  Boynamedsue Member Username: Boynamedsue Post Number: 60 Registered: 03-2005 |
http://multimedia.detnews.com/ pix/photogalleries/newsgallery /10142008_fortshelby/ | ||
Tkshreve Member Username: Tkshreve Post Number: 634 Registered: 07-2006 |
Very nice. Are they going contemporary or historical in regards to the public areas. The rooms look somewhere inbetween. | ||
Patrick Member Username: Patrick Post Number: 5702 Registered: 10-2003 |
I wonder if they are going to handpaint over the fading "Hotel Fort Shelby" lettering that faces Fort Street. | ||
401don Member Username: 401don Post Number: 814 Registered: 11-2007 |
Yeah, looks like it should be ready in a few weeks. | ||
Rjlj Member Username: Rjlj Post Number: 713 Registered: 11-2003 |
8 weeks from now is their goal. | ||
Burnsie Member Username: Burnsie Post Number: 1517 Registered: 11-2003 |
8 weeks seems pretty optimistic, given the still pretty raw condition of the big public rooms. | ||
Bob Member Username: Bob Post Number: 1854 Registered: 11-2003 |
Maybe they will open the hotel portions while still finishing the ballrooms/convention facilities. The BC is still opening restaurants and pool even though the hotel and ballrooms are open. | ||
Spiritofdetroit Member Username: Spiritofdetroit Post Number: 1224 Registered: 11-2006 |
The will do everything they can to open it up by the Auto Show - finished or not. Greektown Hotel is going to open whatever floors they have finished for the show as well. | ||
Detroit_pride Member Username: Detroit_pride Post Number: 30 Registered: 02-2008 |
Hotel should be open, by the end of the year. \ The apartments won't be ready and will be open, shortly after the hotel opens. | ||
401don Member Username: 401don Post Number: 815 Registered: 11-2007 |
I was actually joking in my post. It looks a long way from ready. It will probably be a very soft opening in time for the auto show. Probably just the lobby, guest suites, elevator. | ||
Dalangdon Member Username: Dalangdon Post Number: 163 Registered: 03-2006 |
Bump :-) Any news about this next great hotel renaissance? | ||
Johnberk Member Username: Johnberk Post Number: 102 Registered: 11-2003 |
Update in Saturday's Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pb cs.dll/article?AID=/20081115/B IZ/811150414 | ||
Busterwmu Member Username: Busterwmu Post Number: 573 Registered: 09-2004 |
I hope they repaint that old ad on the Fort St. side of the building. Way to make it historical and modern at the same time.  | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 7514 Registered: 08-2004 |
The first link (of the original post to this thread) mentions that "architectural details of the ballroom will be recreated on canvas"... The Book Cadillac had the ornate plasterwork of the ballroom recreated... but it sounds like the Fort Shelby will go the cheaper route, and have stencil work instead (architectural details painted onto a flat surface). | ||
Gnome Member Username: Gnome Post Number: 2112 Registered: 08-2007 |
Does it bug anyone else that the Fort Shelby isn't at Fort and Shelby? It's at Layfayete and Cass... explain that to someone who could not care less about the War of 1812 or General Hull giving up to the Brits. Truly, is there any cache in the name "Fort Shelby" beyond a few Detroitophiles? Do you really think people around the nation are saving their pennies just so they can come to Detroit and stay at the Fort Shelby? | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 6416 Registered: 10-2003 |
Are you seriously whining about the name of the hotel? Misery strikes again. It's an infection. | ||
Bertz Member Username: Bertz Post Number: 558 Registered: 11-2003 |
Just curious, was any of the FS interior salvaged or was it a complete and total gut-out like the BC? | ||
Busterwmu Member Username: Busterwmu Post Number: 577 Registered: 09-2004 |
Gnome - it is named after the Fort at Detroit.... Fort Shelby. Not named for the corner of nearby Fort & Shelby streets... Sorry Gistok! (Message edited by busterwmu on November 16, 2008) | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 7517 Registered: 08-2004 |
Hey Busterwmu... your barking up the wrong tree! Take that issue up with Gnome... I only get annoyed with cheap plasterwork!  | ||
Gnome Member Username: Gnome Post Number: 2117 Registered: 08-2007 |
