Jump to content

Last-ditch effort to save Statler falters


Allan

Recommended Posts


  • Replies 33
  • Created
  • Last Reply

I suggest you all move to Grand Rapids. ;) We're saving almost all of our buildings. In fact, someone needs to start dismantling some of the facades of these gems and moving them to a place that they will be appreciated.

It does indeed suck that the leaders of Detroit waste all of their opportunities. Detroit has some grand architecture and is the only city I know of that hasn't learned the lessons of "Urban Renewal" in the 60's.

Joe

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I suggest you all move to Grand Rapids. ;) We're saving almost all of our buildings. In fact, someone needs to start dismantling some of the facades of these gems and moving them to a place that they will be appreciated.

It does indeed suck that the leaders of Detroit waste all of their opportunities. Detroit has some grand architecture and is the only city I know of that hasn't learned the lessons of "Urban Renewal" in the 60's.

Joe

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Can't forget the 50's either, they removed all the cornices grrrrrrr

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I seriously think the city should stop trying to make a buck out of these city-owned buildings and just give them away to qualified developers interested in restoring them.  As a kid, you must learn to crawl and walk before you run and the same applies to a city, that wishes to make its downtown become a 24/7 vibrant neighborhood.  Detroit officials could learn a lot by looking at the successful revitalization techniques that other city's across the country have done.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That $100,000 wasn't the city trying to a make a buck. It costed the city a lot of money to do their enviromental, stuctural, etc studies on the building. That money would barely cover the money the city put into the building. It actually got the point that neither the city nor HRI was going to invest anymore money into the building. HRI's last proposal wanted a another study of their own but wanted to city to pay for this one at of cost $300,000.

Yes it would break the budget it'd take $40 million from the city check close the gap but that's the not issue. It's a question of profitability, as mentioned its layout is a problem. The large lobbies from its former hotel life is space that must be rehabbed, but won't generate profit. This makes the rents more expensive than what downtown is able to support. If you figure the most recent rehab projects avg. 950/month(Kales, Merchants Row) the Statler's rent if HRI agreed the project would be $1700/month close to 80% more. Even at an avg of $1200 which is the upper end of dotwntown rents it's 40% more. Downtown residential projects have sold sold very well. In fact they sold quicker than expected, but there is a limit to what the market will pay.

Over the past 5 years a number Detroit zip codes have more than 40% increase in property values not one of those zips was downtown. Downtown is certainly due something large, but how long should city wait for that 40% increase to come let alone 80%.

2002 Dowtown Market Anaysis makes for an interesting read

http://www.downtownpartnership.org/data/ma...usingReport.pdf

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Would renovating this aging building kill Detroit's already teetering budget?  :unsure:  And if they do finish remodeling, would some tenant businesses or ppl move in to Statler with those astronomical taxes?  :huh:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The problem is that there is a financial gap between the amount it would cost to renovate the building and the profits the developer would make from developing the building. The city will only offer to bridge so much of the gap. I've heard that the gap for the building was around $40 million. Sure, the city could cough up $40 million to renovate the building, but that would pretty much jepordize any sort of assistance from the city in redeveloping other downtown buildings. If they were to fund the Statler renovation, the Book Cadillac, Metropolitan, Lafer, Lafayette, and any other redevelopment projects where a funding gap occurs would have no chance of happening because the funding would've gone almost exclusively to the Statler renovation.

The question then becomes what to do with the do with the building. The options are to mothball it properly or to demolish it. If the building was mothballed it could be ten years or longer before a serious development proposal comes along. However, during that time the structure would have deteriorated even further, causing the renovation costs to rise exponentially. The other option is to demolish it. The problem with that option is that the city is left with a block long empty lot in the very heart of the city. While the city can ask developers to build a residential tower on the site, it would never have as much mass as the Statler. Even then, there are no guarantees. The Kern Block on Woodward Avenue in the very center of downtown sat vacant for 40 years. 40 years from now, the Statler lot might still be an open field. Either that or the city will settle for some suburban-like development, like vinyl sided townhouses. The city is treading on very thin ice with its mentality about the whole thing. Urban "renewal" like this has been proven not to work time and time again. Yet this is exactly what Detroit is doing. Detroit is trying to clean itself up by making it look like the suburbs. There's no mercy for historic buildings, that's for sure!

The thing that pushed the city to demolish the Statler is that the state is paying for the demolition. They could have waited and tried more agressively to attract developers, but the state funding would have expired by then, and the city would've been left to pay for the demolition by itself. The city's demolition budget is roughly $12 million per year - not nearly enough to demolish everything that needs to be demolished. To demolish the Statler, the city would've used up about half of that budget. The city is already facing a $214,000,000 surplus for the next fiscal year, and 2000 city employees will have to be layed off. Simply put, the city has no money. With 50,000 more people expected to leave the city within the next five years, the toughest times are yet to come.

As much as I'd love to see the Statler saved, it just is not going to happen. It is unfortunate, because it will be a really big shock once the building is gone, since it sits in a key location and is a full block long. Its demolition will totally destroy the urban feeling of Grand Circus Park.

It is time to move on though. Pre-demolition work is underway, and demolition should commence very soon. There are many other historic structures threatened by demolition and neglect in the greater downtown area, and it is time to turn our attention to those buildings.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.