  Wschnitt Member Username: Wschnitt Post Number: 71 Registered: 07-2007 |
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pb cs.dll/article?AID=/20080318/B IZ/803180355 I hope the Whitney and the Broderick Tower. | ||
Eboyer Member Username: Eboyer Post Number: 91 Registered: 01-2007 |
One is the Lafayette Building. | ||
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge Post Number: 5682 Registered: 10-2003 |
A nice, positive article to start the day, thanks for that. | ||
Bobj Member Username: Bobj Post Number: 4261 Registered: 11-2003 |
Great to hear, especially from a developer that delivers | ||
Andylinn Member Username: Andylinn Post Number: 767 Registered: 04-2006 |
whitney would be a good choice... needs MUCH less investment than alot of these others... (book cadillac, for example...) | ||
Spiritofdetroit Member Username: Spiritofdetroit Post Number: 883 Registered: 11-2006 |
I am sure that one is the Lafayette, and it wouldnt surprise me if the other somehow involved the Griswold Garage development that was stalled | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 4508 Registered: 02-2005 |
This is great to hear. The Book-Cadillac is looking great and will open on time, so I'd say this is a developer who will follow through...the thought of having more rental housing downtown in a landmark renovated building is exciting. ""I don't think it will have any business impact at all," Ferchill said of the controversy facing Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. "To be honest, we've never been able to attract national investment to help us with any of our Detroit projects. But those that do remain bullish on Detroit continue to be bullish."" That is a key quote which should remind us not to overblow the impact of the Mayor's issues. | ||
Danindc Member Username: Danindc Post Number: 4030 Registered: 10-2003 |
Awesome. It's great to see a level-headed developer with so much confidence in Detroit. It's just a shame that the Usual Slumlords will continue to neglect their properties and live off the public tit. Perhaps once Ferchill cleans house with his projects, people like Ilitch and Maroun will finally get off their ass and do something positive besides sucking tax dollars for their own benefit. | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 3846 Registered: 06-2004 |
I think the real impact of the Mayor's issues are a piling on of the city's reputation with the general public - tourists, prospective conventions, etc. | ||
Higgs1634 Member Username: Higgs1634 Post Number: 371 Registered: 10-2005 |
quote: Agreed... but, imagine if Detroit had a mayor that wasn't constantly in some sort of scandal, noted by national media as one of the worst mayors in America, or didn't make a national spectacle of himself during the State of the City address? Not that a new mayor would be a panacea that would heal all of Detroit's ills, but imagine the benefit of having one that wasn't an obstacle to investment...someone that didn't have to be explained as not having much impact on business. quote: You really lump Ilitch in with Maroun? C'mon, that is just ridiculous. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 6497 Registered: 08-2004 |
Dan, you must not get to Detroit much.... The Ilitch's are.... 1) Still in the middle of their several hundred million dollar upgrade of MotorCity Casino into a permanent facility. 2) They secured the building and put a new roof on the United Artists Theatre and attached 18 story office tower. Work continues inside without any comment by construction workers. 3) They are working on the 10 story Detroit Life Building, by turning that space into Ilitch employee office space. 4) They just completed a deal with Masonic Temple, where Masonic would continue to own the building, while the Ilitch's would pay the enormous utility bills (on a 1,038 room leviathan), and handle bookings. This building would have been shuttered today if not for the Ilitch intervention. 5) The Fine Arts Building will be torn down (it has a wooden framework) and the facade saved with a new building behind it. 6) The Grand Army of the Republic "Castle" will be restored within the next year by Ilitch (or it reverts back to the city). 7) The Ilitch folks are increasing their land purchase in the decimated southwest Midtown area and the equally decimated west Foxtown area. 8) The Ilitch's have to decide within a year whether to build a new arena, and if so where. Until they decide that question, there's no point in giving other landowners (who want top dollar for their property) a heads up as to where it's going to be by restoring other properties they own in that area. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 6498 Registered: 08-2004 |
Getting back to the initial question about what other buildings the Ferchill group is going after for their next project, I wouldn't include the Lafayette Building in that list. It has been given a 1-2 year option to Dan Gilbert. I'm sure that before the city gave Gilbert that option, they may have offered it to Ferchill first (unless there's a joint development). I can see the Whitney Building as a possibility. I doubt the Broderick, since I doubt that Michael Higgins will want to relinquish control of the Broderick, unless the city is really pushing him to the wall. Perhaps Ferchill is interested in the Book Building/Tower, since it is getting to be an empty hulk very close to the Book-Cadillac (practically across the street). | ||
