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Broderick Tower to be Renovated?


Allan

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The Metropolitan won't be done for a while. It was supposed to start in summer 2003...then summer 2004...then fall 2004...then spring 2005. The only activity you're going to see in there are the cats and homeless people that are living in there, with an occasional idiot like me walking through there with a camera.

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Larson Realty Group was supposed to be the developer. These are the same people who were supposed to do the Madison Theater project at Broadway & Witherell, to the east of the Broderick. To my knowledge, the only thing they've ever actually completed in the area is the Eureka Building Lofts on Broadway.
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I heard the metro is being held up by a title issue. Haha,

BTW, I finally found the 33rd & 34th floorplans of the Broderick. From the plans I have, there does not seem to be any issues with moving the motors up and placing an elevator on the 33rd floor. Extending an elevator shaft to 34 could be problematic, but even that does not seem too difficult. It would require moving all the mechanicals, but they are all 50 years old anyway.

I have a building section that would show a clearer view, but I need to find someone to help me take photos of it, since it is 5 feet long.

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The basements would seem more useful for mechanical uses, or storage for the commerical units above.

Here are the scans of the 33rd and 34th floors. If they really want elevator access to the top floor, I don't see how it would be a problem. The elevator closest to the stairwell would be the best, since they could just knock out one wall to get over there without eliminating too much space to the mechanical room. at that point, they can just put one of the elevator motors on the roof. Besides, they will probably have to install AC units in a penthouse constructed on the roof anyway. I wouldn't even be suprised if an extra floor would have to be added for all of that stuff.

brodyplan1.jpg

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Honestly, I see converting the 33rd floor into a restaurant pointless. I know it would be cool, but this is no longer a commercial building. It just doesn't seem reasonable to put such an establishment at the top of a residential building. Turn it into a luxury penthouse or something. I still believe the 34th floor shouild be devoted to recreational purposes. The fact that there is a mechanical room next door? I definitely would not want to hear all of that machinery in my apartment. Besides, recreational purposes were what the top floor was always intended for anyway.

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The restaurant idea is just something they've thought about. There is a lot of nostalgia behind it, since the famous Skytop Club had been located there since David Broderick purchased the building in 1945. The fact that it will be an apartment building does not matter, since the elevator to 33 would have to be a dedicated elevator. Since the building will have less than 150 people living there, 5 passenger elevators is overkill anyway.

The would have to install a second staircase to accomodate current codes, but they should be able to work something out by just putting them where the fire escapes are.

The basements cannot be used for recreational use by code. The original plans shows their use as storage for the four storefronts. The fifth passenger elevator and the freight elevator are the only two elevators that even go down there. There is also a meter room and a fan room there, along with access to four of the elevator pits. I have never been down there, since some idiot stole the sump pumps out of there last winter, and it is flooded. In fact, the basement of almost every building on that block is flooded because the water line in the alley is broken and the city won't fix it. If the water level ever goes back down (it was at 8 feet when I checked the other day), I may get the waders on and check it out, but until then I have to rely on the plans.

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LOL, I don't think so! There is sewage in that water. The city built a support for the People Mover right over a sewer line, and the line has now sprung a leak because of it. The sewage has made its way into the sub-basement of the Broderick.

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Ok, here are some random things I've picked up.

The first is a drawing of the penthouse renovation that took place in 1945 after David Broderick purchased the building. It is kind of difficult to make out, but it is a drawing of the entrance to the fire escapes, across from the bar area.

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Here is a rendering of a proposed 1966 lobby renovation. The black marble walls & barrel vaulted ceiling would've been completely covered up.

up_lobby.jpg

Here is a 1960s advertising brochure for the Broderick Tower.

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Thanks for sharing. I found that pretty interesting.

By the way, those watermarks you put on some of the pics almost look like they were originally printed on the pages. I did a double-take when I first saw the brochure cover, lol.

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Haha, that would make UP the oldest site on the internet then. :P

It's funny how the brochure makes it seem like you'd better hurry up & lease your space before the whole building is full. The sad truth is that the building was really struggling to keep tenants. Many of the lower to mid level floors appear to not have been used since the 1940s or 1950s. In fact, one of the dentist's offices has literature in it dating from the late 1930s and early 1940s - probably the last time the space was used. I picked up a stack of dental records from another office a few floors further up. There were three dentists in that office during the early 1940s, but by 1950 there were a lot less patients and only one dentist. The records stop at 1952. In general, the upper floors (17-34) were occupied until the late 1970s. There were a few tenants that stayed until the 1980s. The last tenants left by October 1985.

Just to throw a few more random facts out there....

- The Otto Misch Company out of Detroit was the general contractor for Eaton Tower.

- Architects Frederick J. Winter & John J. Kallmes designed the famous Skytop Club in 1945.

- The tower's electrical system was redone in 1955. Plans were drawn up by George Wagschal Associates, Inc. Consulting Engineers, who had offices at 1201 Majestic Building, Detroit.

- Sachs Architects in Lathrup Village designed a renovation for the building's lobby in 1966.

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For all we know, that photo could have been taken in the 1920s. In fact, that is the original 1928 exterior lighting scheme that I have the plans for. I think that the details were ripped off the top in the late 1950s, after the city passed their cornice tax & strict cornice codes that prompted so many building owners to remove them.

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