Great Job Detroit!
Detroiters must feel really proud to be part of a city that can make international news with needless distruction based on a pack of lies.
The Ilitches, who own hockey’s Detroit Red Wings, baseball’s Detroit Tigers and the Little Caesar pizza chain, have said that they thoroughly investigated the possibility of restoring the Madison-Lenox and that it would not be viable. They say they have received no serious offers from potential developers.
This city disgusts me.
Judge Allows Demolition of Detroit Hotel
Madison-Lenox Hotel – America’s Most Endangered Historic Places
DetroitBlog – Dust in the Wind, Eve of Destruction
DetroitFunk – Madison-Lenox Video
DetroitFunk – Kwame the Destroyer
DetroitFunk – Madison-Lenox Attacked
Notes from Away – Depression, angry and grumpiness
Notes from Away – It Is Gone
Notes from Away – There is No Fight
Notes from Away – Demolition Day
It’s amazing how many news agencies ran this story (the UK Guardian?!). Run a Google News search with Madison Lenox as the search term. The results are really quite surprising. Is it safe to deduce the significance of a building based on the scope of its media coverage? At the moment, I’m really running low on hope for Detroit…
http://photos2.flickr.com/1447706_2f9c5a3689.jpg
Holy crap is Ilitch a douchebag.
I don’t know many of the details of how the decision to demolish the M-L was reached, so here’s my question. Since the Illitches are obviously savvy business people, who would they chose to destroy this building and replace it with 82 parking spots if the above statement were true? If it really were a potentially “valuable asset”, why didn’t anyone come forward with a viable proposal? If the above claims were true, the refurbished M-L would be far more profitable than a parking lot and the Illitches would have had no reason to demolish the building, right?? (Also, there seem to be some conflicting opinions about the condition of the structure.)
I can’t speak directly about the Madison-Lenox but I do know the city of Detroit had developers approach them about the Hudson’s building. One of the developers (Devon would probably know his name) worked with Cleveland on quite a few historic structure projects successfully. The city of Detroit turned him down and instead went with the demolition without even naming a developer. It cost $12-15 million to implode the building. Here’s an interesting quote about the subject:
NationalTrust.org
I know the Hudson’s building isn’t the Madison-Lenox but I can’t help to think there might be a similar situation occurring. The Illitches may be getting pressure/incentives from the city (proximity to the stadiums, Super Bowl anyone?), or just be thinking of short-term gains.
I look at in simple terms. It’s cheaper in the long run (and better for the environment) to recycle newspapers than cut down trees. Why wouldn’t it be cheaper to rehabilitate a structure? The material is there, right? Plus, when you start hearing statements about a structure’s foundation not being “sound” I get suspicious. Usually phrases like “eyesore” follow. It’s just propaganda browbeaten by the owner/city’s agenda.
Devon’s the preservationist here. Maybe he can expand.
One last note, if the Illitches are so savvy why does Little Caesar’s Pizza suck so bad?! Kidding…
Ilitch wants the easy money from parking. And there were developers interested in the MadLen. Besides Ilitch is also doing a good job of neglecting his other buildings including United Artist.
I think you’re probably right with the Super Bowl angle, Randy. But that just explains the timing of the demolition. The building was in the same condition for years before the Super Bowl was even announced and obviously no one came up with a good enough proposal then either. And yeah, there may have been developers interested, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they presented a good plan. I refuse to believe that Illitch opted for parking money over a feasible refurbishment plan. He might make a few bucks on a parking structure, but he would have made a whole lot more if a bustling multi-purpose facility had been constructed. And the Illitches have a vested interest in the well-being of the city – look at all the other real estate they own in that neighborhood – so revitalizing the M-L would only have helped their other holdings. Perhaps the sad truth is that the economic DEMAND for this building to be “recycled” just didn’t exist. Pouring a bunch of money into a development project that (relatively)no one would utilize is just as wasteful as knocking down a historic building.
By the way, I think the fact that they’ve sold so much of that lousy ass pizza proves that they must be doing something right on the business side…
To the best of my knowledge, there were at least a few prospective developers (similar to the Hudson Building and the Statler Hotel). Pizza Man would rather have a surface lot that could later be transformed into a high income producing structure. Heard that one before? Take a look around Detroit… we really don’t need more surface parking. Kwame wanted this building to come down.
Keep in mind, Illitch owns much more property downtown. He’s basically running his properties into the ground.
I share these sentiments:
– Poste by “Anonymous” on Detroit Funk
Tony, maybe it wasn’t economically viable to rehabilitate the Madison-Lenox immediately, or even in the near future. It WAS economically viable to destroy most of Corktown in the 1960’s with the Lodge Fwy., light industry, and offices. Sure, those Corktown moves created jobs at the time and even sustained the city through some of the worst urban sprawl the rust belt has ever seen, but look at Corktown today… Look at urban sprawl today. Destroying neighborhoods to bring suburban commuters in faster doesn’t make any sense to a city’s prolonged existence.
The Illitches may be telling the truth. They may have not seen economic benefits in preservation. That doesn’t mean the decision to turn a beautiful structure into a parking lot is a good one.
The city of Detroit can’t depend on developers to make sound decisions about the future of the city. Just because the Illitches have a vested interest in Detroit doesn’t mean they have an interest in her residents.
