 
Higgs1634
Member
Username: Higgs1634
Post Number: 519
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Monday, June 16, 2008 - 2:42 pm: |    |
quote:Rax wrote, "I wonder what the tab on the 24 hour/7 days per week Broderick Tower 3 man security team would be after 20+ years?"
Just for fun, let's guess 25k per guard (just a guess)? 3 guards= 75k a year. 75k*20 years (without adjusting for increases, inflation..etc) $1,500,000
quote:Probably not as much as the cost of repairing 20+ years of vandalism.
Just a random comparison, the Pick Fort Shelby renovation clocked in at around $82 million. (depending on what source one reads)
Somehow I doubt spending a 1.5 over the next 20 years of the buildings impending dereliction will really save any money in the long run.
In fact it will probably save renovation costs as the structure will have been demo'ed and picked clean by scrappers.
quote:I'm not saying anything's going to get repaired. But if a closed building is worth keeping around, it's worth having a responsible security guard presence.
Is it worthy of being kept around is the question. |
Enduro
Member
Username: Enduro
Post Number: 133
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Monday, June 16, 2008 - 7:47 pm: | |
Maybe the city's parking ticket website will finally get around to changing their address so one doesn't go there to pay a ticket... |
Spitty
Member
Username: Spitty
Post Number: 685
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Monday, June 16, 2008 - 7:57 pm: | |
Yeah, and how much did they pay those security guards to keep people out of Tiger Stadium? The ones who sold the urinals to the undercover news guy. |
Digitalvision
Member
Username: Digitalvision
Post Number: 887
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Monday, June 16, 2008 - 11:16 pm: | |
Having been around and in downtown for awhile now, I've learned that sometimes it's upside-down bizarroworld with the choices people make. Simple choices and repairs could of at least kept the place serviceable - and some proper management.
However, the building maybe had value a decade ago - it does not now. Unfortunately, it's going to sit empty as blight on the skyline for awhile as it's not practical to demolish or do anything with without major subsidy. Having talked to some people who have been interested in the building, after investigation you couldn't pay them to take the place it has so many issues, according to them. |
Fareastsider
Member
Username: Fareastsider
Post Number: 917
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Monday, June 16, 2008 - 11:36 pm: | |
So where is the source showing that the building is ACTUALLY closing? |
Detroitrise
Member
Username: Detroitrise
Post Number: 2407
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Monday, June 16, 2008 - 11:39 pm: | |
We asked Rax for the source earlier, but Rax never provided us with one.
So I'll believe it when I see it... |
Mwilbert
Member
Username: Mwilbert
Post Number: 263
Registered: 11-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - 1:01 am: | |
I understand people wanting to know a source, but the building was basically already closed except for the stuff on the first floor, so I don't see any reason this is hard to believe. The people who own it now are the people who (foolishly, in my opinion) lent the money for the Pagan people to buy it. I don't think they want to be landlords, so I imagine they are trying to cut their costs until they can sell it. |
Sean_of_detroit
Member
Username: Sean_of_detroit
Post Number: 783
Registered: 03-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - 2:12 am: | |
Gistok, that tower looks just like the picture/link I posted in the tower thread of the Churchill Residency in Detroit's sister city; Dubai. Beautiful design. If anyone is looking into building towers in Detroit in the next couple of decades, that would be the way to go.
Gthomas... when you build your tower.... 
DigitalVision, I agree with what others have said about restoration. Restoring the entire thing would sadly be more expensive and unrealistic than restoring MCS. At least, that is my observation. However, I do wounder if the actual tower would be doable without the building. Would that even be possible? Honestly, I have never stepped a foot inside that one. I hope I get a chance to soon. I really took it for granted I guess. Hopefully it doesn't go the way of the Hudson... it is equal in size, correct? |
Rax
Member
Username: Rax
Post Number: 423
Registered: 11-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - 8:23 am: | |
You want a source? How about Bookies mommy calling around town trying to purchase other bars in the area because her son is getting the boot when the building closes. |
Bobzilla
Member
Username: Bobzilla
Post Number: 102
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - 9:16 am: | |
I'm surprised that G_Man says the Book Building and Book Tower have no value whatsoever ... and that anyone would talk about them being vacant for twenty years.
Those are great buildings. The lobby was great (with the beautiful ceiling restored several years ago by Susan Lambrecht). There were a number of retail spaces that were accessible from the lobby or from the sidewalk. And the views from the Book Tower were phenomenal. I was a tenant from 2002-2007 and it was a great place.
If ANY additional downtown buildings are renovated in the next few years (beyond ones already in progress like the B-C and Fort-Shelby), it seems that the Book Building and Book Tower should be among them. If Broderick Tower is ever going to be renovated as lofts, then why wouldn't the Book Tower be renovated too?
I understand that the economy is lousy right now, but I am optimistic about the future of the Book Building and Book Tower (and Washington Boulevard in general). |
Burnsie
Member
Username: Burnsie
Post Number: 1424
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - 9:25 am: | |
Sean_of_detroit-- How do you figure that restoring the Book Twr. & Bldg. would be more expensive than restoring the MC Depot? To start with, the Book is habitable, and isn't smashed to hell.
And Hudson's was about 2.2 million square feet-- considerably bigger than the Book Twr. & Bldg. |
Pcasey
Member
Username: Pcasey
Post Number: 51
Registered: 06-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - 9:33 am: | |
Rax--please kindly refrain from stopping Detroit (and, by implication, Susan Lambrecht and her progeny) from rising. |
Pffft
Member
Username: Pffft
Post Number: 1541
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - 9:40 am: | |
It takes a lot of money to maintain the Book, and while the repairs needed might have been "simple," clearly the former owners just didn't have the scratch.
