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DPD headquarters to be renovated

wolverine

By wolverine
in Detroit

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wolverine

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http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...EWS01/604130403

Well, obviously the stadium demo comes as no surprise, but I'm happy to hear about the DPD headquarters as getting renovated. It's definitely a jewel, not to mention a Kahn landmark.

You all know I love preservation, but I'm getting sick and tired of these crappy proposals for tiger stadium, and the people who want to save it have absolutely no sound proposals and are starting to annoy me. From what I hear, the interior is in terrible condition, and the stadium isn't all the architecturally interesting. People should have been shedding more tears for the Olympia than Tiger Stadium. IMO, if we are to save the most important part of it, it would be the field. It could be used for some events, and residential and mixed use retail could surround it. I'm picturing a sort of urban park, baseball oriented that is surrounded by a couple 15-20 story towers, and some low and midrises facing Mich. Ave. It would become a centerpiece of Corktown redevelopment and make it an even more desirable place to live. Additionally, expanding development because of this could better connect Corktown to the downtown.

Your thoughts?

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andrew.w Hamlet

andrew.w

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I would have to agree that there isn't much to value in the stadium's architecture. However, I think it would be intersting for historical purposes to save the field and the corner entrance which could then be worked into a strip of retail and residential along Michigan and Trumbull.

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Zissou Burg

Zissou

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I would have to agree that there isn't much to value in the stadium's architecture. However, I think it would be intersting for historical purposes to save the field and the corner entrance which could then be worked into a strip of retail and residential along Michigan and Trumbull.

I dont think turning the corner entrance into somewhat of a strip mall would be good for the area. From what ive been told the field hasnt been kept up either. Theres very little of that building worth preserving.

I think they should tear down the whole thing and start fresh. Along Michigan they should put up some 3-5 story buildings with ground floor retail and lofts above. It will tie into the area and creat an urban atmosphere. Behind that I wouldnt mind seeing some midrises and I think the focus of this area should be mainly residential with some mixed use thrown in.

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RustTown City

RustTown

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It is hard enough to save old stadiums in other cities, let alone a city facing other huge and more important problems. With that said, though, I hope they save much of the stadium for museums, or to incorporated into what ever goes up on the site. Taking it down responsibily won't be the end of the world, but if they do just tear the entire thing down without saving anything, than I'll have a different view.

It would be cool that whatever goes there could utilize the old field as a courtyard (or at least part of the field) or public park with the retail establishments fronting the streets and ringing the park in, and urban mall, of sorts. Then, all of the parking lots around the stadium could be developed, eventually, into high-rises and mid-rises that could look down into the park/mall. I really like the idea of at least making part of the land for public use.

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andrew.w Hamlet

andrew.w

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I dont think turning the corner entrance into somewhat of a strip mall would be good for the area. From what ive been told the field hasnt been kept up either. Theres very little of that building worth preserving.

I think they should tear down the whole thing and start fresh. Along Michigan they should put up some 3-5 story buildings with ground floor retail and lofts above. It will tie into the area and creat an urban atmosphere. Behind that I wouldnt mind seeing some midrises and I think the focus of this area should be mainly residential with some mixed use thrown in.

I didn't mean strip mall, by "strip" I meant a trational storefront setup with residential above.

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WALD0123 Unincorporated Area

WALD0123

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A while back, there was an article about a proposal for Tiger Stadium in either the News or the Free Press that involved redeveloping the property into loft condos and offices, retail and an athletic club (pie in the sky, no funding, etc.) What interested me about the proposal was the idea of removing the aluminum and returning to an original brick facade. There was a rendering in there that showed the corner as I never remembered it but it looked good. Does anyone recall that proposal or have access to that rendering?

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Cliff19336 Unincorporated Area

Cliff19336

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Regarding the Police Headquarters, I was kind of hoping that they would tear it down so that Greektown could expand to another street. The backside of Greektown (north) is just a parking lot for the DPD. If the Police HQ wasn't there, they could develop the street as more restaurants, bars, shops, etc. Police HQ could go anywhere in the downtown area. What about the current MGM site, since nbo one seems to know what's going on there.

Also, regarding Tiger Stadium. I wrote a letter to Chris Illitch regarding Tiger Stadium. I don't always like everything the Illitchs do but I do think they have the City's best interest at heart. I proposed to him that the Illitch's, Fords and th ePiston's owners should team to gether (no small task) and create a Sports Hall of Fame for Detroit that would be patterned after the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, however it would emphasize video footage instead of audio footage.

Picture this. Each wing of Tiger Stadium would be devoted to one of Detroit's major sports teams. Each wing would contain video retrieval units which would allow the user to pull up the greatest games, players, plays, etc. by sport. So you could look up what Willie Horton did in the old English D or Mark Fidrich, or Hank Greenberg or whoever your favorite player was. Same would hole for football (Charlie Sanders, Barry Sanders, Billy Sims, Milt Plum, Bobby Layne, etc.), hockey (Gordie Howe, Alex Delvecchio, Roger Crozier, Norm Ullman, Stevie Y, etc.. Basketball (Joe D, Zeke, Bily Lambeer, Chaubcey, etc.) Each wing could also contain shops and theme restaurants that apply to that sport.

