Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Abandoned in 1986 and left to a state of disrepair, the Kales building was renovated
at a cost of $15 million in 2005. The Kales building now houses over 100 luxury
apartments. In 2011, the Kales Building stood at 100 percent occupied.
The short building to the right of the Kales building, tucked behind the trees,
was the Adams Theater. Closed in 1988, the Adams Theater fell into a state of dis-
repair to the point that building could no longer be saved. The Downtown Detroit
Development Authority required investors to save the façade of the building and
allowed them to demolish the rest of it. A new building is slated to go up behind
the façade.
To the right of that building is the Grand Park Centre, which underwent a $7
million renovation in 2000. Grand Park Centre is an offi ce building, but downtown
Detroit has an abundance of offi ce space. As a result, in 2011, the building was only
26.1 percent leased, and 73.9 percent stood vacant.
The building on the far right houses the Fyfe Apartments, named for Richard
H. Fyfe who built a fortune in the shoe trade in Detroit. The building was con-
verted to apartments in 1960 and has functioned as apartments since that time. In
2011, the Fyfe Apartments were 97 percent occupied.
Buildings in the Grand Circus Park neighborhood have garnered millions
in renovation because of the neighborhood's close proximity to the revital-
ized entertainment district in downtown Detroit. Right around the corner from
Grand Circus Park are Comerica Park, Fox Theater, and Ford Field. The property
manager of the Kales Building said the central business district of Detroit is
bouncing back because of the entertainment district. He said it's now tough to
fi nd an apartment in the central business district of Detroit, speculating that
people are drawn to living downtown because of high gas prices and low crime
rates in the central business district. Another real estate developer contended
the main reason rental units are full in Detroit is because so many people have
lost their houses in the mortgage crisis that they are renting now. Across Grand
Circus Park, the Broderick Towers are slated to open after a massive renovation,
which will bring a new shopping complex and more apartments to this revital-
ized neighbo r hood.
Other neighborhoods of the city are not bouncing back as well as apartment
units in Grand Circus Park have. Abandoned high-rise buildings called the ghosts
of Detroit (Fig. 9.2) are joined by empty single-family homes to account for 10,000
abandoned buildings in the city. The population of Detroit rose and fell with the
automobile industry. The population peaked at 1.8 million in 1950, but the 2010
census shows the city's population falling to 713,777.
Empty high-rise offi ce buildings, apartments, government buildings, hotels,
and train depots stand throughout the city like dead trees in a forest. The Lafayette
Building (Fig. 9.2) stood across the street from the topic Cadillac Hotel for nearly a
century. Once home to the offi ces of the Michigan Supreme Court, the Lafayette
closed due to fi nancial woes and lack of tenants in 1997. In the fi rst decade of
the 2000s, the Book Cadillac Hotel received a $200 million renovation, but the
Lafayette fell into a greater state of disrepair. I took this photograph in October
2008, the same month that a portion of the Lafayette fell off the building to the
street below. In 2009, the Detroit City Council voted to demolish the Lafayette,
and in 2010, the city tore down the building.
The Lafayette is not the only building on the chopping block in Detroit. The
mayor of Detroit announced a plan in 2010 to demolish 10,000 abandoned build-
ings and houses in Detroit by 2014.
