Madison Bldg big news

[pokeythepenguin]

My educated guess is that the Madison will house Detroit Venture Partners and whatever they end up incubating. I was at the same meeting as cmubryan, and I am happy to report that Gilbert's presentation was done in comic sans.

[NorthEndere]

The former Madison Theatre [[auditorium demolished in 2002) had a very shallow office block. So when the auditorium was demolished the office block portion was literally doubled in size... but still did not take up the entire former auditorium footprint.

Does anyone have any pictures of the expansion? I do seem to remember them demolishing the theater, I didn't know that they actually built an annex onto it.

[cmubryan]

I wasn't lieing or making up stories. Sorry didn't come forth with the "required" quantity of information some people wanted. I'll try to do better next time. I've been a member of this board for 10 plus years, think I would get a little more respect. Blah.

[DetroitDad]

Madison Theater Building; The Building That Almost Wasn't

Does anyone have any pictures of the expansion? I do seem to remember them demolishing the theater, I didn't know that they actually built an annex onto it.

It should be noted that the Madison Building was almost completey demolished after structural steel problems during renovation made it too costly to complete. The building sat as a abandoned steel skelaton on Grand Circus Park for years leading up to the Super Bowl XL, where it was quickly selvidged at the last moment. Originally, Angelina's Italian Bistro was set to be a Post Bar.





Photos from Timeless Images and Faded Detroit.

[rondinjp]

From crains


January 26, 2011 4:54 PM
Quicken Loans completes deal for Madison Theatre building; will be renovated for business incubator
By Daniel Duggan
| | | | | |
Quicken Loans Inc. has completed the purchase of the Madison Theater building in Detroit.

The purchase, which the company confirmed was under contract in November, will be part of a business incubator project, Quicken founder and Chairman Dan Gilbert said today in a press release.

“This historic building will be molded into an exciting center where young entrepreneurial enterprises will collaborate, innovate and build the kind of 21st century businesses that the majority of our new economy in Detroit and Michigan will be based upon,” he said in the release.

The Detroit office of Gensler Architecture will be the architect on the renovation of the building, while Bingham Farms-based Sachse Construction will design and build the space.

Quicken said that the design phase is under way and that construction will begin in the spring and is expected to be completed by this fall.

The seller of the property was Broadway Property Partners LLC, a Clinton Township business entity controlled by Gaetano Rizzo, according to county and state records.

The sale price was not disclosed.

The Madison building, at 1555 Broadway St., is next to the Broderick Tower and south of the People Mover tracks at Grand Circus Park. The office portion of the 48,000-square-foot building is mostly vacant.

The office building was once attached to the Madison Theatre. The theater has been demolished and is now a parking lot, while the office portion of the structure remains, according to buildingsofdetroit.com. The theater sat 1,800 people and opened in 1917.

Quicken still has about 2,000 employees in the suburbs whom the company has said it plans to move downtown. Quicken reportedly has been negotiating on a purchase of the Chase Tower near Campus Martius as well as other buildings in the city.

[bailey]

I wasn't lieing or making up stories. Sorry didn't come forth with the "required" quantity of information some people wanted. I'll try to do better next time. I've been a member of this board for 10 plus years, think I would get a little more respect. Blah.

For some one who's "been around for ten years" one would think you'd you'd be just as annoyed at the "i've got a secret " posts . One would think you'd not post breathlessly about "big news" [[your words) that, as noted by various others, has been pretty much out there for a while. [[pretty sure there is thread about this already, but if you're not gonna use the search...neither am i). How about next time you title the thread...."old news about a building is being recycled by the local sycophantic media in order to stoke the Legend of Dan Gilbert[[c) and his singlehanded effort to save Detroit by maybe, one day, moving a few hundred suburbanites' offices downtown... maybe one day building or buying a building... or maybe just renting surplus space in one of the the existing empty buildings [[he's not sure...gotta see how many perfectly legitimate mortgages his company can shill to an uneducated populace) after 10 years of talking about it and getting tax incentives and other assistance out the ass from a functionally insolvent city to do it." you're right.... probably a little long though.

