Broderick Tower Update

[resourcefulidiot]

Id like to see a motown music based mural, with a dedication to detroit/motown music legends

[MJLO]

i'd like to see the building restored to it's original look, no murals.

[resourcefulidiot]

the reason they have the mural is beacuse that would look pretty bad. Becuase of the way the building is designed, the elevator is not in the center of the building like most highrises, but rather along the wall...hence the huge lack of windows on the side with the murals. Just a plan wall with no windows or anything is not aesthetically pleasing, especially from Comerica park

[Aaron]

I think the mural cheapens the building's look. If it were up to me, I'd have it removed. It looks just fine without it from the pictures I've seen.

[Zissou]

I dont think a mural or revenue generating advertisement cheapens the building, but I also think it could look good either way. Although there is the Pontiac advertisement on the bottom portion of the Cadillac Tower I dont think the top looks bad not having anything there. I wouldnt mind seeing something on the Broderick touting the city's past though, or our sports stars. In fact lets put a big picture of Chris Shelton on there, now that would be sweet.

[dtown]

or a big mural of Magglio Ordonez slamming a homer

[Zissou]

Maggs over Chris Shelton aka Big Red aka Orange Crush? Haha I dont think so.

[illmatic774]

Maggs over Chris Shelton aka Big Red aka Orange Crush? Haha I dont think so.

Shelton is as cold as ice. Maggs has been known as a madman at the plate for years now.

I'd take Maggs, though I hope Shelton breaks out of his slump.

[Allan]

Thanks for the update Gumby. I've been away from the forum for a while...first it was my architecture finals, then it was my other finals, then I moved to Detroit, then the house I am staying in got broken into (nothing taken, thank goodness), and now I'm working ALL weekend because of the Mother's Day holiday.

[dtown]

sorry to hear your house got broken into Allan. What area of Detroit did you move to?

[Allan]

Dtown, I moved to the Claytown neighborhood in Southwest Detroit. It's my friend's house, but I'm staying here for now.

The break-in sucked, but at least they didn't take anything. They dumped out all the drawers (apparently looking for something specific). The worst thing was that they kicked in the door, and the frame of the door got destroyed by the deadbolt, so it's time for a new door.

[MJLO]

wow Allan that's kinda scary man, becareful.

[Jasoncw]

I don't like the one side of Cadillac tower

I hope whatever goes on the monroe block is tall enough to hide it from the ground, lol.

I think the whales are fine. It would have been nice if something more relevent was put there in the first place, but I think they're ok. I wouldn't loose sleep if they get removed though. But something needs to go there, since I don't think it would look too great being blank.

[wolverine]

The builders of the Broderick placed the elevator shafts along the wall that has the whale because it faces a neighborhing building. During that time there was the higrhise boom in Detroit and it was presumed that this wall would eventually be hidden by neighboring building, except the Madison next door still exists to this day.

[MJLO]

so what was the vision wolverine? A traditional downtown, with side by side buildings, but instead of being three floors, they'd be 30?

[RustTown]

It wasn't a specific vision, just the anticipation of a boom that was halted by the Depression, and one that never got back on track. It's really not that uncommon for one face of a historic building to be left raw to save cost. It's happened in Chicago, NYC...it's not a Detroit thing. I seem to get the impression that most think this is some rare occurence.

[Allan]

Not to mention the fact that placing the elevators in the center of the building would've been less efficient as far as the amount of leaseable space in the building is concerned. I can't remember how big the Broderick's floor plates are off the top of my head, but if I remember correctly, they are 1000+ square feet smaller than the Book Tower's 5000 square foot floors.

Regarding the break-in, I really am not concerned about it. It just doesn't bother me, and I don't feel unsafe here at all. That probably sounds strange...I guess it's just what I've come to expect from the city.

[MJLO]

one thing i've always noticed about the Broderick, was the mural side, i've noticed a bunch of pre-depression highrises like that tho, there are a bunch in Manhattan. To me, it always seemed perfect to fit another highrise right next to it, wall to wall. For some reason i've always thought it would be cool to have a street full up wall to wall high rises, much like main street America, only with 350' buildings.

[wolverine]

Well, a lot of cities saw themselves as becoming something like Manhattan. Next time I'm at work, I'll scan some photos of Chicago being built. They construct these huge buildings that have entirely blank walls because they plan to have another massive skyscraper go right up next to it. The photos are incredible, only because we rarely see a city built they did with 20th century urbanism.

[dtown]

where did you end up gettting that internship at? chicago?

[illmatic774]

Regarding the break-in, I really am not concerned about it. It just doesn't bother me, and I don't feel unsafe here at all. That probably sounds strange...I guess it's just what I've come to expect from the city.

I'm glad that you're fine and all, but this brings up an important point. Detroiters like to think that the crime here, while exaggerated, like media portrays the city as some type of crime breeding ground, is normal for a city. This is not normal at all, this is a damn huge problem, and i feel that the our pride of our city is clouding up our perception of what a normal crime situation really is. Our total number of yearly murders can swallow up many countries' yearly tallies with ease.

I believe it was Michi that brang up a while back that his car got broken into on more than one occasion, as well as numerous forumers than detroityes being victims of break ins and having their vehicles stolen. What's sickening is that many choose to blow it off, and say that its "just part of living the da city." if Detroit doesnt start cracking down on even the smallest crimes, we will never be taken seriously.

[Michi]

My car was found a couple of weeks ago, by the way. If you ever have yours stolen, check the MLK Apartment Complex at Lafayette and Chene on the east side. Mine had been sitting there for months according to the residents.

[Michi]

Wow, Allan. You've been in Detroit all of what, "a day" and you've been broken into already? I echo illmatic's comments above. And be careful.

[Allan]

Crime is a significant problem in Detroit. It is a problem that must be taken seriously. I know about half a dozen people who've had windows smashed in Detroit during the past year. It's happened to me twice now, and I know it's only a question of time before it happens again. I also know three people who've had their vehicles stolen. Of those three, only one has his vehicle recovered. The other two cars are still out there somewhere. Also, I know two people who've had their houses broken into. Finally, I was nearly mugged in downtown Detroit one Saturday night last July.

It's hard to not expect something bad to happen with statistics like that. It's not right - no community should have to put up with such high crime rates. But when you live with it, it becomes normal. The police department needs to crack down on crime...but apparently city clownsil thinks that we need to ban cell phone use while driving...that'll be sure to stop a lot of crimes from occuring! </sarcasm>

[Michi]

I don't mean to keep away from the purpose of this thread, but I just wanted to add that a friend of mine in the Planning School at WSU was mugged last friday. She lives in Woodbridge and was walking to campus on Warren on the west side of the Lodge Fwy when a man claimed he had a gun and demanded her money. She didn't think he had a gun, but obviously did as he said.

It was all to real when she came into my place of work and told me it only happened a 1/2 hour prior. My little sister is coming to work at a clinical at Henry Ford in July, and I already know this whole incident will have me on edge the whole time she's here. I know that sounds kinda rediculous, but my love for Detroit would probably no longer be accepted by my family if something happened. I know everything will be ok, but I just know I'll be a bit overprotective during the month.