Woodward Avenue Updates

[detroitfan]

Add the Whitney Bldg to the list of places being worked on now, it looks like they were doing some first floor demolition in the retail spaces. It also seems that two building next door to Eastern Wig are having some work done

[RustTown]

I hear the work for the Whitney is simply to accomodate a SuperBowl party in the atrium. They are also suppossed to be working on the People Mover station, there, which is no connection to the first floor clean-out.

[Allan]

The work at the Whitney is part of the retail readiness program. I do believe that there will be a party in the atrium.

The GCP people mover station will be rebuilt after the Super Bowl to comply with ADA requirements.

The two buildings next to Eastern Wig are also participating in the retail readiness program. They are owned by Sophie, who also owns the Woodward-Clifford Building & the Oslo Building.

[Jin Kim]

Who owns the brownstone looking buidling across John R from Oslo?

[Allan]

An architect by the name of George Petoski...some very expensive lofts on the upper floors of that building.

[RustTown]

What exactly is the Retail Readiness Program? I can't even say that I've heard of it.

[hudkina]

Retail Readiness is a program where the city basically cleans up the first floor shops of several different buildings to make them ready for any prospective retailer to move in immediately. I assume it is more than just an asethic makeover, involving updating of electrical, heating, plumbing, etc. though I don't know how extensive these "clean-ups" are. Some of these newly restored shops will be used temporarily for the Super Bowl, but the city hopes that once the game is over, retailers will look into setting up shop.

[Allan]

Retail Readiness Program:

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:m2dxb.../C01-292511.htm

[Zissou]

The GCP people mover station will be rebuilt after the Super Bowl to comply with ADA requirements.

What are the ADA requirements?

[Allan]

Not sure, though it is not accessible to anyone in a wheelchair...my guess would be that they need to add an elevator and such.

[Jin Kim]

Yes, that's one of the stations that relied on elevator access from within the conjoined building instead of having one of its own.

[Allan]

A new parking garage is going to be constructed at 511 Woodward Avenue to service the Guardian Building. The automated 340 space garage will have ground floor retail.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=7587

[wolverine]

This garage BETTER look good. At least it has ground floor retail. It will help balance out the smaller businesses across the street.

Detroit really needs to be careful on this one. Another garage will be just one more stab to its reputation. My friends from NY and Chicago enjoy making fun of Detroit not because it has abandoned buildings or crime, but a huge amount of parking structures.

Honestly I could care less whether Detroit gets bashed for its large amount of parking structures, it deservers it 100%. Maybe the public will consider walking to work to help remove this reputation

[RustTown]

This is one of the very few times where I think garage is actually needed. Plus, it's taking down a small glass box that will not be missed by most. The Guardian Building has been able to bring up its occupancy, but seems to be stuck, and many speculate it's the lack of parking near it (most other lots near it are filled by other buildings).

But, I agree, they MUST make this one work with the surroundings. I would really like them to clad it in similar brick to that of the Guardian to make it look more like an annex instead of a parking garage, but I'm sure that's just wishful thinking.

But, I really think parking is a good fit at this particular location. The lot is so small that it couldn't be used for much more than that.

[Michi]

Part of Retail Readiness has gutted the first floor or 2 of the David Whitney Building on Woodward. It was too messy to see what was going on there.

[hudkina]

While that building really isn't noticeable, I would prefer that over a parking structure. The 1001 garage proves that even when they try to give a garage greater curb appeal, it falls flat on its face.

[detroitfan]

I gotta disagree 1001 looks good hell it looks better than some real buildings especiallly with the exterior lighting. I'm not too worried about the design it'd be hard to come up with something uglier than what's there now.

[hudkina]

The 1001 Garage looked good until they put up the chicken wire.

[Allan]

They should've installed chicken wire colored to match the rest of the structure. Then at least it wouldn't be quite as obvious.

[wolverine]

It's definitely not impossible to put glass up. I recall seeing a lot of garages with glass windows in LA. Actually, if you can build an underground garage, you can build one with windows. Usually the equipment required to remove exhaust from the building isn't all that expensive.

If we are to see more parking structures go up in the city, I want to see a bigger step. Perhaps some structures that would fit bigger stores that would require 2-3 floors. Usually these units occupy the front of the entire structure. The back is designed to accomodate access ramps and bus parking. Standard parking levels then go above all of that.

[Allan]

The First National Building garage has glass on the windows, as does the Fisher Building garage. They sure look better with glass...it's hard to tell that they are in fact parking structures.

[hudkina]

Why not have a building where the front facade is housing/office space and the back half is a parking structure.

[jsmyers]

Because that parcel is already just the back half. Woodward was widened, knocking down buildings back about 50 years ago. The space is barely big enough for a garage as it is. I agree with your intent though.

[wolverine]

Yeah, it's an incredibly narrow space. My idea I suggested would not work on this parcel, but perhaps somewhere else. Although historically , if Woodward was not widened, it would have fit. The original buildings on that lot were quite sizable though. They had the depth of 600 Woodward across the street. I believe a 10 and a few 3-4 story buildings used to exist on that site. It's amazing what a thriving district used to exist down that way before all the modern tall buildings and garages were built.

[Allan]

Prior to the glass box, the space was home to a few older 4-5 story buildings.

The 11 story building was on the southwest corner of Woodward & Larned...its name is escaping me right now. The Norton Hotel was the other sizeable building on that block. Of course both were demolished to build 1 Woodward.