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Broderick Tower Update

haydenth

By haydenth
in Detroit

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Allan Metropolis

Allan

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And to go back to Wyland for a minute, I went to his gallery in Key West and all of his stuff is complete crap. They all look the same, cheesy cartoony underwater crap.
Wyland is the Thomas Kincade of the underwater world. I'm not really sure which artist is worse...
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Allan Metropolis

Allan

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Don't worry, they need to redo the whole exterior. Honestly, if they are going to spend $40 million to redo the building, do you think they'd leave one side untouched? The limestone facade is falling off of the building...they certainly can't leave it.

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rbdetsport Burg

rbdetsport

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When will they start work on the first four floors of retail to be open in time for the superbowl? I do see a problem with all of this rushing in time for the superbowl. I would rather have an abandoned 3 floors and only have ground floor retail for the superbowl if it is going to raise the quality of the way they build it. Rushing just lowers the quality of buildings.

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Allan Metropolis

Allan

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I'm very familar with JC Beal's work, and am confident that they will do the work and do it well. I am impressed with what they've done with projects like the Iodent, and am looking forward to seeing what they'll do with the Broderick.

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RustTown City

RustTown

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I'm very familar with JC Beal's work, and am confident that they will do the work and do it well. I am impressed with what they've done with projects like the Iodent, and am looking forward to seeing what they'll do with the Broderick.

They did Iodent? I didn't know what. What were they, the renovation architect or general contractor?

Also, can you find their website? I can't seem to find it anymore.

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Allan Metropolis

Allan

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LMich, JC Beal does construction management, general contracting, etc. I do believe that they have one architect on staff.

The website www.jcbeal.com

The 100 year lease on the whales sucks...I was hoping they'd go away for good....

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  • 4 weeks later...
jerald Unincorporated Area

jerald

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The new sign has gone up. I thought they were going to put it up like a month ago, but it looks like they decided to wait until the renderings were ready.

sign.jpg

Cool, but too bad the web site is not up yet :P

I just checked and it looks like they have the domain name registered, but no site in place. Maybe it will be up soon. I am really looking forward to seeing some of these floorplans and layouts.

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Allan Metropolis

Allan

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The small red building does exist next to the Broderick. It used to be a chicken restaurant. It will be redeveloped along with the Broderick.

There is a better rendering of it, but I haven't seen it online. It's very modern, with an all glass front & the red accents. It'll complement the Broderick well.

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wolverine Town

wolverine

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Could this be another rendering done with the program Sketch-Up? I love that 3d modeling program.

Allan, do you know what the red building will be when the renovation is complete? I don't remember if it had mezzanine space or not since it's about two stories high. It would make a nice restaurant.

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Allan Metropolis

Allan

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Could be another sketchup...it looks like it might be.

As far as the red building goes, it is only one story. The building was where they had initially thought of doing a small wine & cheese grocery store. I'm not sure what they're leaning towards at this time, but a restaurant is a definite possibility.

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andrew.w Hamlet

andrew.w

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What would be a nice added detail (to literally crown this renovation) would be something to fill the areas that lack ornamentation along the top of the building where I presume a cornice was at some point removed (probably along with all of the other buildings downtown.)

However, the elevation doesn't appear to make such a change.

*Allan, you have a great picture in your facebook album that would be nice for illustrating this.

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Allan Metropolis

Allan

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You must be thinking of this photo....

n77100046_30004048_1114.jpg

Here's another vantage point....

body_zoomed.jpg

The detail work that was removed was highly ornate. They did really want to recreate it, but even using fiberglass or some sort of composite it still would've been too expensive at this time. I've thrown out the idea of replacing the brickwork with a different color of brick that would better match the limestone...it would be much cheaper and would look better than what's there now. Whether they'll spring for that idea or not remains to be seen.

Here is the cornice from behind

cornice.jpg

I have a really bad scan of the 1926 elevations if you'd like to see what used to be there...just shoot me an email: allanfromurbanplanet @ gmail.com. I thought I had images of it already uploaded, but I thought wrong.

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andrew.w Hamlet

andrew.w

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That last photo is great (especially the angle).There already apears to be signs of deterioration on the upper portions of the building.

I suspected the major factor preventing a restoration of the top would be the cost of reproducing the ornate detail. Even withought ever seeing it, the remaining detail suggests that what was lost was equally or more ornate.

I thought that creating a simplified version would suggest what was removed and be more cost effective, but your idea of doing the best to match the color would probably be better. Later, the detail could be restored if and when it becomes more feasible. (Right now the fact that the building is actually being rehabilitated is more important.)

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Allan Metropolis

Allan

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They cannot just throw up something similar to what was there due to the historic regulations. If they were to replace it, it would have to be an exact replica of what was there. If that wasn't going to be an option, then they would have to go for a modern interpretation so that you could tell that it is a later addition. Given that those are the two choices, they've chosen to pretty much leave it as its existed since the 1960s.

The Broderick was pretty deteriorated in that last photo. It slid by with minimal maintenance for decades. In the mid 1950s the building's entire electrical system was replaced. In the late 1960s it was given a major overhaul (though not nearly extensive enough). At that time the plumbing system was entirely replaced, the lobby was remodeled, & the ceilings were lowered. In 1969 the occupancy rate of BT was about 70%. By the time Mike Higgins got the building in July 1977 the occupancy rate was down to 55%, and it was in need of even more work. Mike had the lobby restored and continued to upgrade the building, but it wasn't enough. By the early 1980s it was clear that a total renovation was necessary. To do the renovation all the tenants needed to be moved out of the building. By 1985 the plans were in place and all the tenants had left. Unfortunately the financing for the renovation fell through, and BT was left vacant.

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andrew.w Hamlet

andrew.w

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They cannot just throw up something similar to what was there due to the historic regulations. If they were to replace it, it would have to be an exact replica of what was there. If that wasn't going to be an option, then they would have to go for a modern interpretation so that you could tell that it is a later addition. Given that those are the two choices, they've chosen to pretty much leave it as its existed since the 1960s.

Ahh...historical regulations. Besides that, what you said is what I meant: it would be much better to wait for an exact replica (if ever feasible) than have something more modern.

Again, thank you for the extra information. It seems like half of my posts are questions and I enjoy learning about Detroit.

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