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Lafayette Building Slated for Renovation


wolverine

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From what I've been told regarding the Book-Cadillac & some other projects that have taken advantage of historic tax credits, the tax credits basically pay for approximately 25% of the renovation. It is really the only way a lot of the buildings in Detroit get renovated. Lee Plaza lies in the federal empowerment zone. Any redevelopment of the building would allow its owners to have the benefits of tax breaks at the city & federal levels.

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Now that I'm looking at a different map, it shows that Lee Plaza is outside of the EZ. I guess I am going to trust the map I found on the EZ website. The Detroit EZ covers over 18 square miles. In an unprecedented move, the EZ was expanded to include the Book-Cadillac Hotel so that the renovation could take advantage of the additional incentives. Even with expanding the EZ the deal hasn't been finalized, so that just goes to show hard hard it can be to finance such projects.

The EZ has a website which can be found at http://www.detez.com/

A map of the EZ can be seen here: http://www.detez.com/fullmap.htm

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  • 3 weeks later...

The white spots in those photos is dust. When there are dust particles floating in front of the lens and then you decide to use your flash, the light from the flash reflects off the particles, which then show up as white dots on the image. The only way around it is to not use the flash, which in a dark place like the Lafayette Building is impossible. Abandoned buildings be very dusty places. I know plenty of people who have ruined their cameras by taking them into dusty abandoned buildings. The National Theater & Lafayette Building both seem to be especially bad for some reason.

As for the timeline of the Lafayette renovation...who knows. I don't know if city council ever approved anything, since I can't find meeting minutes online. You'd think they'd publish those somewhere on the city council's website....

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It could only go 2 more floors higher. I like the design it really stands out. I like the way some buildings in New York and Chicago stand out from the rest of them. I do agree that I wish a lot taller structure would have been built on it. Lets hope for a developer to build a tall skyscraper(s) on Monroe Block.

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Weve had this convo before. Im not sure taller is neccessarily better for Kennedy Block. At first I was disapointed but you dont want a building to totally take away your views of the Dime Building and Penobscot from CMP. Im content with the size and the from the renders I think it looks ok. Im gonna wait to pass judgement until after its completed though.

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  • 1 month later...

I know it has only been a month now, but has anyone heard anything about this project? I want this renovation to happen. It will link the financial district and the Campus Martius Area together which have long been broken apart. This renovation I am sure will also help the Book Cadillac Renovation along. I like bringing old threads back to life..... :blink:

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I've been following the Lafayette renovation pretty closely. I'll know more when I take my tour of the building next month, but right now the biggest obstacle is finding a way to repair the window system without breaking the budget.

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C. Howard Crane thought he would try to be innovative with the windows. It is a unique type of window system that has really worn out over the years. The windows look the same as other windows in old buildings downtown, but they are somehow constructed differently. The developer could replace the windows completely, but that would get very expensive and would break the budget. They want to repair the windows like they did with the Kales, but even that is proving to be rather challenging. I managed to snag myself a completely legal tour of the building, so I will know more after the tour in a couple weeks.

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Sweet.

People sometimes forget how complicated renovation projects can be, and especially the ones on the scale of Detroit's. Sometimes, even something seemingly as simple as air conditioning and heating systems renovation can be a make or break. Just look at the Book Building. The poor manager is struggling to get heating and cooling systems redone which must be such a pain for a building that size. On top of that, it's a chicken-and-egg deal in that she needs tenants to pay for renovation work, but tenants could just as easily have more bang for their buck in a suburban office building with all basic amenities included. Either that, or she has to raise rents to a ridiculously high rate which would not only stop future tenants but may cause some tenants already in the building to move.

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Renovation projects can get very complex. People usually forget about the things you don't see...like HVAC or how the windows are constructed.

One has to remember that the old buildings downtown were built in a totally different time. They didn't have air conditioning, and heat was provided by steam radiators. Sometimes they rigged up a ventilation and air conditioning system later on. In the Broderick, for instance, you can see where they added in ductwork in the 1960s. Then there are things like the elevators which don't always work well after 80+ years. Upgrading all those things costs money.

I know in the Book only two of the elevators work. Susan Lambrecht only has so much money, and with the economic climate the way it is, managing the Book must be quite difficult. Her long-term plan for the building involves restoring the Book Building's original three story atrium, upgrading the HVAC throughout the complex, and renovating the Book Building into lofts. The last I heard, she was working on getting some other investors in on the loft project. In the meantime, the Book Building is vacant (at least as far as I know). I know two people who have offices in the Book Tower. One pays around $225/month for his office. It's not a bad price for the size, and there's a nice view up Grand River. I'm not sure what the other pays, but the rents are pretty reasonable.

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So is she planning on opening up the book building atrium to dome? It's such a shame the they floored that up on the 3rd, and drop ceiling'd up the dome on the roof of the 3rd. I know the drop ceiling is gone, but had heard plans to open it back up. It would be very sweet if it was back to original, however, it looked like there would have to be quite a bit of work on the glass dome to get it back to normal. She has done a great job so far on renovation the first floor and painting the ceiling murals back to original.

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Yeah, the plan is to open up the floors where it was filled in so that the lobby reaches to the full three story height that it was originally. Susan Lambrecht hopes that things like art galleries will come in and set up shop on the 2nd & 3rd floors.

The floor plates of the building are 20,000 square feet, while the floor plates of the tower are only 5,000 square feet. To me, it would seem like you'd want residential in the tower and offices in the building. There must be something I don't know. Either that, or I'm just not thinking about something....

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