Urban Garden where the Lafayette Building once stood

[ghettopalmetto]

Detroit doesn't have building codes?

Uh, and I think it was a little more than a leaky windows and bad shingles on the Layfayette....

Why should they? It's far easier [[and presumably cheaper!) to just demolish everything deemed "old", "obsolete", "crumbling", or "structurally unsound", as determined by casual self-proclaimed building experts.

Replace all that steel, concrete, and masonry with some good ole weed-filled or landscaped-and-lighted lots, and now you're talking some SERIOUS revitalization!

[bailey]

Why should they? It's far easier [[and presumably cheaper!) to just demolish everything deemed "old", "obsolete", "crumbling", or "structurally unsound", as determined by casual self-proclaimed building experts.

Replace all that steel, concrete, and masonry with some good ole weed-filled or landscaped-and-lighted lots, and now you're talking some SERIOUS revitalization!

Well, the outrage should be directed at the incompetents that run the code enforcement that allow a building to slide to such a state that no private investor would touch it. Lets not forget that this and many other buildings in detroit stayed empty and derilict during the greatest expansion of wealth the world has ever seen. Think anything is going to be different during a depression that ...in michigan at least...is going to last just as long as the expansion?

The choice for the layfayette was not between demo now or rehab. It was between demo now or wait another 30 years for it to fall down.

[ghettopalmetto]

The choice for the layfayette was not between demo now or rehab. It was between demo now or wait another 30 years for it to fall down.

Not to re-start a long-winded previous thread...

..but the options you present were determined by George Jackson. George is not qualified to determine these options. No effort to obtain objective, unbiased information and recommendations from licensed design professionals was ever attempted or made public. To even imply otherwise is a bald-faced lie.

But hey, Adamo made a million and a half bucks, damn near collapsed Michigan Avenue, and now Detroiters will get a fantastic new patch of weeds. What's the worry?

[bailey]

Not to re-start a long-winded previous thread...

..but the options you present were determined by George Jackson. George is not qualified to determine these options. No effort to obtain objective, unbiased information and recommendations from licensed design professionals was ever attempted or made public. To even imply otherwise is a bald-faced lie.

But hey, Adamo made a million and a half bucks, damn near collapsed Michigan Avenue, and now Detroiters will get a fantastic new patch of weeds. What's the worry?

No, the options were determined by the market. THERE WAS NO ONE WHO WOULD DEVELOP IT and the state was not then and certainly is not now or anytime in the remotely near future going to pony up hundreds of millions to incentivize the rehab. It languished in private ownership and crumbled after it was abandoned to the city.

I don't give a fuck if the building was still technically sound. that is irrelevant. It doesn't change the fact it was going to be empty for another generation. anyone saying otherwise is delusional.

[English]

No, the options were determined by the market. THERE WAS NO ONE WHO WOULD DEVELOP IT and the state was not then and certainly is not now or anytime in the remotely near future going to pony up hundreds of millions to incentivize the rehab. It languished in private ownership and crumbled after it was abandoned to the city.

I don't give a fuck if the building was still technically sound. that is irrelevant. It doesn't change the fact it was going to be empty for another generation. anyone saying otherwise is delusional.

People said that about the B-C, my friend. They said it for my entire lifetime. Revitalizing a hotel on Washington Boulevard was a losing proposition, they said. It will never happen...

You might be right. The optimists might be right. But both of you have ONE thing in common -- no one can predict the future. If you'd painted a picture of today's Detroit, traveled back in time and showed it to people in the 1950s -- or even better, the 1920s -- they would laugh you out of town.

In 30-40 years, neither you, nor I, nor anyone else knows what Detroit will be. We don't know if it will eventually be evacuated and abandoned, or whether it will experience growth. None of our opinions are facts, not even those we believe are reasonably informed. We can be confident of many of our short-term predictions, but forecasting the far future beyond expressing your hopes, dreams, and fears is a losing proposition.

[bailey]

People said that about the B-C, my friend. They said it for my entire lifetime.

You might be right. The optimists might be right. But both of you have ONE thing in common -- no one can predict the future.

Well, if the Book is a measure of success.... I'm think we should hold on the champagne. The condos had to be sold in a fire sale for half their original asking prices. The banks are circling. the developer already lost the Hilton Garden Inn. There are constant rumors about Westin pulling the flag. And Detroit's hotel market isn't exactly stellar. If the Book makes it, needs to be remembered that the deal came together because a whole lotta people and a whole lotta government money came together to make it happen. The deep pockets ...especially the government's, are tapped out. There are 40-some empty buildings in the CBD. Unless the future holds that oil is found beneath Detroit, they aren't all being redeveloped. That much I can be pretty certain of.

[English]

Well, if the Book is a measure of success.... I'm think we should hold on the champagne. The condos had to be sold in a fire sale for half their original asking prices. The banks are circling. the developer already lost the Hilton Garden Inn. There are constant rumors about Westin pulling the flag. And Detroit's hotel market isn't exactly stellar. If the Book makes it, needs to be remembered that the deal came together because a whole lotta people and a whole lotta government money came together to make it happen. The deep pockets ...especially the government's, are tapped out. There are 40-some empty buildings in the CBD. Unless the future holds that oil is found beneath Detroit, they aren't all being redeveloped. That much I can be pretty certain of.

Well, I guess I could have saved my pixels. I don't agree or disagree with what you say. My point was that no one can predict several decades into the future -- everyone who has tried it has failed.

[Detroitnerd]

If I remember correctly, this is what happened.

They said they HAD to demolish the Lafayette building because it was unsightly, and was an eyesore for guests in the B-C. [[Of course, many of these people, had they had their way before, would have demoed the B-C too!)

To mollify resistance, they discussed plans for a PARK to be built on the site of the former Lafayette. Well, a "green space" is better than nothin', right?

Then they realized they didn't have any money budgeted for a park, so they said they'd just plant some stuff.

So now, apparently, without even resources to plant turf, they want to turn it over to "urban gardening," realizing this is another buzzword to mollify people.

So, apparently, it's gross to have an aging office building for these guests at the B-C, but it's cool to have this third-world-style garden with people growing cabbages and stuff downtown? Where is the downtown "community" that will tend to this garden? Wait until they realize that they'll have to fence it off to keep the community that does live down there [[homeless) out!

In short, this is all bullshit designed to mollify people, and it apparently has never been put on a budget, planned, tasked to any body or ANYTHING. In short, it reflects perfectly Detroit's plan for downtown: Demolish it. Anything you can say, do, scheme, lie or dissemble to get another demolition job downtown, say it. "Green space," "parks," "urban gardens" -- it's all crap.

[j to the jeremy]

And while I disagreed with the destruction of the Lafayette, what is "third world" about a veggie garden? Keep it to facts because you have good arguments, you just love putting in little unwarranted jabs at shit for no reason. I know you read the article where all your "who will run the scary garden" questions were answered.

Adamo needs to be chased out of the city. We can agree on that, I think.