Danindc Member Username: Danindc Post Number: 4031 Registered: 10-2003 |
Can someone explain all the cocksucking done on behalf of the Ilitches? I've never seen a slumlord treated as such a hero. That guy would be run out of town--if not business--just about anywhere else in America. You'd think he was the Second Coming of Christ by reading these threads. | ||
Izzadore Member Username: Izzadore Post Number: 122 Registered: 11-2006 |
True Dan When I first joined this forum there was a lot of bad blood towards the Illich folks. Not any more though. Maybe they are doing more good than bad now? | ||
Danindc Member Username: Danindc Post Number: 4032 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote: Since when is Dan Gilbert a real estate developer? | ||
Eboyer Member Username: Eboyer Post Number: 93 Registered: 01-2007 |
Gistok, you're assertion about the Lafayette building is incorrect. DG and his people inquired, but quickly found out that Ferchill called dibs on it. It's in his hands now. Also, look for some SOLID dining options in the Book Caddy. I'm talking IRON CHEF big. | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 2855 Registered: 04-2006 |
quote: It's like the abused wife syndrome. The husband abuses the wife but she won't leave him because she figures that he is the best for which she can hope. Mike Illitch isn't the only one who gets away with it. The local leadership gets away with it. The hometown industry get away with it too. One of the local columnists wrote a brief comment in his blog (Neal Rubin I think) comparing how quickly Eliot Spitzer was escorted off the stage to how painstakingly long this Kilpatrick ordeal has dragged along. He made the point that New York is not thirsty for good leaders. Detroit and Michigan on the other had are in a drought for good leadership. Both have been in such a drought for nearly half a century. One mediocre leader in New York is easily dispensible, as was proven last week. In Detroit, the sentiment is that if not Kilpatrick then who? If not Mike Illitch then who? There isn't exactly a rush of cash nor stampede of credible leaders heading towards Detroit (or Michigan). | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 6499 Registered: 08-2004 |
Thanks for the info Eboyer... And as for your silly ass name calling Dan... may I remind you of one of your own comments on another thread... when Miketoronto dared mention some information on Washington DC, your hometown... quote: Funny that! You seem to know everything about every subject there is here in Detroit... some would call you a genius... I would call you something else... but I won't get into your ad hominem silliness... (Too bad Skulker is no longer here...  ) (Message edited by Gistok on March 18, 2008) | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 6500 Registered: 08-2004 |
As for the Ilitch family, I agree they sure do know how to feed at the public trough... And they have a horrible public relations problem with many groups (such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation). But when it comes to having their snouts in the public trough... among businessmen AND politicians... name me someone who doesn't? But when it comes to spending their own money in Detroit, the Ilitch's have spent over $1 billion (granted a significant portion is borrowed money), but yes including the purchase of the remainder of MotorCity Casino, they have spent OVER $1 BILLION! Now take for example another Michigan businessman, who is purported to be the richest man in Michigan... Piston/Palace/Guardian Industries owner Bill Davidson. He has spent hundreds of millions in suburban Detroit, and less than $5 million (mostly symphony and Piston related charity works) in Detroit proper... but he gets a fre pass, and gets by without any demonization whatsoever. And yet he's the richest man in Michigan... funny that! (Message edited by Gistok on March 18, 2008) | ||
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge Post Number: 5683 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote: Did he really say that? That's pretty funny. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 6501 Registered: 08-2004 |
Yeah, in the "Downtown not at the center of it all" thread. I nearly sprayed pop all over my keyboard when I read it... | ||
Danindc Member Username: Danindc Post Number: 4033 Registered: 10-2003 |