But in this case, we’re talking about the destruction of one unused building, not a thriving neighborhood.
As unpleasant as it may sound, there MUST be economic benefit for a property owner to be willing to sink a bunch of money into a rehabilitation project or to leave standing a building that has been essentially useless for years instead of trying to salvage something from the land – which is what the parking lot will accomplish. Don’t forget, the building sat for years and no one could come up with a legitimate plan to revive it. If you think that’s not true, you’re implying that the Illitches walked away from such a plan because they PREFERRED to turn the place into a parking lot…I just don’t buy it. Also, this handful of parking spots will be used by attendees of the Fox, Comerica Park, and other Illitch holdings – this is a guy who has put millions, maybe billions of dollars into the city and has shown that he is willing to renovate old buildings when it makes sense to do so or build new ones if necessary. It’s not like the Illitches have a fetish for turning urban property into parking lots. How can the city ask them to preserve and protect a useless old building when they could at least generate some income from the property until someone proposes a real plan to use the land in a way that actually enriches the city? I just don’t think Illitch is the villain here.
Furthermore, what have the Illitches really done to harm the residents of the city? Comerica Park? Casino gambling? Weren’t they both approved via referendums? They and the citizens of the city both have everything to gain from a revival of the city’s downtown area. Seriously, if I’m wrong on this point, tell me how…
Finally, the city has no choice but to depend on private developers – they can hardly even afford to run the buses. If these developers don’t do anything to increase property values, the city will have a hard time offsetting the decrease in tax revenue caused by the steadily declining population.
Even if the Illitches received a viable plan, restoring the building is a long-term investment that the city was pledging against. Kilpatrick wanted the building to come down. He negotiated with the Illitches with that goal clearly in mind. If the building was renovated it would have taken years to finish and years to fill.
With the mismanagement of funds the city currently suffers from Casinos and Comerica Park have done very little for the residents of the city. Illitch has no reason to care for the citizens of Detroit. As long as white suburbanites continue to skip down the freeway toward downtown, past the blight, past what a city is really about (neighborhoods), he’s happy. The suburbs are where the money is. I don’t blame him, he’s a business man. His interest is money not the people of Detroit and as long as he continues to convey a good public image for the suburbs he’ll be fine.
Yes, the city must depend on developers to develop, but they must not depend on them to plan. What the city needs is urban renewal outside of the central business district. The downtown area is doing fine. Greektown thrives, people gamble, people go to games, catch the orchestra, opera, bars, shows, etc… But what happens north of New Center? West of Woodbrige? East of the Medical Center and Eastern Market?
This discussion has gotten very convoluted. The only thing I’m upset with is the Madison-Lenox was a beautiful century old structure that could have been converted into a parking lot like the Michigan Theatre. If they couldn’t use the entire structure, at least they could have saved the facade. Instead, it was torn down without any creative foresight to keep Detroit unique.
Illitch might not truly care about the people of Detroit, but that doesn’t mean he’s done them any harm (I know you never made that claim). His interests – attracting people to the city, generating reveune – just happen to be things that COULD be beneficial to the citizens, if the funds were handled properly.
“Yes, the city must depend on developers to develop, but they must not depend on them to plan. What the city needs is urban renewal outside of the central business district. The downtown area is doing fine. Greektown thrives, people gamble, people go to games, catch the orchestra, opera, bars, shows, etc… But what happens north of New Center? West of Woodbrige? East of the Medical Center and Eastern Market?”
The downtown area is doing somewhat better than most of the residential neighborhoods, but there’s still a startling number of vacant buildings where there was once prosperity. But I know what you’re getting at. And I have no idea how to revitalize neighborhoods where the homes are in ruin, the schools are poor, the services are lacking, taxes are high, you name it. Is it even possible?
I agree that it would have been nice to see the hotel salvaged in some way. By the way, you mentioned that the city turned down proposals to restore the Hudson’s building, but a portion of the warehouse was used in the construction of Ford Field. This is similar to what you suggested for the Madison-Lenox. Even more prominent, in fact.
I think it’s possible with bright creative minds. But with events like this I think the city is pushing those minds out. Gentrification (I’m not condoning the practice of displacing the poor) has happened in other dilapidated rust belt cities with great success. I used to be really optimistic when I lived in Detroit that things would turn around. Maybe it’s the Kilpatrick administration or the cynicism of the media but lately I’ve lost a lot of that optimism.
What’s really sad is that much of Detroit’s appeal comes from its historic architecture in the downtown. Because of historical circumstances, Detroit missed a lot of the “urban renewal” programs that swept American cities of their pre-WWII architecture. You’d think “Detroit” would learn from the history – and follies- of other cities. The problem with Detroit is that THERE IS NO REAL PLAN for development/preservation/planning. Everything is spread out, with no apparent sign of an intelligent strategy. I mean, so much is contingent on the forthcoming Super Bowl. The city should be focusing on nodes, not selective development in numerous “unrelated” areas. Arr, I can’t even articulate my frustrations. Big news, however, is on the horizon. Keep your eyes peeled open for an upcoming press release….
PS. I really miss Zoots. A random thought, yet one worth sharing.