  Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 2483 Registered: 02-2005 |
See this photo I took a few hours ago: http://www.flickr.com/photo_zo om.gne?id=405000590&size=l In the background is the new development between the canals (parts of it still being worked on) on Keelson, adjacent to the river on the far east side. In the foreground is the Fisher mansion property, which sometime recently was leveled, because just last year it was a waterfront jungle, home to pheasants, fox, and probably some shady activity. Here is a local.live photo showing the woods that used to be here: http://local.live.com/default. aspx?v=2&cp=r1t2fd82n2d8&style =o&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1 000&scene=5643657 I took this photo because, if not for the smokestacks, one would think this was a scene from Rochester Hills, and not a riverfront neighborhood that's been heavily inhabited for over 100 years. I would like to know: what is going on on the Fisher property? Has it been sold to a developer who will build homes to match those on Keelson opposite the canal? --- On another note, can someone with far east side/GP knowledge help me figure out which building the city of GPP will be demolishing, according to this GP News blurb: "Grosse Pointe Park residents will see plenty of crumbling walls in the next couple of weeks after city council approved a bid...to demolish the old Brosnan's Bar and Laundromat building on Jefferson between Alter and Maryland. 'The properties have exhausted a useful life,' Park City Manager Dale Krajniak said." ? This local.live image shows the storefronts along this stretch of Jefferson, does anyone know which building they are speaking of? (Maryland is the third intersection east of Alter. Wayburn and an alley (where the City buses flip around) comes between Alter and Maryland) http://local.live.com/default. aspx?v=2&cp=r1w9hm82nkp7&style =o&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1 000&scene=5640282 I just want to be sure that they are not talking about this beautiful building in need of a developer at the NE corner of Alter and Jefferson (which I thought was C of Detroit property anyway): http://www.flickr.com/photo_zo om.gne?id=405000595&size=l (Message edited by mackinaw on February 27, 2007) | ||
Jerome81 Member Username: Jerome81 Post Number: 1314 Registered: 11-2003 |
That is the "forest" that used to exist between Lenox and the canal? Why raze it if you're not going to do anything with it? | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 2485 Registered: 02-2005 |
You bet. I also assume that something is about to be developed there. | ||
Jerome81 Member Username: Jerome81 Post Number: 1315 Registered: 11-2003 |
And I think the last building your'e showing is on the NE corner of Alter and Jefferson (cause the marathon across Jefferson is on the SE side) I don't know if that is the building to go. But my understanding is that Alter, both sides of the street, are Detroit, whereas the next street in is completely in GP. I'm guessing it is the white building with the green awnings. But I don't know. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3123 Registered: 10-2003 |
I think they mean the portion (in your aerial) with the green awning, but it could be the whole stretch with the light-gray roof, up to but not including, the building on the corner. Which mansion was demolished on Keelson? | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3124 Registered: 10-2003 |
Did you check on the progress of Morgan Waterfront Estates, opposite side of the powerplant? https://www.atdetroit.net/forum/mes sages/76017/81072.html | ||
Patrick Member Username: Patrick Post Number: 4104 Registered: 10-2003 |
yep, i posted this a while back...too bad | ||
Patrick Member Username: Patrick Post Number: 4105 Registered: 10-2003 |
The wooded lot was the strip owned by the Fisher family. i have more info... | ||
Supersport Member Username: Supersport Post Number: 11341 Registered: 10-2003 |
Wow MikeM, I guess I need to go visit the eastside. I haven't been over there in quite awhile to check out new development. I don't think those mansions were going up last time I was over there. Great to see! I'll have to have jjaba give me a tour next time he's around. He's and eastsider, right? | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3125 Registered: 10-2003 |
Take everything jjaba says with a grain of salt. Which of these two were demolished? Both?  | ||
Skipp Member Username: Skipp Post Number: 114 Registered: 06-2005 |
I just drove by the houses just in back of the morgan waterfront estates today. Those suckers are huge! It looks like they are ready to build right on the canal also. | ||
Rrl Member Username: Rrl Post Number: 751 Registered: 12-2003 |
Mackinaw- The building at the corner of Alter & E.Jeff is indeed in the City and not the building they are referring to. The laundromat & Brosnans are shown here.  I don't necessarily agree with the assessment that they've outlived they're useful lives, unless there are structural concerns I'm unware of. What will GPP put in their place, a parking lot? This mentality is maddening. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3126 Registered: 10-2003 |
Is that where Little Harry's was? | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 2486 Registered: 02-2005 |
Thanks Jerome, I did mean to say NE corner. I did not check on those other new houses, Mikem, maybe tomorrow. I might also guess that Keelson used to be a long waterfront lot attached to a large mansion; however, it's possible, based on the fact that there are 2-3 existing old, brick homes on that peninsula, that this was an old neighborhood before. I think the Detroit portion of Windmill Pointe is just the strangest neighborhood ever. You have some beautiful old single family homes on streets like Chalmers, Marlborough, Lakewood, etc., and you have old mansions. There is real estate interest, because of the great location, but this has all been poured into new construction, and you have an old neighborhood segmented by new subdivisions. There's Keelson, and there's also Victoria Park (single family homes modeled after 1990s suburbia) and new condos west of Lenox near Freud. It's so strange to see new construction next door to a neighborhood with so many fixer-uppers. I stress the fix-up portion, because these homes are not complete wrecks, nor are there very many vacant lots. The old neighborhoods here have tons of potential. I really think the divide between new money/new houses and the lower-middle class in the old neighborhoods here is even more stark than the obvious differences that you see between GP Park and Detroit. Mikem, it might very well be the green awning building (the one the buses circle around). And why it needs to go I don't know. The big white building to its west, I believe, is the GP Park DPW. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 2487 Registered: 02-2005 |
