 
Deandub11
Member
Username: Deandub11
Post Number: 41
Registered: 05-2006
Posted From: 208.27.111.125
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 - 12:07 pm: |    |
I havent heard much about it recently. When is the decision actually supposed to come down the pipes? |
Mind_field
Member
Username: Mind_field
Post Number: 604
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 68.21.34.179
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 - 12:10 pm: | |
I was just thinking about this recently, Dan Gilbert said back in either April or early May that a decision is about 3 months away.....and here we are 3 months later......waiting. |
Supersport
Member
Username: Supersport
Post Number: 10400
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 64.118.137.226
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 - 12:20 pm: | |
Soon....very soon I am told.  |
Mackinaw
Member
Username: Mackinaw
Post Number: 1955
Registered: 02-2005
Posted From: 70.141.182.158
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 - 12:24 pm: | |
Damnit I can't be waiting this long. Would a candlelight vigil or some kind of demonstration down at the Statler Site help??? Could he truly be on the fence with this--or are they just get PR materials set? |
Mind_field
Member
Username: Mind_field
Post Number: 605
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 68.21.34.179
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 - 1:14 pm: | |
I take it the smiley face means good news for downtown, SS. |
Eric_c
Member
Username: Eric_c
Post Number: 800
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 68.76.202.10
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 - 1:23 pm: | |
The smiley face is ALWAYS good for Downtown!
"Book-Cadillac to be redeveloped" =
"WTVS moving to Wixom" = 
"Cadillac Square Park begins" =
"10K residents leave Detroit per year" =
Now do you see how this works? |
Mind_field
Member
Username: Mind_field
Post Number: 606
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 68.21.34.179
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 - 1:24 pm: | |
I do see a pattern |
Dabirch
Member
Username: Dabirch
Post Number: 1746
Registered: 06-2004
Posted From: 208.44.117.10
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 - 1:36 pm: | |
"Bums jerking each other off on the corner"=
"Transient yuppies moving into the neighborhood with all their disposable income but no real commitment to living in the ghetto"= |
Gistok
Member
Username: Gistok
Post Number: 2519
Registered: 08-2004
Posted From: 4.229.72.26
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 - 1:49 pm: | |
On the thread about the Tiger Train, the Freep article mentioned that Dan Gilbert (owner of Quicken) inspired Atanis Ilitch with the idea for the trains.... and that got me to thinking... maybe Atanis and Dan are good friends. If that is true, then that does bode well for a GCP Quicken HQ site.
Here's a FICTITIOUS conversation between Dan Gilbert and Atanis Ilitch a few months back:
ATANIS: Dan, if you want your employees to be in an exciting work environment, then Grand Circus Park is the place to put your new HQ. The Tuller/United Artists block is mostly owned by my family, and the Statler block is mostly owned by the DEGC. If we get Pieroni and Shapiro (minority owners of the remaining parcels) on board, then you could really do a grand HQ.
DAN: What do you mean Atanis?
ATANIS: Well you could build a HQ that spans both blocks with 2 office towers and a bridge between, sorta like the Atlantis Casino in the Bahama's.
DAN: Wow, I like the sound of that! But I want more than just office and parking for my employees. Peter Karmanos's building (Compuware HQ) has all that, but it still lacks the excitement I am looking for, for my employees. Someplace to not only work, but to live, shop and play.
ATANIS: Wait, you haven't heard the best part... The United Artists Building will remain intact. We'll just put a modern facade onto it to match your HQ. And the theatre will be restored back to its' 2,000 seat accoustic movie palace perfection. You can call it the Quicken Center For the Performing Arts. There's still about 20% of the plasterwork remaining, enought to recreate the other 80%. You can have a corporate auditorium by day, a fabulous over the top performance venue by night. And my family will do the bookings for you!
DAN: Sounds great, but where will my employees live and shop.
ATANIS: The United Artists Building, of course! You can convert it to several hundred appartments on 18 floors. And the first floor of that building and your HQ could be shops and restaurants.
DAN: Wow, but with all this space taken up by offices, restaurants, shops and a theatre.... where will my employees park?
ATANIS: Dan.... can you keep a secret? My family is planning to build a new Hockey Barn just north of your complex and west of the buildings on Park Ave. It'll go to Cass Ave., with an Adams Ave. frontage. We'll build a 5,000 seat parking structure on our Cass-Adams block, just the next block over from your HQ complex. That way in the day time your employees can use the parking structure, and at night your theatre and the arena will use these same spaces. That way we avoid having a lot of huge parking structures littering the area.
DAN: Wow Atanis, that is a great idea!! But I wish there was a way for my employees to get onto the People Mover without going outside to get to a station.