Hey Buster, yes, I know about Fort Shelby, you know about Fort Shelby and Gistock knows about Fort Shelby. We know there is a hotel in Detroit named after Fort Shelby. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F ort_Shelby_(Michigan) I guess my question is, does anyone else in the general public? But if it makes sense to keep the name around, and eveyone agrees, who am I to argue. It's just a thing that bugs me, like Warren Ave not being near the city of Warren. I guess I'll just have to learn to live with my personal little tragedies. ~sigh~ | ||
Rjlj Member Username: Rjlj Post Number: 746 Registered: 11-2003 |
^^ You must get really confused when you are on Michigan Ave. in Chicago Illinois. How dare they. | ||
Burnsie Member Username: Burnsie Post Number: 1537 Registered: 11-2003 |
Gistok-- I see what you are saying, in that the *technique* of re-creating plaster in the B-C might have been better than what they're doing at the Fort Shelby. But it's also worth clarifying for new readers of this topic that only *some*, probably less than half, of the plaster detail of the B-C Grand Ballroom was recreated. I realize that it was too expensive for Ferchill too 100% recreate the ornament, but there was some "completely restored" talk in the media that was misleading. Perhaps it's most accurate to say that the B-C was *renovated*, in a partially historically inspired manner. It appears that the only interior decor of the BC that's completely original are the railings in the Grand (Venetian) Ballroom. Again, I'm not criticizing Ferchill on this point, but it's also worth pointing out. | ||
Dalangdon Member Username: Dalangdon Post Number: 165 Registered: 03-2006 |
"Do you really think people around the nation are saving their pennies just so they can come to Detroit and stay at the Fort Shelby?" Probably not - but do you really think they're saving those same pennies to stay at a Doubletree? ;-) I'm sympathetic to the idea of keeping the local and regional names. I'm still miffed at Federated for turning our classy-sounding Bon Marche department stores into Macy's. But, as usual, it's all about the bucks - and if they can order a million reams of Doubletree stationary (and soap, and napkins, etc etc etc), instead of 100,000 reams of Fort Shelby stuff, they're going to go with the Doubletree stuff | ||
Peterhuntprincess Member Username: Peterhuntprincess Post Number: 42 Registered: 03-2008 |
I can't find info anywhere about the apartments. Anybody have a link to rental information? | ||
Ltdave Member Username: Ltdave Post Number: 304 Registered: 09-2006 |
thats like having 'Gratiot Ave' anywhere other than in Fort Gratiot, Michigan... or the countless times i hear that Gratiot starts downtown Detroit and goes north-east out past Mt. Clemens... for those who DONT know, Captain (eventually Colonel) Charles Gratiot, Jr, built Fort St. Joseph later renamed Fort Gratiot on the eastern most point of Michigan in Port Huron. he was instructed to build a military road to Detroit, now known as Gratiot Avenue or M-3... | ||
Nickstone Member Username: Nickstone Post Number: 57 Registered: 02-2006 |
just saw in the article that the apartments are starting at 1600... yikes... | ||
Thejesus Member Username: Thejesus Post Number: 610 Registered: 06-2008 |
"just saw in the article that the apartments are starting at 1600..." but how can one complain about price when the the city services you get are unlike any place else in SE Michigan :P | ||
Busterwmu Member Username: Busterwmu Post Number: 439 Registered: 09-2004 |
Historic Fort Shelby Hotel to reopen as Doubletree BY JOHN GALLAGHER • FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER • December 14, 2008 It wasn't so long ago that trees were growing out of the roof of the historic but derelict Fort Shelby Hotel in downtown Detroit. Monday afternoon, the onetime eyesore reopens after three dark decades as the newly remade Doubletree Guest Suites Fort Shelby, the latest of several new or reborn hotels downtown. The $90-million Doubletree joins the Westin Book Cadillac and hotels at the MGM Grand and MotorCity casinos that opened recently. The Greektown Casino Hotel is due to open in early 2009. When the Doubletree throws open its doors at 4 p.m. Monday it will be with little or no fanfare. A grand opening charity event to benefit Ronald McDonald House is to be held in late February. Five guests were booked to stay Monday night as of Friday, said Shannon Dunavent, the Doubletree's general manager. The hotel's new Bearclaw