[cmubryan]

For some one who's "been around for ten years" one would think you'd you'd be just as annoyed at the "i've got a secret " posts . One would think you'd not post breathlessly about "big news" [[your words) that, as noted by various others, has been pretty much out there for a while. [[pretty sure there is thread about this already, but if you're not gonna use the search...neither am i). How about next time you title the thread...."old news about a building is being recycled by the local sycophantic media in order to stoke the Legend of Dan Gilbert[[c) and his singlehanded effort to save Detroit by maybe, one day, moving a few hundred suburbanites' offices downtown... maybe one day building or buying a building... or maybe just renting surplus space in one of the the existing empty buildings [[he's not sure...gotta see how many perfectly legitimate mortgages his company can shill to an uneducated populace) after 10 years of talking about it and getting tax incentives and other assistance out the ass from a functionally insolvent city to do it." you're right.... probably a little long though.

okey dokey...thanks for the advice. I had like one minute to put a message on the board and thought the news was about to break. My bad.

[DetroitDad]

okey dokey...thanks for the advice. I had like one minute to put a message on the board and thought the news was about to break. My bad.

Thanks for posting the update cmubryan. Some of us really appreciate the updates.

[Boy Named Sue]

For some one who's "been around for ten years" one would think you'd you'd be just as annoyed at the "i've got a secret " posts . One would think you'd not post breathlessly about "big news" [[your words) that, as noted by various others, has been pretty much out there for a while. [[pretty sure there is thread about this already, but if you're not gonna use the search...neither am i). How about next time you title the thread...."old news about a building is being recycled by the local sycophantic media in order to stoke the Legend of Dan Gilbert[[c) and his singlehanded effort to save Detroit by maybe, one day, moving a few hundred suburbanites' offices downtown... maybe one day building or buying a building... or maybe just renting surplus space in one of the the existing empty buildings [[he's not sure...gotta see how many perfectly legitimate mortgages his company can shill to an uneducated populace) after 10 years of talking about it and getting tax incentives and other assistance out the ass from a functionally insolvent city to do it." you're right.... probably a little long though.

...... .

[Gistok]

I second that Cmubryan...

DetroitDad... I remember when Larson Realty started that project, but never completed it. I was in the Madison back in 2000, and the theatre could have been saved... but it wasn't as nice as the others in GCP [[the Adams was even plainer).

When the auditorium was demolished, they started to increase the depth of the office block from 5 bays to 8 bays [[which is what it is currently at). But as you mentioned... that fell thru, and the structural steel of the 3 skeletal steel bays was open to the elements for a long time.

When they finally worked on finishing the project, they did a nice job of re-cladding the entire building in the spirit of the original office block design.

From the sound of the Crain's article, they'll likely build on the back... on the former auditorium site... although they could theoretically also had a few stories to the top of the front office block. Back in 1917 all buildings were "overbuilt" structurally, and I'm sure the base and foundations could handle a few extra stories.. if the need arises.

[MDoyle]

I never paid much attention to the Madison Building since it's nearly covered on all sides by the people mover. I didn't realize that there was nothing left of the original structure. It has been completely re built with crummy moulded reliefs rather than the original metal details. It's really too bad.

As an aside, The people mover has really taken away from many of our great building facades and it really interrupts GCP.

[Planner3357]

As an aside, The people mover has really taken away from many of our great building facades and it really interrupts GCP.

I completely agree. The Broderick tower really takes a hit because of it. While the Broderick tower is a great building, the people mover really takes away that street level appeal....I guess if they wouldn't have built the stupid thing we wouldn't be having this conversation....although I do ride it..

[stinkytofu]

Nice...Skidmore Studio moving into the Madison with more to come! No idea how many people that is, but good going Gilbert!

http://detnews.com/article/20110526/...eater-building

[stinkytofu]

By the way...I'm so excited to see that block two years from now...Madison and Broderick bustling...gonna be so cool...

[gthomas]

Plans were to remove the PM at GCP and relocated up Park Av, then to Comerica Park down to Broadway...so I guessing the station will be in one of those Parking lots on Woodward across from Fillmore Theatre ?