  623kraw Member Username: 623kraw Post Number: 906 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.41.224.200 |
Does anyone know who owns the Metropolitan Building and its current status? | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 3769 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 24.11.154.56 |
I think it's owned by the Larson Group, who've proposed to turn the building into lofts, but that proposal is years old. They'd also proposed a small residential mid-rise on Broadway a few years ago that never went beyond the planning stages. | ||
623kraw Member Username: 623kraw Post Number: 908 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.41.224.200 |
Thanx Lmich... | ||
Llyn Member Username: Llyn Post Number: 1542 Registered: 06-2004 Posted From: 68.61.197.206 |
I'm not sure if they own it or if the city owns it and Larson just has a development agreement. At one point it seemed close to starting. Apparently the hangup was parking? | ||
Adamjab19 Member Username: Adamjab19 Post Number: 663 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 24.192.148.148 |
Hang up on parking? That is the one area in town with absolutely enough parking. GCP garage, Compuware garages, CVS garage, Merchants garage, Opera house garage not too mention the little dirt space they could put some elevator racks in or something....start the development already! | ||
Itsjeff Member Username: Itsjeff Post Number: 5910 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 69.242.213.167 |
Owned by the Planning and Development Department of the City of Detroit. From prior postings here, I believe the Metropolitan Building's problems are parking and an unusually low ceiling height (which interferes with HVAC/sprinkler.) | ||
Rbdetsport Member Username: Rbdetsport Post Number: 100 Registered: 11-2005 Posted From: 68.61.11.146 |
Also, who wants to live in a loft looking at the deterioted back of a building. Only the front would be good for lofts. They could put the elevators in the back and make 2 units per floor so that each unit has its own windows. | ||
Livedog2 Member Username: Livedog2 Post Number: 285 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 24.223.133.177 |
Lofts! Ha! If half the proposed lofts were built and half of them were rented but not to ADC mothers the city might have some cash paying tax payers. Every time I hear old building and loft in the same sentence I laugh. Loft and old buildings have become a cliché. What’s wrong with accepting the fact that everything is born, lives and dies? Including old buildings and the cities they are located in like Detroit. It’s time to move on with it and either renovate or get rid of these old buildings. The detroitblog guy has photographed all of them inside and out and then he can open up a museum of Old Detroit Architecture where everyone that is grieving for all these old buildings can go and start a support group. Maybe even a 12 Step Support Group – it can be called Old Buildings Anonymous. They can have a creed that starts of something like “We admitted we were powerless over Old Buildings - that our lives had become unmanageable.” Things die, people die let the dead parts of the city die and build new structures. I love the city just as much as anyone but it’s the natural progression of things. Detroit’s natural progression was quicker than others is all.  Livedog2 | ||
Haydenth Member Username: Haydenth Post Number: 51 Registered: 05-2005 Posted From: 69.215.77.146 |
Wow. That's an horribly depressing reply to a simple inquiry. | ||
Livedog2 Member Username: Livedog2 Post Number: 286 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 24.223.133.177 |
Sorry that's just the way I see it! Its not personal!! I love the city, too!!! Livedog2 | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 3771 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 24.11.154.56 |
Thanks for the correction, Jeff. The building odd shape/floors plates definitely don't help, either. This is one building which I think would work as a small office/retail building, again. Residential reuse seems pretty impratical, to me. I completely disagree with you, Livedog, saying that it can't (or even implying that it shouldn't) be reused. Enough has been torn down that could fill an entire small city's downtown. Detroit's downtown core is one core where there is more than enough room for infill as so much as been lossed. The Metropolitan Building is also shapped so oddly that if knocked down, the lot would probably never get built on, and wouldn't even be useful for much parking. It's not as if it's in a location where it's impeding progress. I guess what I'm saying is that the best use for the lot (the best way maximize the potential) calls for a renovation of the building, not a demolition. | ||
Dougw Member Username: Dougw Post Number: 1151 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 68.73.202.124 |
Fortunately, those who share Livedog's opinion typically do not live in the city nor are directly involved in the CBD, so they can be safely ignored. | ||
Itsjeff Member Username: Itsjeff Post Number: 5911 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 69.242.213.167 |
Lofts! Ha! If half the proposed lofts were built and half of them were rented but not to ADC mothers the city might have some cash paying tax payers. It's my observation that the majority of proposed loft converstions either have or will come to fruition and, at $1000 a month, very few are going to "ADC mothers." | ||
Cynknight Member Username: Cynknight Post Number: 67 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 69.209.179.203 |
Livedog, I respect your right to your opinion, but can I ask if you've ever been to Europe? By and large Europeans have a great deal of respect for their architecture, and I'd guess quite a bit of it is well over 100 years old. People there often live and work and worship in buildings that can be marked by centuries, not decades. Only in the U.S.A. does something become old and obsolete so quickly. You said "It’s time to move on with it and either renovate or get rid of these old buildings" - exactly! Turning old buildings into lofts IS renovation/reuse of existing structures. Guess we agree after all?  | ||
Royce Member Username: Royce Post Number: 1617 Registered: 07-2004 Posted From: 69.215.66.87 |
Without starting a new thread, and since the Wurlitzer is next door to the Metropolitan. What's going on with the Wurlitzer? The construction trailer has been gone for awhile and no activity appears to be going on. What's the latest? BTW, I just posted this post at 12:19 a.m. Monday. Yet the forum time says 11:21 p.m. Sunday. What gives? (Message edited by royce on May 21, 2006) | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 2135 Registered: 08-2004 Posted From: 4.229.3.90 |
Livedog2.... I think its time to get you a subscription to the National Trust Magazine.... we need to win you over!! We are the collective.... we will assimilate... resistance is futile.... (Message edited by Gistok on May 21, 2006) | ||
Livedog2 Member Username: Livedog2 Post Number: 289 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 24.223.133.177 |
"Livedog2.... I think its time to get you a subscription to the National Trust Magazine.... we need to win you over!!" I accept, Gistok! Have my subscription posted on DetroitYes which is my new mailing address. I guess I just spent too much time in Houston shooting at liberals! +<(:-)~ It's all catching up with me now. lol...  Livedog2 | ||
Toolbox Member Username: Toolbox Post Number: 911 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 66.184.29.148 |
Nothing is going on at the Wurlitzer. The trailer was for the YMCA jobsite. |
