Detroit Clears way for Redevelopment of Book-Cadillac & Fort-Shelby Hotels

[jbr12]

Amway Grand in GR has outdoor rec area as well. Its not on their parking garage, but its a great use of roof space. The occasional tennis ball flies down onto cars below, which is always fun

[RustTown]

Speak of the devil. I sent a email out to the development group expecting nothing in reply, and they got back to me, this night/day.

Here's what I've been told, thus far, concerning the very raw/tentative plans for the B-C Garage Project.

1. The tentative name is "Griswold ~ Capitol Park" and Roxbury has just gotten into the design and engineering phases of the project. I just don't know how much I can stress how early this still is.

2. The parking garage is to have 10 levels, with only 5 levels of condos stacked atop (3 less than I predicted).

3. The 80 units will all have terraced balconies, and the whole tower-garage is being designed to pay homage to the design of the Book Cadillac across the street.

4. The construction start is tentatively scheduled for Spring 2007 with a move in date of Fall 2008.

I hope for more information over the coming months.

[kavok]

Speak of the devil. I sent a email out to the development group expecting nothing in reply, and they got back to me, this night/day.

Here's what I've been told, thus far, concerning the very raw/tentative plans for the B-C Garage Project.

1. The tentative name is "Griswold ~ Capitol Park" and Roxbury has just gotten into the design and engineering phases of the project. I just don't know how much I can stress how early this still is.

2. The parking garage is to have 10 levels, with only 5 levels of condos stacked atop (3 less than I predicted).

3. The 80 units will all have terraced balconies, and the whole tower-garage is being designed to pay homage to the design of the Book Cadillac across the street.

4. The construction start is tentatively scheduled for Spring 2007 with a move in date of Fall 2008.

I hope for more information over the coming months.

[Zissou]

10 and 5 for a total of 15.

[RustTown]

Yes, read "stacked atop" to get 15 floors total.

I got a few additional pieces of information, today, and that's that the structure will stretch the entire frontage of Michigan (i.e. from Shelby to Griswold), so it will most likely be longer than it is tall. I was also told that the main entrance will be on Griswold, as they want to brand Capitol Park as a luxury residential district, and that though they don't have any official say over what the garage portion of this will look like (as it's being developed by the DEGC), from what they've seen it looks more like a building than a garage, and that it's lightly colored to try and match, somewhat, the facade of the B-C.

Sounds interesting, huh?

[Jasoncw]

Yeah, having two groups doing the designs like that will be interesting. That will make it harder for the design to be good, but hopefully they'll do a good job.

Also, I guess this means that they are interested in doing stuff in Capitol park, which is really nice. Capitol park is shady, but it shouldn't be.

[statedude3]

If they want to brand Capitol Park as a luxury residential district they better throw some money to other projects and buildings in that area because this alone will not do much at all for that struggling area.

[RustTown]

Well, I'm sure what they mean is that they hope the B-C and their project can become a catalyst for the revitalization of the park, not that they are going to do any future development around it. They've already done more than their part by having offices in the David Stott (when they could have chosen anywhere else), and then proposing this structure.

[Michi]

Yeah, having two groups doing the designs like that will be interesting. That will make it harder for the design to be good, but hopefully they'll do a good job.

Also, I guess this means that they are interested in doing stuff in Capitol park, which is really nice. Capitol park is shady, but it shouldn't be.

[RustTown]

15 years? lol

[Michi]

Cynicism hard at work.

Then again, how did we determine we converted measurements of time into Detroit time? Isn't it something like, "for every two years, add another 3"?

[dtown]

lol! Im exited to hear that the deck will look like a real building.

Speaking of the bus terminal, when is that supposed to actually get done?

[wolverine]

Cynicism hard at work.

Then again, how did we determine we converted measurements of time into Detroit time? Isn't it something like, "for every two years, add another 3"?

[Michi]

You are turning into me.

[Allan]

It looks like the financing for the Fort Shelby has been finalized. If things progress like they say in the article, 2007 will see the construction of the Fort Shelby, Book Cadillac, and Broderick all happening simultaneously.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic...1/BIZ/612210358

[wolverine]

I'm going to stay at the Doubletree Fort Shelby to eat all their signature cookies in the lobby.

[rbdetsport]

A little offtopic, but when does the construction at the Broderick actually start?

[resourcefulidiot]

supposedly in the spring, but we'll see

[Allan]

It appears that the redevelopment deal on the Fort Shelby could close as early as Wednesday.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic...0/BIZ/704300304

[TheDetroitCity99]

wow great find, always good to hear of restorations, and developments downtown!!

[tobias]

Does anyone have a pic of Fort-Shelby for us out-of-towners?

[hudkina]

Here's a pick posted by Allan awhile ago.

Here's a pic of what it looked like when it was first built. It is from www.forgottendetroit.com:

[Allan]

http://www.forgottendetroit.com/fsh/index.html

[wolverine]

Here's a good picture of it http://flickr.com/photos/snweb/168578442/

It's the red brick structure (both the tall and short buildings)

EDIT: Allan you beat me by seconds

[hudkina]

and I beat you both.