Why don't the present owners fix it up rather than board it up, is the question? |
Spacemonkey
Member
Username: Spacemonkey
Post Number: 653
Registered: 03-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - 9:43 am: | |
The real Bookies, on 6 Mile West of Woodward, burned down years ago. |
Rax
Member
Username: Rax
Post Number: 426
Registered: 11-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - 10:17 am: | |
quote:Rax--please kindly refrain from stopping Detroit (and, by implication, Susan Lambrecht and her progeny) from rising.
Will do. Is this the same Susan Lambrecht that owns Zacarros? Speaking of the Z, how is that going? |
Pcasey
Member
Username: Pcasey
Post Number: 54
Registered: 06-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - 10:24 am: | |
quote:Will do. Is this the same Susan Lambrecht that owns Zacarros? Speaking of the Z, how is that going?
no...that's Cindy Warner.
In any event, see the Gourmet Grocer thread...Sounds like folks are pretty supportive of Z's....it appears that anywhere from 3 to 5 forumers shop there just about every week....spending upwards of ten or fifteen buck a trip I would estimate. No word on the free pencils, though. |
Rax
Member
Username: Rax
Post Number: 430
Registered: 11-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - 10:28 am: | |
Gotcha, thanks for setting me straight. How about organic peanut butter? Has that arrived yet? |
Rooms222
Member
Username: Rooms222
Post Number: 112
Registered: 04-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - 10:30 am: | |
There is still Bookies Ham n Soul on Grand River, just east of Telegraph, in Detroit. |
Gambling_man
Member
Username: Gambling_man
Post Number: 1086
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - 10:33 am: | |
Bobzilla, the Book is an obsolete building in an overtaxed, underserviced, and mismanaged town. The value of any asset is the cash that it can generate. The Book building is incapable of generating any net cash flow. Goodbye Book Bldg. |
Irish_mafia
Member
Username: Irish_mafia
Post Number: 1326
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - 11:58 am: | |
I wonder what the revenue stream is from the antennas? |
Spiritofdetroit
Member
Username: Spiritofdetroit
Post Number: 994
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - 12:05 pm: | |
What a shame. It is (or was) a beautiful, beautiful building. Detroit now home to the 2 tallest abandoned skyscrapers in the world? |
Mdoyle
Member
Username: Mdoyle
Post Number: 447
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - 12:21 pm: | |
Poor Louis Kamper just can't catch a break. As soon as one of his buildings is restored another is shuttered.
Broderick Tower - shuttered
Water Board Building -in use
Industrial-Stevens Apartments - in use
Book Building & Tower - ??
Harbor Light Center - shuttered
Park Avenue Hotel - in use
Westin Book-Cadillac Detroit - in use
The Eddystone - shuttered
Washington Boulevard Apartments - in use
Carlton Lofts Condominiums - in use
Real Estate Exchange Building - demolished |
Lmichigan
Member
Username: Lmichigan
Post Number: 6038
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - 1:38 am: | |
Has any media reported on this so-called shuttering? |
Eastsidedame
Member
Username: Eastsidedame
Post Number: 341
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - 1:41 am: | |
The Book is one of the last Italianate skyscrapers in the US. This sucks on ice. |
Lmichigan
Member
Username: Lmichigan
Post Number: 6039
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - 2:18 am: | |
I'm not so sure. I'd much rather it be mothballed, if this is even true, than to continue to see it barely hanging on to life every year. |
Burnsie
Member
Username: Burnsie
Post Number: 1427
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - 9:17 am: | |
Lmichigan-- It's better to have a gasp of life in it, with lights on in various places that deter crooks. Because in Detroit, "mothballing" means the vandals/scrappers are on their way. |
Lefty2
Member
Username: Lefty2
Post Number: 1422
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - 10:53 am: | |
The Book would make an excellent Halloween Haunted House Venue, not much redecorating needed for that at all. That would generate a lot of cash flow. You could then sell Halloween costumes on the first floor. |
Wolverine
Member
Username: Wolverine
Post Number: 487
Registered: 04-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - 12:14 pm: | |
I really hope they have a security guard there. Just look what happened to the Whitney. When a guard was stationed there, the building was in near perfect condition. The floors, carpets, and windows were even clean on the interior prior to the building becoming open. For less than a year, the building was wide open and a very high amount of destruction was done by scrappers. Another year of that and the lobby would have probably been destroyed.
Without the lobby, the building is a worthless POS and has no historical value whatsoever unless you find ugly exterior modernizations worth preserving.
Thank God they brought the guard back and have made some repairs.
I'd like to see the same actions taken on the Book. As long as a responsible guard is hired, I'd expect the place to be safe. Security at Tiger Stadium was a joke...you might as well have tour guides |
Registeredguest
Member
Username: Registeredguest
Post Number: 381
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - 12:28 pm: | |
"The Book would make an excellent Halloween Haunted House Venue, not much redecorating needed for that at all. That would generate a lot of cash flow. You could then sell Halloween costumes on the first floor."
Ha - it'd make a good ski lodge, too. You could sell hot chocolate in the penthouse. All you need is a hill and a few lifts... |
Detroitrise
Member
Username: Detroitrise
Post Number: 2458
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - 12:31 pm: | |
Someone could restore it into a historical museum for Washington Blvd. and all of Louis Kamper's accomplishments.
We can charge all the spectators that want to visit.
Same could be done to the MCS. |