Danny Member Username: Danny
Post Number: 6529 Registered: 02-2004
| Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 5:50 am: | |
GHETTO ALERT! The Old Kresge/Cunningham's Dept. Store Building on the corner of Woodward Ave. and Sears St. at Downtown Highland Park is on fire. Just as Downtown Highland Park is slowing coming back to life, a possible firebug or just a simple electrical problem or insurance money interferes. What the community is going to do? |
Douglasm Member Username: Douglasm
Post Number: 937 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 7:19 am: | |
Sad. I'm dealing with memory here, but the two stores were next to each other with Cunninghams on the corner, right? |
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard
Post Number: 3970 Registered: 10-2004
| Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 7:25 am: | |
Isn't that fire near (or at) the Shopper's World store, whose entire chain bellied up recently? |
Eric_c Member Username: Eric_c
Post Number: 1038 Registered: 11-2003
| Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 8:19 am: | |
Yup. |
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul
Post Number: 1710 Registered: 10-2006
| Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 10:20 am: | |
"Downtown Highland Park" Never really thought that Highland Park had much of a downtown per se. Guess you learn something new everyday on DetroitYES! |
Lowell Board Administrator Username: Lowell
Post Number: 4153 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 11:09 am: | |
Downtown Highland Park [back in prime time] ran from the Davison Expressway to the Model T Plant and still does to some extent although it is marked by some very transient businesses. The new hub is the shopping center / strip malls in front of the Model T [Model T Plaza]. There is a fast food hub around Woodward and Davison now, but not much in between. The Sears store was the great anchor with Kresges, Highland Appliance further south. Development of the Sears lot is now underway. |
Danny Member Username: Danny
Post Number: 6533 Registered: 02-2004
| Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 12:44 pm: | |
Now under way Mr. Boileau while that firebug is running amok. He won't stop burning houses abd buildings in Highland Park until its demands are met. |
Treelock Member Username: Treelock
Post Number: 220 Registered: 03-2005
| Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 1:21 pm: | |
I'd almost cheer, so ugly was the empty Shopper's World building, except for the certainty that the burned-out hulk will likely stand indefinitely. A note on the development of the adjacent Sears site: They are putting in yet another strip mall. Have the developers not noticed there are two empty or near-empty strip malls just a mile or so south in the same city? |
Chris_rohn Member Username: Chris_rohn
Post Number: 335 Registered: 04-2005
| Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 1:43 pm: | |
Yes but this strip mall has an Aldi Foods and the Highland Park Police Station |
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard
Post Number: 3974 Registered: 10-2004
| Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 1:47 pm: | |
Does Aldi sell doughnuts> |
Cman710 Member Username: Cman710
Post Number: 362 Registered: 07-2006
| Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 2:05 pm: | |
This is a picture of Shopper's World I took in August 2006.
This is what burned down, right? |
Douglasm Member Username: Douglasm
Post Number: 938 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 2:09 pm: | |
Lowell.... Ture, but the core of Downtown Highland Park was around Sears and to the south about a block to Manchester. I remember Mary Jane Shoes, Cunninghams, Kresge, Davidson Jewelry, with a couple other stores in that block. In the late '60's, it was a nifty place to both shop and/or work..... |
Jman Member Username: Jman
Post Number: 93 Registered: 10-2006
| Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 2:40 pm: | |
When I was a kid in the 40's and 50's we called it uptown. If we said downtown, we meant Detroit. |
Davetroit Member Username: Davetroit
Post Number: 21 Registered: 03-2007
| Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 8:18 pm: | |
Treelock, I wouldn't be so certain about the remains of this building sitting indefinitely (although I wouldn't fault you for this assumption given the norm in this city). The owner of the property has a couple different preliminary site plans drawn up for a redevelopment - done prior to this mornings fire. |
Davetroit Member Username: Davetroit
Post Number: 22 Registered: 03-2007
| Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 8:22 pm: | |
The police station in the Aldi center next block up will not replace the vacant HP Police Dept, but will be a +/- 500 sf mini center similar to the one at Mack Alter Square - not that it's a bad thing though. They also have Community Arts Credit Union on the tenant roster so far. |
Mrsjdaniels Member Username: Mrsjdaniels
Post Number: 245 Registered: 08-2005
| Posted on Friday, September 21, 2007 - 11:54 am: | |
this burned down space looks awful now :-( |
Rocket_city Member Username: Rocket_city
Post Number: 403 Registered: 04-2006
| Posted on Friday, September 21, 2007 - 2:02 pm: | |
Build a Woodward mass transit line and the fires will go away. Property values will go up and the arsonists will move to other abandoned areas. I guess I should add having pressure in the hydrants will also play an important role in preventing complete destruction. |