Well, Gistok, you don't read so hot, because I haven't called engaged in any ad-hominem attacks on this thread. Rather than discuss the topic at hand, though, you take the Typical Detroiter Way Out, and piss and moan that an outsider dare take interest in the well-being of Detroit. And you wonder why there aren't more Ferchills running around.... In response: quote: Marian Ilitch has an interest in the MCM, not Mike. Even still, her interest is not possible without preferential treatment from Dennis Archer and the State of Michigan. As if there aren't any other people in the state who are qualified. Didn't Circus Circus put up a good deal of the initial investment? And isn't the upgrade a contractual obligation? Without the above, there is no temporary casino, which generated the capital for these upgrades. In other words, there was great profit before the investment, so Marian Ilitch's risk is virtually nil. quote: Some call this "responsible property maintenance". quote: If it reaches completion, best of luck to 'em. quote: Fair enough. quote: Skipper's Rule. quote: See #5. quote: No doubt for the long-rumored (and likely taxpayer financed) arena. quote:} They don't have to do anything within a year. They still have quite a bit left on their lease at Joe Louis, do they not? Of course, we conveniently forget Ilitch's currently deteriorating properties, the willful neglect of Tiger Stadum after the City PAID him to maintain it, and GAVE him piles of free land and money to construct Commercialism Park. And yeah, how about that multi-million dollar gift to tear down a historic structure for a personally-profitable surface parking lot? The point is, Mike Ilitch is not the god that some want to make him out to be. Ferchill, I think, is the kind of person that's really going to help Detroit turn the corner. His enthusiasm is, to me, a sign that he's interested in returning properties to the tax rolls, and not just sitting on them waiting for someone else to kick things into motion. | ||
Rjlj Member Username: Rjlj Post Number: 478 Registered: 11-2003 |
If not for the Ilitch's, who else would have come in and done what they have done? Who have they been neck and neck with on the things they have done? Who has come forward with money in hand to complete these projects? | ||
Higgs1634 Member Username: Higgs1634 Post Number: 372 Registered: 10-2005 |
quote: Neither is he the slumlord you wish to paint him as. | ||
Viziondetroit Member Username: Viziondetroit Post Number: 1492 Registered: 11-2003 |
Dan Gilbert has been a developer for a while with his Boulder Construction company which is located inside the Quicken Loans HQ in Livonia. I first heard about it when I worked for the company about 7 years back. | ||
Danindc Member Username: Danindc Post Number: 4034 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote: Just about anywhere else in America, Ilitch would have been forced to sell the bulk of his properties by now, never mind receiving public money to tear them down. It seems the only properties Ilitch doesn't destroy--willfully or through neglect--are those which are directly occupied by his company. Where else but Detroit can you get paid millions of public dollars to vacate, and then neglect, a historic landmark of national significance (e.g. Tiger Stadium)? Then again, Ilitch only plays by the rules that the state and local government give him (and enforce). But wait for old Mike to save Detroit's ass if you want. In the meantime, Ferchill is going to make a killing by *gasp*being proactive. Then you guys will be complaining that a developer from Cleveland is benefitting from development in Detroit. | ||
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge Post Number: 5692 Registered: 10-2003 |
I highly doubt anybody will complain about that. | ||
Burnsie Member Username: Burnsie Post Number: 1317 Registered: 11-2003 |
Gistok wrote about the United Artists, "They secured the building..." And how long did it take for him to do that? 10 years? | ||
Detroit_stylin Member Username: Detroit_stylin Post Number: 5623 Registered: 10-2003 |
Not sure if this is related or not. But for the last couple days I have seen workers in the windows of the Broderick... | ||
Higgs1634 Member Username: Higgs1634 Post Number: 373 Registered: 10-2005 |
quote: Danindc, meet Detroit, Detroit meet Danindc. Detroit is as ass-backwards a city government as ever existed. In those "just about anywhere else" cities, there would be a demand for those properties that would cause the city to act. In those "just about anywhere else" cities there is a functioning first world city government to get it done. Detroit has neither the resources nor the incentive to "make" Ilitch do anything. Has Ilitch gamed a corrupt and inept local government to make a fortune? Yup. Absolutely. He doesn't run a charity, he runs a "for profit" business. He has done nothing illegal, he has just been a sharp dealer. And, unlike the rest of the company in which you wish to place him (slumlords), Ilitch has built where others would not and basically created a downtown entertainment district where there was not and never would be with out Ilitch holdings/Olympia...et al. The Fox and everything around it would ALL be empty and abandoned today just like it was before Ilitch moved in. I don't remember anyone else doing anything down there. I guess I'm just trying to understand the outrage about Ilitch, please tell me how Detroit would be better off if Mike Ilitch was run out of town? |