Coffee Co. shop will open Monday afternoon, while the upscale Finn & Porter restaurant will open later in the week. Located on Lafayette between First and Second, the hotel will feature 203 suite-type guest rooms and 56 rental apartments on upper floors. When the housing market recovers, the apartments could be sold as condominiums, much as the upper floors of the Westin Book Cadillac were turned into condos. The Fort Shelby dates to 1916, with a 22-story tower designed by architect Albert Kahn added in 1927. The hotel closed in the 1970s and was thought by many to be a candidate for demolition before Detroit-area real estate investors Emmett Moten, Leo Phillips and others teamed with Doubletree to bring the property back from the dead. Dunavent said she is not deterred by opening the hotel during the worst economic climate in decades. "This is my seventh hotel opening. I've been around 25 years in this industry. And of all my openings, this is one of my openings I feel the most confident about. "I can tell you we really feel that we fill a niche that just has not been delivered here in Detroit, and we know we are going to appeal to people and to businesses because of that." That niche blends the hotel's all-suites format with an upscale restaurant and conference facilities designed to meet the certification standards of the International Association of Conference Centers. "We have a very boutique and a very homey feel, which is what Doubletree represents," Dunavent said. "It's definitely a different style hotel, and that's not something that's been in the city here, and I think that because of that we will stand alone. So I'm not concerned about the economy." Even so, the economy presents a challenge. Chuck Skelton, an Ann Arbor-based hotel consultant with the firm Hospitality Advisors, said the weak economy has softened occupancy rates at downtown hotels this year from about 59%-60% in 2007 to 51%-52% for the first half of this year. But if the economy is weak, the Doubletree, Westin and casino hotels may be able to attract travelers who previously had stayed elsewhere in metro Detroit. "It's too early to tell, but my guess is that some of those new big full-service hotels are going to suck some demand in from the suburbs," Skelton said. And, of course, the Doubletree opens just in time for the North American International Auto Show in January and the SAE World Congress and the NCAA Final Four in early April. Contact JOHN GALLAGHER at 313-222-5173 or gallagher@freepress.com. http://www.freep.com/article/2 0081214/BUSINESS04/812140462 There is also a photo gallery at this link. | ||
Huggybear Member Username: Huggybear Post Number: 267 Registered: 08-2005 |
Impressive. Most impressive. People can gripe all they want about stencil work, but it's the same thing that has been used in European palaces for centuries. I personally am impressed that they saved as much of the original interior as they did. This was a much lower-profile project than the B-C, and the owners seem to have done a good job. | ||
401don Member Username: 401don Post Number: 889 Registered: 11-2007 |
Soft opening is an understatement. I'm not sure how they got 5 guests booked for Monday when their website still says they don't open until Jan. 10. By the way I got a room at the Courtyard downtown on Priceline for Sat. Dec. 27 for 80 bucks. | ||
Designerguy24 Member Username: Designerguy24 Post Number: 155 Registered: 10-2006 |
Anyone going to the opening at 4pm to check it out? | ||
Big_baby_jebus Member Username: Big_baby_jebus Post Number: 20 Registered: 09-2008 |
Take a tour through the Fort Shelby before the renovation. Be sure to view the slide show for all the pictures. http://onlyndetroit.com/ | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 5969 Registered: 08-2004 |
Huggybear... maybe you can point out the thread where anyone at all "griped" about the stencilwork? No one did... Bursnie and I just brought it to everyone's attention... | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 3906 Registered: 10-2003 |
Check this out. I found the site for the apartment towers. The prices are crazy-expensive even for the high-end rental product, if you ask me. Apparently, Fourmidable is managing the property http://fortshelby.com/ | ||
Detroit_stylin Member Username: Detroit_stylin Post Number: 3579 Registered: 10-2003 |
Yeah those are some insane- midtown manhattan type prices.... |
