previously published in the Detroit MetroTimes:
...Now, fast forward another year, and we find that the master plan is paying off, as the Detroit Downtown Development (or is that Demolition?) Authority is loaning the Ilitches $700,000 to demolish the Madison-Lenox so a parking lot can be built.
...Although few are willing to go public and combat the Ilitches on the issue, it is particularly galling to those working to restore other structures to see the city loaning the Ilitch family $700,000 to destroy buildings, especially when the only thing replacing it is a parking lot … oh, wait, correct that, “ a landscaped, lighted and paved parking lot.” Much better.
...According to Ann Arbor builder Fred Beal, who walked through the Madison-Lenox two summers ago with developer Jon Carlson, the $700,000 the Ilitches are getting to demolish the building could go a long way toward stabilizing and preserving the entire structure with windows and a roof, as well as getting started on basic improvements.Carlson was enamored with the building, and was convinced it could be restored. His subsequent calls to Olympia following the inspection, however, were never returned. Carlson tells me he still wants to show Olympia how it could use historical tax credits and other financing tools to preserve the building...
Detroit architect Douglas Mcintosh of Mcintosh & Poris, the incoming president of Preservation Wayne, notes that “if you crunch the numbers, even in the long run, it’s absolutely astounding how foolish it is to tear down the Madison-Lenox and replace it with surface parking.” Mcintosh says he would welcome the opportunity to sit down with the Ilitch organization and make his case.
It’s a sad commentary when a city which purports to be desperate for hotel space, which is welcoming a skeptical Super Bowl crowd here in 2006, would plow this building under and replace it with a surface lot.
It’s even sadder when $700,000 in public funding is loaned to a resource-rich organization like Olympia Development to accomplish this act.
And a parking lot awaits. Et tu, Little Caesar?
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