 
Gistok
Member
Username: Gistok
Post Number: 5330
Registered: 08-2004
| | Posted on Friday, September 14, 2007 - 2:45 am: |    |
OK, it all started back in the 1980's when Wayne County sold the old County Building and the company who purchased it refurbished it and leased it back (at an exorbitant rate). And one of Detroit's Jewels found a use as government offices.
Then when GM bought the RenCen for its' future HQ, the old GM HQ Building in New Center was proposed by Mayor Archer as the new City Hall. Except city council and some city workers saw it as a racist ploy to get black city workers out of downtown (silly isn't it?).
So instead the old GM HQ became the world class State of Michigan Office Building (Cadillac Place). It is doubtful if many state offices anywhere in the country (that are not in their states capital) can match this building for sheer magnificence.
And now we have the County buying the over the top spectacular Guardian Building to use as the new County Building.
That leaves the Old County Building... I think that the City of Detroit should buy it (for the amount that was offered to the county to stay there)... and turn it into Detroit City Hall. It would be about 3 times the size of the old (razed 1961) City Hall, and is much more opulent. It screams City Hall!!
What about the CAY Building (formerly City-County Building)? I think that since not all of city hall can fit into the former county building, that some administration should stay in the CAY building, and the rest converted over to courtrooms. 36th District Court should move there, since the entertainment district (next to the Gem Theatre) is an awkward place for a courthouse!
That leaves the feds.... I regret that the FBI is building their own campus, and that the Federal Courthouse has to have streets blocked off every time there is a "Orange" or "Red" homeland security alert. Ditto for the MacNamara Federal Building.
I think that they should all move over to a refurbished MCS Station. The site is far away from roadways with Roosevelt Park in front. And any unused tracks or tunnels can be permanently sealed or eliminated. The MCS can keep folks at a safe distance (from car bombs, etc.) that no place downtown can do. Even the Federal Courts should move there. It would be a massive ornate Federal Office Building that would likely have few rivals outside of Washington DC. Being in the shadow of America's busiest border crossing, it would be the "Northern Gateway" to America, the sheer bulk and brooding majesty of this colossus would convey to new visitors to our country the power of this great nation.
Then what should they do with the old "moderne" Federal Court House? Turn it back into the Main Post Office (which it partly was for a while), and use the current (ugly) Main Post Office Building over by Rosa Parks strictly for a sorting warehouse.
With a fabulous State and County Office Building, a new (old) City Hall, a nice moderne Main Post Office and an enormous and overpowering historic Federal Office Building (MCS) with safety perimeters... all of that would really show off Detroit at its' finest to residents, visitors and dignitaries who come to Detroit. |
Gsgeorge
Member
Username: Gsgeorge
Post Number: 199
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Friday, September 14, 2007 - 2:52 am: | |
Gistok, a fine plan and if it comes to fruition it would be a dream come true. Truly well thought out and sensible as well.
The problem, of course, is convincing This Fair City that such a plan is worthwhile. Certainly demolishing these buildings would be a lot easier!!! ;-) |
Burnsie
Member
Username: Burnsie
Post Number: 1152
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Friday, September 14, 2007 - 8:18 am: | |
I can hear it now-- Announcement that City Hall will move to old County Building, followed by screams of "this is a racist plot to move us out of view of the riverfront, into an old building." |
Thejesus
Member
Username: Thejesus
Post Number: 2106
Registered: 06-2006
| | Posted on Friday, September 14, 2007 - 8:52 am: | |
"Except city council and some city workers saw it as a racist ploy to get black city workers out of downtown"
Uh, how does that work exactly when the guy proposing it is black too? |
Thejesus
Member
Username: Thejesus
Post Number: 2107
Registered: 06-2006
| | Posted on Friday, September 14, 2007 - 8:59 am: | |
I can pretty much assure you that the federal court won't be moving anytime soon, and probably not in your lifetime...
Also, even if they were to move, it certainly would not be that far away...many ,law firms only locate downtown because they are walking distance from the courts...if they moved to MCS then they no longer would be and there's no office space close to it...had the courts not been downtown in decades past you might have seen all of SE MI's large law firms locate in Troy or Southfield... |
Gistok
Member
Username: Gistok
Post Number: 5331
Registered: 08-2004
| | Posted on Friday, September 14, 2007 - 1:23 pm: | |
Thejesus, after I posted this, as an afterthought I was wondering about the law firms...
As for the Mayor Archer idea of using the former GM HQ as the new City Hall... remember many Detroiters didn't think Archer was "black enough".
This was especially evident after the Don Barden not getting a casino license fiasco. Archer mentioned that he "was not one to wear his blackness on his sleeve". This was during the time when the "Call em Out" coalition tried but failed to get Archer recalled. I'm sure that whole fiasco soured him on any prospects for a 3rd term.
But the truth be told there were some city council members and city workers who saw "a hidden agenda" to get black city workers out of downtown. So instead they are crammed into the CAY Building. Next time you take a ride on the People Mover make it a point to look inside the CAY Building and see exactly how nice and "palatial" their offices look! (Idiots!)
Even the Detroit Public Schools employees now has nice digs in the Fisher Building right across the street from Cadillac Place. They must not have been informed of the "hidden agenda" theory.
The state government got all the marble and walnut paneled spacious offices of the well cared for former GM HQ instead. And that enormous building lobby with barrel vaulted ceilings is magnificent. |
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