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Detroit creates eyesore hit list


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Detroit creates eyesore hit list

141 decrepit properties need fixes or razing

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By R.J. King / The Detroit News

DETROIT - In the most organized crackdown to date on vacant and dilapidated buildings, city leaders have compiled a list of 141 structures in Detroit that need to be demolished, renovated or cleaned up in time for the 2006 Super Bowl at Ford Field.

The Greater Downtown Partnership and the Detroit Economic Growth Corp. worked with the city of Detroit over the past year to identify the city's worst eyesores, who owns the buildings and the proposed remedy.

The coalition concluded about 15 buildings need to be demolished or renovated; 63 require improved facades; 15 need paint and cleaning; and 20 structures should attempt to draw tenants on the first floor. The buildings - once-fabulous hotels and office buildings - are now decaying obstacles in Detroit's effort to host a successful Super Bowl on Feb. 5, 2006.

The city and nonprofit groups are helping property owners secure loans and grants to perform fa

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I Couldn't agree more! If only we could get some work done on the Broderick sometime within the next year....

I'm not expecting to see any work on the U-A for a while. The same goes for ther Detroit Building, Hotel Vermont, and the M-L.

I'm hoping that the Metropolitan renovation can get started later this year. That would only add a pocket of vitality to the area. Imagine that area of downtown once the YMCA is done and the Metropolitan is renovated!

Speaking of the YMCA, I was down there yesterday and it looks to be coming along nicely. I'll have to post my photos of it tonight. Actually I have about 800 photos of Detroit to post. How on earth did I ever get so far behind in posting my photo tours?! Maybe I shouldn't go downtown 2-3 times per week!

BTW, welcome to the forum!! :)

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Wow you definately gotta post some of those pictures. It would be nice to see some work started on even 1/2 of the proposed loft projects in the area. The David Whitney building, Wurlitzer, Metropolitan, Broderick, ...etc. I only hope this lights a fire under those who own these buildings.

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One building I really don't understand is the Wurlitzer Building. It is owned by a judge in Detroit. It's not like he doesn't have the money to fix it up!! And if he didn't, why not sell it to a developer? Of course that brings in another problem: the downtown building owners who want a ridiculous amount of money for their buildings. For instance, the owners of the Capitol Park Building want $2,000,000+ for the building. That is an insane price for a 10 story building without running water, and a working heating system, not to mention that the elevators that barely work! And I don't even want to guess what condition the interior is in...my guess would be that it's not very good.

The Whitney is another one of those mysteries. Why on earth is there nothing in that building? It's in nearly perfect condition.

I will be buying a paid account to host my photos at sometime in the next week, so hopefully I can have some tours uploaded by next weekend. So far I have photos of:

Downtown

New Center

Indian Village

Boston Edison

Belle Isle

Brush Park

Midtown (Ferr Street only)

I am planning on doing photo tours of Woodbrige, Midtown, & Corktown in the near future.

How bad is the Cass Park area really? I have heard all these horror stories about crimes that occur there. I take it that it would not be a good idea to go there alone to take photos. I am unfamilar with that particular neighborhood, since I just moved from Flint to Southfield about a month and a half ago. Care to fill me in on the details?

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Welcome to the Detroit area, I went to school in Southfield (Lawrence Tech Univ). The Cass park area is always interesting to see. My girlfriend describes it as looking like "we're in another country" whenever I drive through there. When you go further north a few blocks it can actually be a pretty nice place. Really there are just an abundance of hobos in the area, but I wouldn't be afraid to take pictures there. It just like any other place in the D, be aware of your surroundings and you'll be alright.

I heard a few rumors (can't even remember who, maybe it was detroit.com) that the Capitol park building is slated to have some construction on it. I hope it's true.

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So you went to LTU? That's where I'm going to school! I'm majoring in architecture, so I spend a good 50 hours per week working on things in the studio. I guess that's what I get for taking two studio classes at the same time! LOL.

I figured that Cass Park wasn't as bad as I'd heard, but I just wanted to make sure. After all, there are usually reasons for all the stories you hear!

There is ground floor retail being constructed in two buildings in Capitol Park right now. One building is the red brick building just north of the Farwell Building (I'm not sure of the name) and the other is directly across the street. I'll get a couple photos ready and will post them in a few minutes.

I hope that the Capitol Park Building is going to have something done with it soon. It would be perfect for lofts. Actually, Capitol Park would make a cool little loft district. If only we could get the bus terminal moved from the park and put in some actual grass....

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Ground floor retail is going in here. Any idea as to what it might be going in here? And there is a sign for lofts on the side of the building too. :)

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The building across the street is also getting ground floor retail. I took a photo of it, but it didn't turn out, so I will have to try again later this week if I have time.

Capitol Park Building

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Haha, I just realized that it's 1 AM. I need to stop uploading photos and get some sleep! I'll post more later.

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I graduated from LTU last year (electrical engineering). I see they broke ground for a new building on campus, what's it supposed to be? I was strolling down Griswald the other day and one of the construction guys said that there is a restaurant going in the retail space on the first picture you posted. He didn't seem too sure though. Those look like they're some huge ass lofts by the way. I might want to take a tour of one of those if it's economically viable. It does suck that there would be constant bus traffic in the area though.

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Haha, I said I was going to bed like an hour ago! It's a good thing that I don't have class until 11!

A restaurant would be great for the area. Downtown really could use a small grocery store though. Nothing too large, just something so that the new residents downtown would be able to pick up some food at on their way home from work. Higgins claims he's redoing the building next door to the Broderick into a gourmet market, but if we waited for him, downtown might never get a grocery store. After all, he has been feeding the Detroit News with this crap about renovating the Broderick for like six years now. Why doesn't he just sell the building to a developer who has the financial means to renovate it? Higgins obviously doesn't have the money. He complains everytime the city writes little $200 tickets for the violations in the building. I notice that this time he said he plans to make an announcement in the coming weeks. So maybe we will hear something by Christmas time! One thing I hate about this city is how it takes forever to get things done. Oh well, I should not be complaining...at least something is getting done. The city is so much better off than it was five or ten years ago.

I would actually love to have a loft in that building. It is centrally located in downtown, but it is not on the main drag. Plus it is a neat old building. The bus traffic would be the only drawback, but I could probably get used to it over time. Now is the time to buy a loft downtown. They are dirt cheap now. They will increase in price very quickly over the next few years as downtown becomes a more desirable place to live. If only I had the money....

The new building on campus is the Taubman Student Services Center. It will consolidate all the services into one building, since right now they are scattered randomly in buildings all over campus.

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They are still drilling holes in the ground for the geothermal heating system. After they get that done they can start on the foundation and start putting the actual building up. You can check out the webcam here.

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It is my understanding that it will be connected by a bridge on the second story, on the end near the science building. I still haven't gotten a good look at the plans...they don't even have drawings of it in the architecture building! You'd think that they'd have the drawings somewhere hanging up on campus so everyone could see, but they don't. The only thing they have are the same two renderings I posted here.

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