Let's face it, there are few stadiums in the country that have the kind of history Tiger Stadium does, not even Yanknee Stadium which only had one sport played in it. I thin this woul dbe an incrdible attraction and lord knows, Detroit needs attractions to draw people to the hotels and the Downtown .

ANyway, Chris Illitch was gracious but forwarded my letter to George Jackson, head of Development for the City. He said that the City owns the Stadium and that I should talk to them. I know who owns the stadium. Its just that the City doesn't have any money to make this happen and the Illitch's, Ford's, etc. do.

Your thoughts?

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Zissou Burg

Zissou

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Its an interesting idea. The whole building of Tiger Stadium couldnt be dedicated to such an attraction though, it wouldnt be profitable. Now if you kept the field and built around it or around part of it with residential and retail covering the rest of the site then maybe it would work. We do need a new Michigan sports HOF but your idea might be a tad too grandiose.

And we CANNOT lose the current DPD building to expand Greektown. The structure is of great architectural significance and it would be plain stupid to tear it down for more Greektown. Now if it were incorporated into a development then that would be nice but there is absolutely zero reason to tear it down.

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RustTown City

RustTown

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Or, used for parking for the new residents of tower. That's how things seem to work in the city.

A Michigan Sports Hall of Fame would be much better suited somewhere in downtown proper or Midtown. It is my understanding, that the Corktown neighborhoods wants badly retail and housing at the Tiger Stadium site, and I most definitely agree with that. They really want the site to finally (at least partly) serve the needs of Corktown and North Corktown. I still say save the field (or most of it) as a public park/public square, and either strip the current stadium down to its brick and work some creative retail and housing spaces into it, or get rid of the entire physical structure and still build anew around the field. IMO, the site needs to be "given back" to the neighborhood. With how the Fisher rips through the area now, a "superblock" just doesn't make sense, and especially another flashy tourist attraction.

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BarGal Whistle-Stop

BarGal

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I'm sorry, but just where are the other flashy tourist attractions in Detroit? :huh:

The only "flashy" attractions in Detroit I can think of are the casinos...and they're not exactly family friendly.

I think a sports hall of fame is a great idea for an alternative use of the old stadium. And Corktown would be a great location...there's a lot of sports history there.

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RustTown City

RustTown

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Flashy was definitely a wrong word. What I mean is that Corktown doesn't need another development that is going to effect it in the way Tiger Stadium did. For most of Corktown, I hear, the stadium couldn't be torn down fast enough. A new stadium wasn't just built downtown, the whole idea of Detroit baseball was moved along with it.

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Jonzo Unincorporated Area

Jonzo

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Through U of M, my brother is working with several people on a Corktown/ Tiger Stadium project. He has met with several key city council representatives who have an impact on the stadium. They said that right now the city is waiting to find the most realistic plan for it. So far, the idea of demolishing the stadium and turning it into a park (keeping the diamond and some of the bleachers) is the most plausible. What is being looked for is something that will most benefit corktown residents and preserve the memory of the stadium. Nobody in Corktown wants a new Redwings arena there (although the old saying goes: Illitch gets what Illitch wants), as that will completely destroy all stadium evidence and memory. The stadium as a whole cannot be saved, but pieces can be preserved.

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tomo Whistle-Stop

tomo

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He was referring to the huge parking lot on the other side of greektown that is used by the DPD. If headquarters moved somewhere else, and the building was redeveloped into lofts or something, the giant lot could then be used to expand Greektown.

Since they're gonna have to move the operations of the police hq for 36 months, why couldn't they build a new parking structure on top of that surface lot behind Greektown, with ground floor retail for accomodating more bars, restaurants, and shops, which that area really needs to tie together with Harmonie Park / the rest of downtown. Greektown as it is now is tiny.

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hudkina Burg

hudkina

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Putting a garage there would be a horrible idea, even if it had ground-floor retail. The MGM garage should provide ample parking for the neighborhood. The best thing that could happen to that lot would be to construct replicas of what you see along Monroe St. Not so much in the Disney vein, but rather new buildings that use the same materials and designs that would have been used 120 years ago.

For instance, the red brick building in the foreground is a new construction made to look like something built 100 years ago.

013.jpg

Obviously the buildings along Macomb could have three or more stories, but you get the idea.

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tomo Whistle-Stop

tomo

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Why's that parking lot exist then? I inferred that the DPD needed it where it was. OTOH, it is possible to have the best of both worlds. Say, 3-4 storey buildings of shallow retail/office/false facades covering parking behind. Make the retail deeper or more shallow depending on how much demand for retail there is. There's really few excuses not to have any retail on the ground floor.

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