  Thejesus Member Username: Thejesus Post Number: 2145 Registered: 06-2006 |
What is the history of the skywalk? When was it built and for what specific purpose? Were there any objections at the time about cutting a hole into the Guardian? Is it still in use today? | ||
Quinn Member Username: Quinn Post Number: 1472 Registered: 01-2005 |
Was in use when I worked there from 97-99 (One Woodward). Used it to get to the cafe in Guardian from our freight elevator...very convenient. | ||
3rdworldcity Member Username: 3rdworldcity Post Number: 914 Registered: 01-2005 |
M-Con had offices in both buildings and installed it as a convenience for its employees, and to improve efficiency. It was installed on a Saturday morning; I watched the installation for an hour or so. The skywalk was brought to the site in one piece by a couple of long flatbeds and hoisted by two cranes to its eventual installation point. I obtained a copy of the easement over the street granted by the City of Detroit and used it as the basis to draft a similar easement granted by Birmingham for the skywalk between 555 Woodward and the co-owned apartments across Bower St, which Birmingham refused to vacate in order for the developer to incorporate the apartment and the offices into one building. | ||
Thejesus Member Username: Thejesus Post Number: 2148 Registered: 06-2006 |
3rdworld: Thanks for the background. Also, if you get a minute, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the state of the downtown office market in light the news story that is the basis for the thread below...specifically, about One Kennedy square being at full occupancy: https://www.atdetroit.net/forum/mes sages/5/113168.html?1189733800 (Message edited by thejesus on September 18, 2007) | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 5363 Registered: 08-2004 |
As 3WC mentioned it connected the two towers when they were both under the same company. At some point afterwards (during energy deregulation) ANR Pipeline, which owned MichCon (or was it the other way around?) split into 2 companies, and ANR got the One Woodward Building and MichCon got the Guardian Building. Then later ANR Pipeline was purchased by Houston's Coastal Corp. (an Oil/Gas company) during the CAY years, and more recently MichCon was purchased by DTE Energy. Then ANR moved to either the 500 or 600 (one of the 2 smaller) tower at RenCen, until they were purchased by El Paso Oil (or some name like that). I don't know if there's any ANR pipeline type employees left downtown. And as we know, the retained MichCon employees moved to the DTE campus (Edison Plaza). Now there's no energy related employees in either One Woodward or Guardian Buildings. | ||
Jiminnm Member Username: Jiminnm Post Number: 1422 Registered: 02-2005 |
I spent many years in both One Woodward and the Guardian Bldg. Gistok is generally correct. The Skyramp (as employees called it) was built shortly after MichCon bought the Guardian Bldg (1976?). MichCon was a subsidiary of ANR at that time. In 1983 (I think), ANR spun MichCon off. MichCon had employees in both buildings for awhile after that, but eventually moved out of One Woodward. MichCon continued to use the 14th floor cafeteria until the late 1990s, when they set up their own in the Guardian Bldg. ANR retained ownership of One Woodward and leased out some space. ANR was acquired by Oscar Wyatt's Coastal Corp in, I think, 1986. They had folks in One Woodward until the late 1990s, but most of the Detroit operations moved to the RenCen. El Paso Energy acquired Coastal in 2001-2002. Many of the former ANR folk ended up in Colorado. DTE acquired MCN (MichCon) in 2001 and subsequently moved all of MichCon to DTE Plaza and sold the Guardian Bldg. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 5366 Registered: 08-2004 |
Jim, I hate to threadjack... but wasn't Coastal Corp. Chairman Wyatt's son the guy in the infamous Paparazzi caught "toe sucking on the beach" photo incident involving Sarah Ferguson ("Fergie") former wife of Queen Elizabeth II's 2nd son Prince Andrew? | ||
Fareastsider Member Username: Fareastsider Post Number: 596 Registered: 08-2006 |
easement for the walk that high up...interesting? Anyone know the legalities of such a thing? | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 5367 Registered: 08-2004 |
Is that skywalk currently locked at both ends? Or is it accessible as a possible fire exit (with the alarms, etc.)? | ||
Thejesus Member Username: Thejesus Post Number: 2149 Registered: 06-2006 |
"easement for the walk that high up...interesting? Anyone know the legalities of such a thing?" I don't have specialized knowledge, but I would imagine that it involves air rights over the city-owned streets... when you own a piece of property, you generally own the air or space above it up to a certain height...if someone wants to use that space, they must get permission from whoever owns it... so it sounds like the city decided to retain ownership of their air rights but granted them the right to use the space in the form of an easement | ||
