  Andylinn Member Username: Andylinn Post Number: 1075 Registered: 04-2006 |
It is on this block (A bit North of Zakoor/Seldon on the West side of the street) that four stores were razed last week, including "Busch's Garden of Eatin'." There is construction fencing around the parimeter, sidewalk is STILL closed, and there is a little construction booth. The demolition seems VERY deliberate (and not just random building demolition) and at least as of 2 years ago, Busch's was still open. (seems recent enough to make the building not "long abandoned" What's the scoop? Who owns that? What's going in there? | ||
Birdie Member Username: Birdie Post Number: 94 Registered: 04-2007 |
i don't know, but i'm really curious, too. it's weird that just those buildings were razed when others on the block were equally or more derelict. | ||
Iddude313 Member Username: Iddude313 Post Number: 174 Registered: 07-2005 |
I think WSU is doing something there but I could be mistaken. | ||
Mauser765 Member Username: Mauser765 Post Number: 2991 Registered: 01-2004 |
I heard WSU bought all of Woodward Avenue, and they are turning the road into lofts. | ||
Andylinn Member Username: Andylinn Post Number: 1079 Registered: 04-2006 |
Mauser, that is a good guess, although if true, this would be WSU's furthest South building by many blocks. | ||
Hudkina Member Username: Hudkina Post Number: 331 Registered: 12-2004 |
There was an article a while ago about how that entire block was going to be renovated. (I assume you're talking about where that Bittersweet Coffee Shop was, etc.) I'm not sure which stores were razed, but I would assume it was the smaller, newer buildings. Hopefully they saved the "Bittersweet" building and the "Blue Moon" building, as they were beautiful historic structures. Maybe they're going to replace the newer one-story buildings with new two or three story structures that resemble the two older buildings. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 4385 Registered: 02-2005 |
Details, please, Andylinn. Which 4 storefronts other than Busch's? Does it include the theatre complex that was supposed to be slated for renovation, or the two-story brick building at the corner of Alexandrine? The other buildings on that block are not of any real redeeming quality, but, that said, empty land is not exactly a commodity in Detroit (even midtown). | ||
J_to_the_jeremy Member Username: J_to_the_jeremy Post Number: 185 Registered: 03-2007 |
It's pretty much everything in between the "Bittersweet" building and where the liquor store was that got razed, I think. | ||
Birdie Member Username: Birdie Post Number: 96 Registered: 04-2007 |
yeah, bittersweet and blue moon are still up on each end of the block. it was a really tidy demolition. | ||
Lo_to_d Member Username: Lo_to_d Post Number: 107 Registered: 07-2007 |
This has been discussed on a couple of other threads which I can't find, but they have been pretty confidential on the plans. I know the developer was granted state and county tax credits. From what I understand, the theatre is being renovated and blue moon. They are to build a parking structure in the middle for the theatre with the retail that WAS there coming back (ie. convienant store, Bush's, pharmacy. | ||
W_chicago Member Username: W_chicago Post Number: 97 Registered: 01-2008 |
I also heard this entire block was suppose to be renovated. I hope the old building that was torn down (btw, Bush's was open as little ago as august), will be replaced by a taller, better building, hopefully with appartments. That would be really stupid to tear down a building in the middle of a block for a parking garage. From my understanding the parking garage is going in the back (there is a hugeeeee gap between this row of buildings and buildings behind it), but I could be totally wrong, for I've never seen any actual plans or news articles about this, just rumors. | ||
Detroitstar Member Username: Detroitstar Post Number: 1425 Registered: 01-2006 |
There was a rendering floating on this site a while back. I cant search for it, as Im browsing on my phone though...perhaps someone else can do some searching? | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 4387 Registered: 02-2005 |
Sounds like an interesting development. Glad to hear that nothing worth saving disappeared, and even more glad to hear that this MIGHT be a case of demolition with a plan to redevelop. To see this block livened up, hopefully with a balance of daytime and nightime activity, would be great news for the south end of the Wayne neighborhood. Both the impetus and the promise of success for this sort of investment (assuming it is going through) and ones that will come along in the future could be chalked up to the growing certainty of a Woodward Light Rail line. | ||
W_chicago Member Username: W_chicago Post Number: 99 Registered: 01-2008 |
