More Parking Opportunities Arise in "Wildcat Corner"

A second parking garage rises on Montcalm Street between St. Johns’ Episcopal Church and the current Detroit Tigers’ garage.

Little Caesars Headquarters Building

Prep work has begun for construction of the Little Caesars headquarters building on Columbia street.

Olympia Development Attempts to Justsify Spate of Demolitions in Parkingtown

Read about it here Here

479-481 West Columbia Falls

Lost the week of March 1, 2009.

Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order of Noble Mythic Shrine 2203-2211 Cass Ave

Lost the week of March 8, 2009

Chin Tiki No More

Lost the week of March 1, 2009.

Elizabeth Street Lofts Lost

Lost the week of March 1, 2009.

145 W. Elizabeth Street

Olympia Development to Bring New Parking Opportunities to Downtown Detroit

The Downtown Development Authority has approved $2.5 million in state-funded grants to demolish several buildings owned by the Ilitch family. The funds are part of a pre-Super Bowl state allocation targeting Detroit’s most dilapidated structures. Unfortunately, four of the buildings shown below appear to be structurally sound. From various reports, the only building that is in danger of collapse is the Fine Arts/Adams Theater Building.

Taxpayers are once again being forced to foot the bill to demolish more of Mike Ilitch's dilapidated properties. Paved parking lots will replace the buildings. The only saving grace is that in an agreement with the Historic District Commission, the facade of the Fine Arts/Adams Theater building will be saved at an estimated cost of $500,000to to Olympia Development. It hasn't been specified whether or not the Adams Theater Auditorium itself will face the wrecking ball or what will go behind the facade.

479-481 West Columbia

Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order of Noble Mythic Shrine 2203-2211 Cass Ave

145 Elizabeth Street

Elizabeth Street Lofts 2030 West Grand River Ave

The Fine Arts/Adams Theater Building

Ilitch Blocker Redux

If you recall, this past spring I speculated that demolition and reconstruction of the CC Bar was an effort by the owners to inflate the value of the property in order to extort more money from Olympia Development. Olympia has been buying more land behind the Fox Theater causing widespread speculation that this is to be the location of a new arena for the Red Wings.

I stopped by today to see if any progress had been made on the bar as work papered to have stalled over the summer. Far from there being any progress, the bar seems to be in a state of deconstruction once again.

While a new expiration date for the Red Wings lease at Joe Louis Arena has been determined, I am left once again to speculate. Have the owners finally sold out to Ilitch, or did the building inspectors determine some flaw in the construction that is forcing the builders to start from scratch?

CC Bar Pre- Demolition

Reconstruction May 2007

Demolished once again August 2007

May 2007

August 2007

Behind the Facade

Ilitch holdings, Inc requested permission from the Detroit Historic Commission on March 29th to demolish most of the Fine Arts Building on West Adams. This request does not include the demolition of the Adams Theater located behind the building. Their plan is to preserve the facade of the 102 year old Fine Arts Building, while constructing a brand new building behind the structure.

I have heard that permission has been granted but this has yet to be reported in the media.

Parking! Parking!

Olympia Development has received a $104,500 state grant demolish the dilapidated Vermont Hotel at 138 W. Columbia. The vacant building is in an area behind the Fox Theater that has been long rumored to be the planed location of a new hockey arena for the Detroit Red Wings. Olympia plans to tear down the building within weeks, but the only immediate use for the property will be as additional parking.