  Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 7545 Registered: 12-2003 |
I just got this photo gallery forwarded to me from the LP50 group...the folks celebrating the fiftieth year anniversary of the Lafayette Park development. Beautiful work from yet another digital camera artist...never knew there were so many tulips around the park. Must be that Dutch Dave fellow running around...sewing his wild seed. Enjoy. | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 7546 Registered: 12-2003 |
Oh yeah, this is courtesy of Johnny Jenkins, the artist who framed the shots and pressed the magic button. Used with permission. | ||
Gianni Member Username: Gianni Post Number: 259 Registered: 05-2004 |
Thanks Gannon Nice shots. Btw we don't usually have a waterfall unless the water main breaks. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 4597 Registered: 11-2003 |
Thanks Gannon. jjaba exspecially loves the flowering fruit trees like plum, apricot, and cherry. jjaba, on the Westside. | ||
Michmeister Member Username: Michmeister Post Number: 32 Registered: 10-2006 |
No people walking around. On purpose? Very nice pics. | ||
Schoolcraft Member Username: Schoolcraft Post Number: 15 Registered: 07-2005 |
Wow, awesome pics and thanks.Almost driven to tears... as I sit and look 2000 miles away recalling all the memories.5,10,15, 20 no...22 years ago...damn...while stumbling into this hidden oasis I had never seen before......... on A Springtime Saturday afternoon with everything blooming to go on a first date with a girl I just recently met....Wow..and she is still to this day my better half even though I gain some ground on her every 5 years or so. Cheers | ||
Spaceboykelly Member Username: Spaceboykelly Post Number: 188 Registered: 04-2005 |
My professor lives in one of the Lafayette Park townhouses and she is throwing an end-of-the-semester party for us at her place. I'm very excited to go, being that I've never seen the insides of any of the townhouses before. | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 7578 Registered: 12-2003 |
Schoolcraft! Great story...thanks. (welcome) I certainly will be adding the Park area to my running routes in the springtime...stunning beauty only a half-mile away that I truly know nothing about directly... Gianni, Heh, we'll have to find out about that waterfall pic, then! | ||
Detroitstar Member Username: Detroitstar Post Number: 364 Registered: 01-2006 |
Got word that they are finally going to wash windows here at Lafayette Towers. I've been here 4 months and had the same annoying bird crap on my window the entire time. It's frustrating to see 1300 getting their windows done every 2 weeks. | ||
Dhugger Member Username: Dhugger Post Number: 118 Registered: 03-2005 |
The photo essay makes me day dream about moving to Lafayette Park. I have always been interested in seeing the inside of the Albert Kahn town homes. How would one find out about availability of these properties? | ||
Neilr Member Username: Neilr Post Number: 404 Registered: 06-2005 |
Dhugger, they were designed by Mies van der Rohe. Vasileff Reality (259-3131) handles most; but not all, of the sales. As a part of our celebrating our 50th Anniversary as a neighborhood, we have put on a number of tours this past year. I expect that there will be more in the Springtime. | ||
Cman710 Member Username: Cman710 Post Number: 86 Registered: 07-2006 |
Any pictures of the townhomes online? I would love to take a look at them. | ||
Imperfectly Member Username: Imperfectly Post Number: 166 Registered: 06-2004 |
I believe you can find pics of the townhouses on Detroit Urban Living also on Vasileffs website. Would have liked to see pics of the building I live in on there !!! Leland Lofts are an old school converted into loft spaces. | ||
Blondy Member Username: Blondy Post Number: 1101 Registered: 10-2003 |
My Lafayette Park townhome is for sale.....someone buy it please! Very reasonably priced at $115,000. I feel it is the nicest neighborhood in the downtown area. I love it there! | ||
Cmubryan Member Username: Cmubryan Post Number: 326 Registered: 11-2003 |
Blondy, Please email me at bchamburger@aol.com with more info on your townhome. I currently am next door at The Pavilion but am looking to purchase something in the near future. | ||
Schoolcraft Member Username: Schoolcraft Post Number: 16 Registered: 07-2005 |
Thanks Gannon! One other great memory I have from Lafayette Park and the mid-80s (Hoping I wasnt too sappy with my previous post)is sitting in future wifes families townhome at the time just hanging with her family...And hearing a piano being played right next door thru the walls..(the co-ops walls are connected)banging out a motown song...recalling I said something like"That sounds great" That song is" I heard it thru the Grapevine"(catchy little tune you all may have heard of)Someone in the room joked "Yeah, you heard it thru the grapevine"and now even "heard it thru ourliving room walls as well".."I laughed, then was properly schooled as to who this was actually playing this song..."He probably wrote it and 1 or 3 others you may have heard before" they said. I was by this time completely freaked out in a great way" This was Earl Van Dyke, Motown legend just jammin on his piano... Link to his bio http://www.answers.com/topic/e arl-van-dyke Legend and longtime Lafayette Park resident. May God rest his soul. | ||
Neilr Member Username: Neilr Post Number: 405 Registered: 06-2005 |