3rdworldcity Member Username: 3rdworldcity Post Number: 916 Registered: 01-2005 |
Thejesus: Exactly. Also, the municipality imposes upon the grantee of the easement the obligation to protect the users of the street from damages resulting from the failure to maintain the structure which spans the street. You inquired about my thoughts regarding the downtown office market in view of the rent-up of the One Kennedy Square. Well, I'm glad it's rented, of course. I don't have nearly as great a handle on the entire downtown office market as I used to when I was more active in the business than I am now. Most of my business is elsewhere. However, I do maintain contacts with people more active here than I, and my sense is that the overall market remains very bad. There continue to be many financially distressed buildings and the problem with getting sufficient tenants to occupy these buildings at economically viable rents is a very big hurdle. A case in point is the Guardian Building. The owners have deep pockets, put a lot of money into the asset, and luckily have been able to get out whole (probably, but I don't know) by flipping it to the County. Most owners don't have those connections. My guess is that the Guardian would have ended up a money losing, partially occupied building like most others had the bail-out not been possible. The problem is not just one of occupancy. The bigger issue is whether the rents, regardless of the occupancy, are sufficient to maintain economic viability. That may be an issue with One Kennedy Square. Unless one has access to the financials it's almost impossible to determine. The issue I see with One Kennedy is that the biggest tenant, Visteon, couldn't handle the deal and sub-let its space. At what price? Is financially shaky Visteon still on the hook for any rent not covered by the sub-let? Could that be a big problem down the line? Time will tell. | ||
Jiminnm Member Username: Jiminnm Post Number: 1425 Registered: 02-2005 |
I think that is true Gistok. Oscar's not faring too well these days, going on trial for paying kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's so-called oil for food program. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/bus iness/6988929.stm | ||
Goat Member Username: Goat Post Number: 9831 Registered: 10-2003 |
3rdworld. When are you going to either sell or fix up the derelict and vacant buildings you own? | ||
Quozl Member Username: Quozl Post Number: 1474 Registered: 07-2005 |
quote:Goat, you have him mixed up with that Tony guy. I thought you already received the memo from Lowell and Jelk stating they are not one in the same? One User ID per customer is how this place works pequeña cabra, no sock puppets allowed... | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 5369 Registered: 08-2004 |
Thanks for the info Jiminnm. Oscar Wyatt was chummy with CAY, as I recall. CAY courted him so as NOT to take the ANR employees out of Detroit... which he didn't (El Paso did that later as you mentioned). | ||
Elevator_fan Member Username: Elevator_fan Post Number: 22 Registered: 04-2004 |
Around 2003, I was on an architectural tour of One Woodward Ave conducted by one of its original architects from Yamasaki. Accompanying us was a representative of building management, who boasted that she had the only known key to the Skybridge. If true, her statement indicates that it is not in ordinary use. | ||
Thejesus Member Username: Thejesus Post Number: 2197 Registered: 06-2006 |
"If true, her statement indicates that it is not in ordinary use." Not necessarily. They could generally keep it unlocked. | ||
Ghetto_butterfly Member Username: Ghetto_butterfly Post Number: 745 Registered: 09-2004 |
I have posted this before but my story of this skywalk goes like this: An executive with an office in the One Woodward building has a secret mistress for whom he bought a condo in the Guardian building, on the same floor where his office is. In order to be able to meet secretly, he had the skywalk built, connecting his mistress apartment and his office, so that they can meet each other secretly during business hours, before he left for the day, driving home to Grosse Pointe Shores to his wife and 3 kids. The mistress looked like Greta Garbo, so that explains the executive's obsession with her. | ||
Jiminnm Member Username: Jiminnm Post Number: 1432 Registered: 02-2005 |
I'm not sure what that came from butterfly, but there were no condos in the Guardian. We (those of us who had to cross the skyramp on a regular basis) always joked that the first person across was Wilbur Mack, then Prez of Michigan Wisconsin Pipeline, an ANR subsidiary. He weighed in at least 350 lbs. and we all thought it would be safe if he got across without it falling down. |