Rrl, thanks for the info and your effort with the photo. This is deeply troubling. What is wrong with those storefronts? Grosse Pointe Park is differentiated by its rather intact urban fabric. I hate the fact that the GP News report states: "Krajniak said city officials are looking into development projects," meaning they are tearing down something they don't have a replacement for. Mike, from what I saw, all three of the extant old houses are still there. I'll have to take another look. (Message edited by mackinaw on February 27, 2007) | ||
Rrl Member Username: Rrl Post Number: 752 Registered: 12-2003 |
Little Harry's was on the NE corner of Beaconsfield & E.Jeff, and was razed about 12 years ago. The newer, faux, half-timber looking condo development is what now sits on the Little Harrys site (along with the old Esquire Theater site). | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3127 Registered: 10-2003 |
Thanks RRL, fuzzy memory. Mackinaw, maybe you missed this thread, Detroit's Lost Mansions, where I posted a bio of Edward Gray, developer of Grayhaven and Keelson Drive. When you said the Fisher property was recently leveled, I thought you meant the Fisher mansion itself was demolished. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 2488 Registered: 02-2005 |
Thanks for the link, I'll read up. I'll try to be more clear; the Fisher mansion is alive and well. It's 'forest' is gone though. It must have been recent because it still smelled pretty woodsy when I was there (sawdust and stumps still there). | ||
Fury13 Member Username: Fury13 Post Number: 1376 Registered: 10-2003 |
450 Keelson is still there, isn't it? That's quite a house. It was up for sale awhile ago. | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 8439 Registered: 12-2003 |
Brosnan's was the place taken from that fellow busted for drug dealing, right? My guess is they want to raze the property so he won't be able to get it back if he is found not guilty?! I wouldn't put THAT past government to take something out of a possible lawsuit equation...and perhaps their hoity real estate agents have warned them that NOBODY in the Pointes would buy such a tainted property! Heh. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 2490 Registered: 02-2005 |
Fury, Mikem's screenshot further up shows the only three remaining old houses on Keelson. 158 Keelson, one of the new detached homes, is on the market for $850,000. Quite an asking price. I hope they find someone who wants expensive new construction in the inner city. It's a tall order. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 2491 Registered: 02-2005 |
Brosnan was indeed busted for dealing, out of a house on Devonshire near Mack, I believe. I did not know it was the same family. You might be on to something. Well the C of GPP just got my cautionary, preservationist email anyway. | ||
Dds Member Username: Dds Post Number: 147 Registered: 10-2006 |
Brosnan's was sold to the city by the owner. Drugs were NOT involved. You are thinking of the case that involved the owner's son, who/which had nothing to do with the bar. Nice conspiracy theory, though. | ||
Dds Member Username: Dds Post Number: 148 Registered: 10-2006 |
Mackinaw, by the way, picture you posted of the NE corner of Jefferson and Alter was the Deck Bar. Another defunct gay bar in the city that was beautiful inside. I'm not sure if the corner is owned by the city. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 2492 Registered: 02-2005 |
Thanks for the info. Interesting that it was sold to the city. Still you would think that they would wait until they had some designs before they tore it down. The former gay bar at the corner of Jefferson is for sale by Brushwood Corp., and, we've determined, indeed is not GPP property. | ||
Dds Member Username: Dds Post Number: 150 Registered: 10-2006 |
The Deck was in Detroit, not GPP. The city limits line is the alley west of Wayburn. Hence the name of the other great defunct bar in the neighborhood, "The City Limits Bar," just off the NE the corner of Alter and Kercheval. The owner of Brosnan's was just tired of owning a bar for 20 or more years, and sold just to get out. The unfortunate events with his son just happened to coincide. As far as I know Mr. Brosnan owned the whole block, which includes the stained glass shop on the NE corner of Jefferson and Maryland, not just the area that Rrl outlined. There were rumors before the block was sold that this might be the sight of the new GPP city hall so that public services could have more room in the current building, but I can't see that happening. (Message edited by dds on February 27, 2007) | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 8440 Registered: 12-2003 |
Thanks for the insider info...just remembered the name, and despise the liberal irreversible property grab laws attached to the stupid personal use prohibitions. Anything I can do to bring them to light... | ||
Neilr Member Username: Neilr Post Number: 463 Registered: 06-2005 |
Mikem, Little Harry's (The Chene House) was in Detroit. Anita Baker's husband had it torn down for his IHOP. Are you thinking of The Old Place Restaurant which used to be near the block being discussed? | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3128 Registered: 10-2003 |
Yes, the Old Place, with the pool upstairs. Thanks. | ||
Kathinozarks Member Username: Kathinozarks Post Number: 218 Registered: 11-2006 |
The Old Place, I remember that restaurant. Gray paint with steps up to the door on the left front. I always thought it was for old folks. Is that the right name? Did they have good food? |
