Detroit Photo of the Day

[dnast]

Wow, has it been up that long?

[Allan]

Yep. That photo was taken on February 27th.

[Allan]

Friday, March 4, 2005

The Parker-Webb Building is one of the oldest buildings still standing downtown.

[atperry]

Allan

What s this building used for. It seemed like a perfect example of how great preservation can be. But, as I recall, it's somewhere near the Time Square PM station and surrounded by blight

[Aaron]

Allan

What s this building used for.  It seemed like a perfect example of how great preservation can be.  But, as I recall, it's somewhere near the Time Square PM station and surrounded by blight

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's located at 400 Grand River, which is at Times Square as you said.

[baldy]

and surrounded by blight

More like surrounded by surface parking lots! Across the street from the front is the park, in the picture, you can see the buildings to right on Washington Blvd, to the other side and behind are vast asphalt parking lots. If you take a picture from the opposite corner, it looks like there is nothing around it. Got to love that tear it down and build a parking lot philosophy!

[Allan]

Saturday, March 5, 2005

A shuttered restaurant in the Park Avenue Building on Adams Street.

[Allan]

Sunday, March 6, 2005

New York isn't the only city with a Times Square.

[SNWEB]

New York isn't the only one with a Statler Hotel

but Detroit soon won't have one...

[Allan]

Monday, March 7, 2005

The Penobscot Building from Washington Boulevard.

[Jonzo]

The Penobscot building is definatley the building I think of when I think "skyscraper." Beautiful picture! Where did you take it from?

[Allan]

Where did you take it from?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Washington Boulevard near Michigan.

[detroitfan]

Is there anything in the works for the Park Ave Bldg? I believe they're both owned by the guy who owns the Iodent bldg

[Allan]

Is there anything in the works for the Park Ave Bldg? I believe they're both owned by the guy who owns the Iodent bldg

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

SavetheStatler has talked to the owner of the Iodent Building (Sean Harrington) and the owner of the Park Avenue Building. The Park Avenue Building is not owned by Sean Harrington, but by somebody else. Harrington said that he never owned the Park Avenue, so apparently the papers were wrong. The owner is apparently a slumlord who will sell the building...at a ridiculously high price. There is no recent news on the Park Avenue Building that I know of.

[Allan]

Tuesday, March 8, 2005

Looking up the facade of the recently-renovated Michigan Mutual Building.

[SNWEB]

Nice pic Allan, I have never seen a better pic of the building than yours. Too bad the building was screwed up when it was modernized in the 50s

[detroitfan]

It a shame a about the Park Ave Bldg hopefully Admistrative Hearings is dragging them to court, I found the owner on city assesors site it's some company called Triangle Mgt out of Troy. The city ought to find a way to tax people like this what they're selling the building for, I think Philly does something like this. They and other speculators might think twice about price gouging if it came with a tax bill.

[Allan]

It would be nice if the city could tax the slumlords. How much would you have to tax them to get them to sell?

At least the Park Avenue is mostly sealed from the elements. Although it seems like more broken windows have been showing up lately. Unless I didn't notice them before.

Then there's the Charlevoix Hotel to the north. That is also owned by some guy from Troy. It is one of the oldest tall buildings downtown (1905). The roof is not even strong enough to walk on safely! And to think that the owner probably hasn't had to pay a single fine for the building...

[Allan]

Wednesday, March 9, 2005

The Belle Isle Casino

[detroitfan]

The system is called site-value taxation where the city taxes the land and not the building. The city can base it value off any number factors for instance becuase of the Park Ave Bldgs access public unitles, and entertainment options etc

I looked up the Charlevoix Bldg and it has the same Troy P.O Box as the Park Ave Bldg it's listed to a R Sachs. As of 2002 the building has a cash value 354,600 and 236,300 but the taxable values are only 74,200 and 23,900. That means he pays around 5,300/yr for the PA and 1,700/yr on the Charlevoix. So this guy is getting off pretty cheap, his land is worth far more than the taxable value. Let just say the cash value=land value his taxes would be 25,200/yr and 16,800/yr I guarantee you Sachs would crap a brick if a bill like that came in the mail.

These give a good explanation of the system

http://www.cooperativeindividualism.org/gi...y_taxation.html

http://www.urbantools.net/kunstler.htm

Edited March 9, 2005 by detroitfan

[Allan]

That sounds like an interesting system. And the good thing is that it would generate some much-needed revenue for the city. There's so much red ink these days!

[Allan]

Thursday, March 10, 2005

The firemen at the station on Montcalm Street downtown return from another call.

[Allan]

Friday, March 11, 2005

The Ambassador Bridge from Lafayette Street in Southwest Detroit.

[rbdetsport]

I have never noticed how awesome the Ambassador Bridge is.

[Allan]

Saturday, March 12, 2005 & Sunday, March 13, 2005

You all get a double dose of photos today, since I will be out of town for the remainder of the weekend.

A table in the mechanical room on the 34th floor of Broderick Tower. In the background, a water tank for the building can be seen.

The famous Joe Louis Fist rests at the intersection of Woodward & Jefferson