Yeah, as soon as the engineering is done, and workers start blocking off the middle of Woodward for construction, there will be construction on both sides of the street all the way from Downtown to 8 Mile. It'll be pretty exciting, I just hope it will lead to benifits for the entire city. Has anyone heard any info on that building that was suppose to go up on Woodward at Willis? It was a 5 story building I think, retail on the bottom with appartments on top. Willis is only 2 blocks up from Selden. Also the Magic Stick / Majestic Theatre / Garden Bowl / Srgt. Peperonies complex is between Alexandrine and Willis (1 block up from Selden). That will be a bumping area if those two projects happen, it will connect the Mack/Woodward area up with the stuff happening between Canfield and Forest, with those new retail/appartments and the MOCAD. Not to mention that when a cluster of businesses start, more businesses will flock there to feed off the increased foot traffic, only creating even more foot traffic. That might in turn benifit the areas south of Mack, untill eventually we have a vibrant, walkable, mixed-use area, with buildings on both sides of the street from Downtown all the way to New Center. | ||
Busterwmu Member Username: Busterwmu Post Number: 502 Registered: 09-2004 |
any photos of what was there and what is still standing? thanks! | ||
Rhymeswithrawk Member Username: Rhymeswithrawk Post Number: 1700 Registered: 11-2005 |
Wow, hate to sound like a noob, but which theater complex? I guess I didn't realize there was a theater by the Blue Moon building. What was its name? What's it look like inside? | ||
Lo_to_d Member Username: Lo_to_d Post Number: 112 Registered: 07-2007 |
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=4025+woodward,+detroit&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=33.984987,56.25&ie=UTF8&ll=42.351757,-83.059945&spn=0.007739,0.013733&t=h&z=16&iwloc=addr&layer=c&cbll=42.35027,-83.059798&panoid=mjmY8GYKHJGQFHuSH_0gow&cbp=12,236.09323083225368,,0,-11.593749999999998 The buildings in middle have been demolished. (Message edited by lo_to_d on February 14, 2009) | ||
Rhymeswithrawk Member Username: Rhymeswithrawk Post Number: 1708 Registered: 11-2005 |
Which program do you use to view a .unk file, Lo_to_d? I have never seen that file extension before. | ||
J_to_the_jeremy Member Username: J_to_the_jeremy Post Number: 187 Registered: 03-2007 |
Just google map the adress. | ||
Rhymeswithrawk Member Username: Rhymeswithrawk Post Number: 1712 Registered: 11-2005 |
I know where it is. I'm asking WHAT it is (or was). | ||
Hudkina Member Username: Hudkina Post Number: 334 Registered: 12-2004 |
If you look at the Google Maps Street View, you can see what the buildings looked like. | ||
Andylinn Member Username: Andylinn Post Number: 1080 Registered: 04-2006 |
To the best of my knowledge the theater has been operating as some kind of underground club. I saw bouncers outside the door many weekend nights. Maybe it was illegal, maybe they were squatter parties, maybe they were legit. All I know is that I saw what were most def. bouncers. | ||
Rhymeswithrawk Member Username: Rhymeswithrawk Post Number: 1716 Registered: 11-2005 |
Haha. Again, I am familiar with what the buildings looked like AND where they were. What I'm asking is, "Does anybody know about this theater renovation." Andy helps, but what was the theater called originally? Paging Gistok. | ||
Rjlj Member Username: Rjlj Post Number: 781 Registered: 11-2003 |
Actually the building to the left of the theatre is a club called Trenchtown and has been in operation for many years in one form or another. I think the theatre is actually in the 3 or 4 story building to the right of this building. Ain't no party like a squatter party. | ||
Mdoyle Member Username: Mdoyle Post Number: 511 Registered: 10-2006 |
Woodward Garden Block Detroit, MI Section 108 Guaranteed Loan- $19,000,000 The City of Detroit in collaboration with the for profit developer, Woodward SA-Ventures, Limited Liability Corporation (LLC), will redevelop eight parcels of blighted property into a mix complex of commercial/retail space, office space, a rehabilitated dinner theater, and parking spaces. Woodward SA-Ventures, LLC, mixed use development will include a rehabilitated 5,400 square foot restaurant and the historic 22,080 square foot Garden Theater, as well as the redevelopment of five of the eight parcels into 61,625 square feet of retail and office space, and a 413-space parking garage with 12,672 square feet of ground floor commercial/retail space. The City will re-lend the proceeds of its Section 108 Guaranteed Loan to Garden Block Investment, LLC, an upper-tier investment entity that will leverage $7,497,000 in New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) funding. The Garden Block Investment, LLC will invest the guaranteed loan proceeds and the NMTC funding as equity into New Markets Investment, LLC, a Community Development Equity (CDE). The CDE will use this equity funding to make an investment (a loan) in Woodward SA-Ventures, LLC for financing the mixed use redevelopment of the Woodward Garden Block, the Qualified Low-Income Community Business (QLICB). The total cost of the project will be $31,810,044. The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) national objective for the City’s use of the guaranteed loan proceeds for special economic development assistance to a for profit developer is to benefit low-moderate income persons through job creation. The redevelopment will create an estimated 390 new full-time jobs, of which at least 51% of the new jobs will be held by or made available to persons of low-moderate income. The City will repay its Section 108 Guaranteed Loan over a twenty-year period, paying interest only for the first seven years, since the CDE must invest all the NMTC equity in the QLICB for seven years, as required by the U.S. Department of Treasury. As security for the repayment of its Section 108 Guaranteed Loan, the City pledges its interest in its third-party loan to Garden Block Investment, LLC, which will pledge its partnership interests in the CDE. At the end of the seven years, the CDE will terminate and assign its first lien position on the completed site by Woodward SA- Ventures, LLC. As part of the security for the repayment of the Section 108 Guaranteed Loan, the City also pledges its CDBG funds. http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd /communitydevelopment/programs /108/2006summaries/econdev.cfm ?state=mi North Woodward Garden Block Development – A state brownfield tax credit valued at $2.2 million will help the development group revitalize a blighted block on the west side of Woodward between Mack and Warren in Detroit. The project involves the restoration of the Garden Theatre and the Blue Moon Building. The theater will be returned to its original use and the Blue Moon will house a new restaurant. A new, three-story building will be constructed with retail and commercial space. Plans also call for a 300-space parking garage. The project will generate $28.7 million in capital investment and create more than 200 new jobs. http://ref.michigan.org/medc/n ews/major/combo.asp?ContentId= 893D39EE-86E9-4FB8-A47E-56984A 8D9CD3&QueueId=1&ContentTypeId =7 p.s. There have been ZERO activity on this site for several months. The last active tenant was the pharmacy. Blue Moon was an active bar until the late 90's. The Garden Theatre (an early C. Howard Crane) was a club the last time it was active in the early 2000's. The interior has been gutted for years. http://cinematreasures.org/the ater/2651/ | ||
Mdoyle Member Username: Mdoyle Post Number: 512 Registered: 10-2006 |
Also 1/2 down the page the Woodward/Willis Mixed Use Project. Likely dead... Zero news in years. http://detroitmidtown.com/05/d evelop_projects_medical.php?ms ub=5 A google search for "Woodward/Willis Mixed-Use project" turns up more info. | ||
Korridorkid Member Username: Korridorkid Post Number: 111 Registered: 01-2005 |
Well that's great to hear! With Zaccaro's and other setbacks in the news as of late, it's great to get some positive news! | ||
Hudkina Member Username: Hudkina Post Number: 335 Registered: 12-2004 |
It would be nice to see renderings of the new three story building. I hope that the parking entrance isn't directly on Woodward (like the new apartments further north) and instead on Alexandrine St. It would also be nice if you couldn't even see the parking garage from Woodward... | ||
Hudkina Member Username: Hudkina Post Number: 336 Registered: 12-2004 |
BTW, it looks like they would have enough room for an outdoor eating area on Alexandrine outside the "Blue Moon" building. I don't know if it ever held a building or not, but there is a relatively large gap between the edge of the building and the sidewalk. It would make a great patio dining space. | ||
Fury13 Member Username: Fury13 Post Number: 2078 Registered: 10-2003 |
Garden Theatre (ca. 1915) ----> 509 Club (live blues, R&B, late 1950s)----> The Village teen night club (early '60s, rock and R&B) ----> Sassy Cat porno movie house ('70s and '80s). You can look it up. | ||
Fury13 Member Username: Fury13 Post Number: 2079 Registered: 10-2003 |
By the way, it's not SelDON, like Barbara FelDON; it's SelDEN, like the guy who caused all the patent trouble for Henry Ford. | ||
Andylinn Member Username: Andylinn Post Number: 1082 Registered: 04-2006 |
whoops. thanks for the correction Fury. (!) | ||
Gumby Member Username: Gumby Post Number: 989 Registered: 11-2003 |
http://www.waterwinterwonderla nd.com/location.asp?ID=601&typ e=5&noinfo=true | ||
Rhymeswithrawk Member Username: Rhymeswithrawk Post Number: 1729 Registered: 11-2005 |
The Sassy Cat! Meowr! haha That's amazing. I think it should be reopened as that name, minus the porn. | ||
Fury13 Member Username: Fury13 Post Number: 2080 Registered: 10-2003 |
But it was really famous as the Village... that club was a percolator for such talent as Nathaniel Mayer, Gino Washington, Mitch Ryder (when he was Billy Lee)... Bob Seger may have been there as well. | ||
Greebomusic Member Username: Greebomusic Post Number: 25 Registered: 08-2008 |
I use to perform at the Blue Moon when it was Finney's Pub. They did have outside seating while it was the Blue Moon. |
