: The funding source also begs the question of whether the funds are being used as intended by the voters.

**esp1986** · December-02-10, 01:27 PM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Oh okay. Different source. Same idea.

ETA: The funding source also begs the question of whether the funds are being used as intended by the voters.

I can't say for sure, but most of the demos were coming from the original $1B bond issue, at least that was the goal. I am in no way defending them here, but part of building anew is taking care of the old when they leave, and I believe that's what they are doing here, a bit overdue. They are building a bunch of new buildings, and part of that is selling, tearing down, etc. of the old properties, and I think the idea behind the bond was with infrastructure shuffling in mind. Again, not defending anyone here, but I think this is the ultimate goal, and everything being done facility wise is strengthening the district, and that's as far as I'll go.

**jerrytimes** · December-03-10, 02:44 PM

Originally Posted by tkelly1986

This irritates me more than anything. Yes, I understand it has sat vacant for a few years and is in declining shape, but why the urgency to tear this beauty down? Why are we spending so much on demolition of these schools? This building is not the biggest threat to safety; there are thousands of homes throughout Detroit that are worse.

What’s the motivation? It always seems Detroit is quick to tear these gems down with no plan. Why not mothball it better and hope for something in the future [[loft development if the market turns around).

Urgency??? Quick to tear gems down?? Seriously??? This place is a wreck. Haven't you seen the inside. It's been what, 6 years wince it's been used? Why keep it up? It would cost more to renovate it than to tear it down and build something new.

**iheartthed** · December-03-10, 02:46 PM

Originally Posted by jerrytimes

Urgency??? Quick to tear gems down?? Seriously??? This place is a wreck. Haven't you seen the inside. It's been what, 10 years wince it's been used? Why keep it up? It would cost more to renovate it than to tear it down and build something new.

No, it hasn't been 10 years. The last group of students to use the building graduated in 2008.

**ctfame80** · December-03-10, 11:37 PM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

No, it hasn't been 10 years. The last group of students to use the building graduated in 2008.

You make it sound like the school closed in 2008. The old Cass Tech closed in 2005, so the building hasn't been used in nearly 6 years. Those 2008 grads spent their last three years in the new building. Or maybe you knew that.

**iheartthed** · December-04-10, 01:01 PM

Originally Posted by ctfame80

You make it sound like the school closed in 2008. The old Cass Tech closed in 2005, so the building hasn't been used in nearly 6 years. Those 2008 grads spent their last three years in the new building. Or maybe you knew that.

No... I make it sound like the building hasn't been closed for 10 years as the person I replied to stated.

**hamtown mike** · May-24-11, 12:30 PM

Originally Posted by tkelly1986

[COLOR=#333333]This irritates me more than anything.

Express your opinion with your checkbook. Buy one. Yes, even Cass Tech was for sale.

**Wesley Mouch** · May-30-11, 03:20 PM

Originally Posted by tkelly1986

This irritates me more than anything. Yes, I understand it has sat vacant for a few years and is in declining shape, but why the urgency to tear this beauty down? Why are we spending so much on demolition of these schools? This building is not the biggest threat to safety; there are thousands of homes throughout Detroit that are worse.

What’s the motivation? It always seems Detroit is quick to tear these gems down with no plan. Why not mothball it better and hope for something in the future [[loft development if the market turns around).

Great point. This is thinking that needs to be nutured in Detroit.

Look at Hudson's. 2 million square feet; no facade failures; super-heavy construction; perfectly suited for rehabilitation; and 100% paid for. Brick up first three floors, spend $100k/yr on tuckpointing, spend $250k once a decade on roofs, spend $100k on security, so an annual holding cost of $250k -- let's make it $500 1/2 million $ a year -- that's 25 cents per square foot per year. You wouldn't even notice that when you finally outfit the building and are spending $100-250 per square foot to renovate.

Take the $7m it took to take it down, and put it in the bank at 3% = $210,000 per year, plus take that principal down over 20 years = $350,00 per year --- its cheaper to hold the property. [[OK, its really rough math, but you get the idea that you can have a building structure for comparable cost to demolish. Although Homrich might not contribute to your campaign. We just need to get the redevelopers to contribute!)

**CassTechGrad** · December-02-10, 11:50 AM

This is a scan from my 1966 Cast Tech yearbook showing the ruins of the old Commerce High school which was demolished in 1965-66 to make the I75 Fisher Freeway connector. The two schools were connected by a bridge over Vernor highway. I’m afraid my old high school is doomed to the same fate. It was an honor and a privilege to go there, one of the best decisions I ever made in my life.

**English** · December-02-10, 01:46 PM

Originally Posted by CassTechGrad

This is a scan from my 1966 Cast Tech yearbook showing the ruins of the old Commerce High school which was demolished in 1965-66 to make the I75 Fisher Freeway connector. The two schools were connected by a bridge over Vernor highway. I’m afraid my old high school is doomed to the same fate. It was an honor and a privilege to go there, one of the best decisions I ever made in my life.

That's a real shame. Shows that the "tear that schitt down" mentality has roots that go back long before the riots and the wholesale abandonment of the city.

**esp1986** · December-02-10, 02:35 PM

Originally Posted by English

That's a real shame. Shows that the "tear that schitt down" mentality has roots that go back long before the riots and the wholesale abandonment of the city.

As much as I am for preservation, that happens anywhere you go. Been to Chicago lately? Michigan Avenue Downtown has even fewer historic buildings everytime I go. More steel and glass structures every year. The times change, and old buildings come down and are replaced by newer ones, like it or not. This is not just a Detroit thing, pre or post riots, it happens everywhere, it is just more prevelant here because when we tear something down there is never a plan to replace it.

**iheartthed** · December-02-10, 03:30 PM

Originally Posted by esp1986

As much as I am for preservation, that happens anywhere you go. Been to Chicago lately? Michigan Avenue Downtown has even fewer historic buildings everytime I go. More steel and glass structures every year. The times change, and old buildings come down and are replaced by newer ones, like it or not. This is not just a Detroit thing, pre or post riots, it happens everywhere, it is just more prevelant here because when we tear something down there is never a plan to replace it.

Chicago's saving grace was her size. Detroit's will be her history.

**esp1986** · December-02-10, 03:52 PM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Chicago's saving grace was her size. Detroit's will be her history.

I truly believe that the difference between the two, other than size was the lack of functioning mass transit. If Detroit had implemented functioning mass transit [[that went beyond the greater downtown area) early in the 1900s like most other big cities at the time, the effect of while flight would have been significantly less. If people leaving for the suburbs had a reliable way to get downtown [[other than driving), downtown may still be thriving today.

**beanietek** · December-02-10, 04:06 PM

i'm still getting over hudson's being torn down - this will kill me - that school was built solid and i enjoyed every minute there.

Blarf · December-02-10, 04:18 PM

Parts of Downtown, epically the area behind the Fox, look hilarious.

Nice tearing all these buildings down, but building nothing to replace them. Great city planning.

The Hudson's block looks STUPID. Nice girders they installed to replace the buildings. That looks so much better.

**esp1986** · December-02-10, 04:30 PM

Originally Posted by Blarf

Parts of Downtown, epically the area behind the Fox, look hilarious.

Nice tearing all these buildings down, but building nothing to replace them. Great city planning.

The Hudson's block looks STUPID. Nice girders they installed to replace the buildings. That looks so much better.

Compuware wouldn't be nextdoor had it not been torn down. Unfortunately.