ATANIS: Well, if you build a 2 block HQ with the People Mover running thru the middle, then we should be able to get the city to include a 14th PM stop right in your complex. And if you allow it, we could have a catwalk going from this station going thru your complex northward to the new arena. That way we could both get PM access. And maybe have another catwalk going over to Pieroni's Michigan Building, as an added incentive to get him on board.
DAN: OK Atanis.... where do I sign.... |
Mackinaw
Member
Username: Mackinaw
Post Number: 1959
Registered: 02-2005
Posted From: 70.141.182.158
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 - 1:56 pm: | |
Fictitious yeah right. We know you have Ilitch HQ wiretapped. |
Merchantgander
Member
Username: Merchantgander
Post Number: 2057
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 150.198.150.244
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 - 2:03 pm: | |
quote:On the thread about the Tiger Train, the Freep article mentioned that Dan Gilbert (owner of Quicken) inspired Atanis Ilitch with the idea for the trains.
At least we know where sporto got his inside information. |
Gistok
Member
Username: Gistok
Post Number: 2522
Registered: 08-2004
Posted From: 4.229.72.26
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 - 2:08 pm: | |
LOL.... Shhhhhh, yes I've been to the "8th floor" of 2111 Woodward, but Shhhhhh!!! |
Dialh4hipster
Member
Username: Dialh4hipster
Post Number: 1735
Registered: 11-2004
Posted From: 68.250.205.35
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 - 2:14 pm: | |
That fictitious conversation sounds like an infomercial! |
Gistok
Member
Username: Gistok
Post Number: 2523
Registered: 08-2004
Posted From: 4.229.72.26
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 - 2:17 pm: | |
Yes, but at least there's no British accents in this one!
(Message edited by Gistok on August 01, 2006) |
Detroitej72
Member
Username: Detroitej72
Post Number: 10
Registered: 05-2006
Posted From: 66.184.3.44
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 - 9:06 pm: | |
When i first read about Tiger train and Gilbert's involvement, I wondered if it was a test run for him moving downtown, thus having a limited transit for his suburban employees. Sure would be great if this were the case. |
Bvos
Member
Username: Bvos
Post Number: 1767
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 70.141.182.153
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 - 9:18 pm: | |
Gistok, I'm all on board with you except for the modern facade on the UA. I yelled out loud and jumped in my seat when I read that.
Restore the interior and put modern office/residential space above it, but keep the original exterior. Besides it being really tacky to "modernize" a historic building's facade, it would take away some significant tax credits and equity that could be used to really sweeten the deal. It would be a win-win if the UA were fully restored and someone were able to also add on to it to create a viable reuse of the property.
If this happens it would be the blockbuster, mega-deal of the year/decade for SE Michigan. This would change downtown more than Compuware or the Book Cadillac. It would also get the preservationist off the Illitch family's case and win them over. |
Gistok
Member
Username: Gistok
Post Number: 2532
Registered: 08-2004
Posted From: 4.229.105.90
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 02, 2006 - 12:17 am: | |
Bvos, glad you like my idea...
The reason for changing the facade of the United Artists is that the current facade isn't even the original C. Howard Crane designed facade.
The facade was remodeled in the 1940's. They removed the arcade of Romanesque arches above the 2nd floor windows, as well as the 2 story Romanesque columns that was supporting them. Ditto for the upper floors. The top of the building also had arches around the windows, but these were "modernized" out of existence.
Unlike the rehab to the former Statler, where they removed some urns and balastade along the top, in the United Artists Building a lot of expense was incurred modernizing the facade of the building.
Now we need Hornwrecker to find a picture of the old design...
If you look at the Clifford side of the building, the brickwork has peeled away revealing some of the original architecture. The only thing I'm not sure about is if that side of the building was remodeled or not (in the 1940's). I vaguely remember in the distant past thinking how odd it looked to see arches along the top of that side of the building, while the rest of the building was more modern.
(Message edited by Gistok on August 02, 2006) |
Bvos
Member
Username: Bvos
Post Number: 1773
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 134.215.223.211
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 02, 2006 - 8:25 am: | |
I guess you learn something new every day. I didn't know that the existing facade had been modernized. The vast majority of modernizations tend to be that metal paneling/curtain wall that was so popular in the 50s and 60s or putting sleek polished marble/granite on the ground floor of what was a baroqueish facade (a la the Dime Building).
That must have been one expensive modernization! |
Goat
Member
Username: Goat
Post Number: 8676
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 70.53.96.174
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 02, 2006 - 9:52 am: | |
Not keep'in it real eeer, shit. I mean |