Diana Ross (1300), Stevie Wonder (Parc Lafayette), Barry Gordy, Sarkis Sarkasian, Jackie Feigenson, Sonny Eliot, and George Perriot are among the Detroit cultural legends whose former homes I point out on the neighborhood tours. | ||
Schoolcraft Member Username: Schoolcraft Post Number: 17 Registered: 07-2005 |
Neil Thanks and you must tell me more how I can book one of your tours next time I am in the city. They sound great! | ||
Gianni Member Username: Gianni Post Number: 261 Registered: 05-2004 |
Another great thing about the neighborhood is Chrysler Elementary, one of the best if not the best elementary school in DPS. I know, I have two kids there, one who has gone K through 5 and is now about to "graduate." Here's perhaps the best part: School starts at 8:15; we leave the house at 8:15 and make it on time; we walk; and we never have to cross the street. | ||
Detroitstar Member Username: Detroitstar Post Number: 366 Registered: 01-2006 |
Gianni, I met a couple of teachers from there recently. They both seemed about as interested in their students as any public school teachers I've met- regardless of level. | ||
Spidergirl Member Username: Spidergirl Post Number: 247 Registered: 12-2004 |
Blondy - couple questions about the association fees (if you can answer here): 1 - How much of it goes to the principle/interest of the original mortgage? 2 - How long until that's paid off? | ||
Spidergirl Member Username: Spidergirl Post Number: 249 Registered: 12-2004 |
Bump... | ||
Rsa Member Username: Rsa Post Number: 983 Registered: 10-2003 |
that's a great question spidergirl; i've never thought about it. mrs. rsa and i are looking and are investigating the area. i can tell you that the association fee includes garbage service, security (patrols), snow removal, landscaping, maintenance, major repairs, and taxes. the fees range between around $675 - $725 and i've seen them as high as $1,085 for a fully renovated, 4 bedroom, courtyard unit. given all this information, i would assume that it is a longer master mortgage and is a minor part of the fee. but that's just an assumption. we live in that area right now (renting) and love it. it truly is a hidden gem of the d. | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 7624 Registered: 12-2003 |
There MUST be a higher association fee for those units that dug the geo-thermal well... | ||
Rsa Member Username: Rsa Post Number: 984 Registered: 10-2003 |
not to my understanding gannon; i believe the owners that installed those paid for the it themselves. therefore, they are reaping the lower utility cost. plus, it adds more equity into their own unit. | ||
Blondy Member Username: Blondy Post Number: 1102 Registered: 10-2003 |
1 - How much of it goes to the principle/interest of the original mortgage? - I have no clue, sorry. 2 - How long until that's paid off? - Again, no idea. | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 7639 Registered: 12-2003 |
Rsa, I'd like to investigate that system. They could do it relatively cheap, because the units were plumbed for steam heat from a common boiler anyways, right?! It could work for some of the high-rises on the old community steam system here! Wouldn't it be cool if more projects like the Vinton were eco-friendly?! I remember one story about a Catholic nun retirement rectory down in Monroe that went wild green...that is the only way to insure against slavery to the utility companies. | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 7640 Registered: 12-2003 |
Of course, finding the well diggers eager to work in the city might be tough. Heh. You'd never need to buy road salt again. | ||
Gianni Member Username: Gianni Post Number: 262 Registered: 05-2004 |
Regarding the master mortgage issue: it depends on the coop. There are actually four separately incorporated coops, Lafayette, Nicolet, Joliet and Lasalle. Lafayette is the northernmost and was built first, the others, going south, were built later with Lasalle last, finished I think around 1959-60. Each has its own Board of Directors and is separately run, and each Board decides how much to spend on improvements, whether to pay off the mortgage or refinance, etc. Originally they all had HUD mortgages. Lasalle paid its HUD 40 year mortgage off several years ago. But that doesn't necessarily mean the assessment goes down, because new capital expenses (like the geothermal heating at Lafayette) or new windows, new furnaces, new brick walls are usually financed with another mortgage. At Lasalle, I don't know the exact figures, but our last loan which was not that large is almost paid off, so I'm thinking less than $100 of the assessment is for the mortgage and only the interest part of that is deductible. The other coops are different. I don't know the details but I think Lafayette probably has the biggest loan (and the biggest assessment) because they did a lot of work in the last few years. Geothermal plus replacing all the window walls (not just the glass but the whole curtain wall frame). Probably about one third of the assessment is taxes. In a coop you don't pay property taxes individually, it's paid by the coop and passed through. The rest goes for security, insurance, grounds maintenance, water, garbage removal, landscaping, snow removal, and general maintenance for everything from the furnace to a leaky sink. | ||
Dhugger Member Username: Dhugger Post Number: 129 Registered: 03-2005 |
Neilr thanks for the correction regarding Mies van der Rohe design. Blondy do you have your town home listed in the classified here & on Craigslist? I surf both of these sites regularly. Pictures inside & out might be helpful attracting buyers. |
