Over two and a half years ago Shield's Pizza announced their return to the city after an absence of two decades. Work began in the lobby of the Kales building, but as the months went by, numerous opening day announcements went unmet.In June of 2008 Owner Paul Andoni addressed the delays. Apparently, construction stalled due to an issue with the exhaust ventilation that necessitated the installation of a 19-story shaft to the roof. At that time it Andoni stated that the restaurant would open by mid-September.
Nearly a year later, it is apparent that no further work has been done on the restaurant. At the begining of April the site was in the same unfinished state that it had been when Andoni made his most recent proclimation. A sign on the door states "construction has been haulted." It remains to be seen if Shield's will ever return to downtown Detroit.
2 comments:
I live in the Kales building and it looks like there is activity again in Shield's! According to the Shield's website, the 76 W Adams Ave location is opening soon! Anyone have any details?
I guess I can understand how having to install a 19 story vent for a pizza oven would be a deal breaker. If you know how exhaust vents work, things like that usually have to be vented outside a LOT sooner than 19 floors up. (19 floors * 13 feet is a LOT of vertical run. Who knows if the building even had a utility chase that could accomodate that. Too bad they couldn't find another building for their restaurant.
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