GAR Building

[BrushStart]

From what I gathered over the years... the amount of space for some sort of acknowledgement to the Grand Army of the Republic would have been just some niche or display case... not a make or break large amount of space that would make the entire deal financially unpalatable.

Not sure why the Ilitch's let their option expire? But since the renovation of the Fox they have seemed to be "restoration challenged" in how to fix up old spaces. Still nothing going on at the Moose, UA and Fine Arts. What's with their building on Park Ave. Has any more work been done on it?

I know that many people think very highly of Ilitch [[I realize others don't), but the reality is, they are clearly not the best at development. They could have easily done what Gilbert is doing, and could have been doing so since the 1990s. Almost any of their buildings could be profitable as residential lofts and they probably could have worked out tax credits to pay for the cost. For whatever reason, they simply cannot get it together. Ilitch's buildings could be generating serious revenue right now instead of just eating into their balance sheet.

This is true of so many of the so called "investors" who own buildings in downtown Detroit. We really got screwed with the quality of developers we have in Detroit. Very few have the vision and basic business savvy to see the opportunities that they have right in front of them. Consider for a moment that some of these folks even teamed up and purchased properties in tandem with the intention of creating entire areas of redevelopment, such as what is possible in Capitol Park, or along Park Ave, or lower Woodward. It's really kind of pathetic.

There's no reason United Artists should not be completely developed, or any of Ilitch's other real estate holdings. I get that he is in the entertainment/pizza business, but you could hire a management company to run the place if it were residential. With the occupancy rate of downtown near 99%, you really have to be an inept idiot to not make money in that kind of environment, especially when you have the resources to develop properties. Right now, Ilitch and others like him should not only be taking advantage of tax credits to develop existing buildings collecting dust in their portfolio, but they should be constructing new buildings on lots that can be purchased for virtually nothing.

Downtown could look like Manhattan within 10 years if the power brokers that be in Detroit had vision. Gilbert is really the only one making a go of it. Currently, almost any building could be made into a profitable residential space. When I walk through downtown, it makes me sick that these investors/developers ignore market forces and do nothing to capitalize on demand for residential. Thankfully, new developers like the Roxbury group are emerging. I hope they send the do-nothing investors packing. There's absolutely no excuse for the Wurlitzer, Metropolitan, United Artists, Book Tower, etc, etc. Smaller buildings should be even more ripe for redevelopment. Small luxury lofts like the Eureka on Broadway are leasing for $2,000/mo per unit and are fully occupied with wait lists.

Ridiculous.