Detroit at Edwards

[michael gill]

What would you support with your good will and money?

http://gyroscopethattakesyouplaces.word ... ion-derby/

[Stan Austin]

How 'bout a printing plant for hand operated printing presses and a water buffalo assembly line

[J Hrlec]

What would you support with your good will and money?

I would support the demolition of this building to be replaced by a newer one where businesses can lease space and some living space above.

[Paul Schrimpf]

You don't have to imagine it. Drive East down Detroit til you pass Cove. Ours comes with a metal fence. The old Bischof Interiors building looks like it will suffer a similar fate in the future.

I agree with you about the streetcar feel being the predominant architecture and personally believe the city should proactively support its preservation. Losing the Hall House broke my heart. But it's pretty difficult to generate a pulse about this with most people in Lakewood.

JOB has lamented for a long time that there's no real set guidelines for preservation, just a general notion of what's important, but which can be quickly overcome/discarded by the promise of significant investment, even if it means demolition.

[Missy Limkemann]

a nice building for a wonderful special needs rescue. a fenced in yard for the dogs to romp. a room where kids can come to read to dogs without being judged or made fun of, the kids win and the dogs win.

Oh is that just me????

[michael gill]

J, I'd love to see a new mixed use development there ... like Rosewood place. The rumor of a bank sounds alright. Or a YMCA darcare.

[Bill Call]

J, I'd love to see a new mixed use development there ... like Rosewood place. The rumor of a bank sounds alright. Or a YMCA darcare.

When I was on the board of the Lakewood Y I worked hard to convince the management of the Y to purchase that property. The additional space would have relieved the parking problem and a rehabed building would have been the home of the Y day care facilities.

The Y would have saved about $30,000 in rental expenses. The extra parking would have helped keep members who were leaving because they were fed up with the parking problems. We were very close to a deal when the downtown Y killed the whole project. I have sinced resigned from the board. I'm not sure of very much but I'm pretty sure thats one resignation they were glad to see.

[michael gill]

Hi Bill. If we're talking about the same Y proposal, maybe 8 years ago, I remember it well. The real driving force at that time was the landlord's and Tom George's desire to put a parking lot there, which they claimed would serve Edwards Park, which their MOU described as a "world class baseball facility." (you know ... the one where you can't play if you're older than 4th grade or using a hardball because you could easily hit it out of the park).

I love the park. But we all knew the parking facility was all about serving what were at the time an irresponsible collection of extremely loud and rowdy bars. "Asphalt vomitorium" would have been an apt description of what he had planned to build beneath my daughter's window.The taxpayers would have paid the cost ... the previous land owner would have retained ownership. The YMCA daycare was brought into the discussion only when the landlord realized his parking lot was on the ropes. It was a last minute thing, and he didn't give the downtown Y the full picture--that he had tacked that whisper of hope onto his parking lot proposal in the hope of making it more attractive.

If there were a real proposal from the YMCA regarding a daycare facility, I'd be very enthusiastic about it.

[Myra Beckrest]

I like the idea of mixed use as well, like the Rosewood place that Michael mentioned.

As I was driving by this building this evening I mentioned to my husband that it was going to be torn down.
My biggest fear is that Lakewood is going to lose it's Detroit Ave storefronts... I really would hate to see this.
After a fish fry evening, as I was driving down Detroit at W. 65th, I thought to myself "this is what Lakewood is missing"... thinking of the Fannae Mae building that used to be at the corner of 117th and detroit, and the continuous brick storefronts with apts above.

I just don't want Lakewood to turn into a CVS on every corner (though the new one is quite impressive) and a chain store in between... With this much vacant land opening up, that's my fear.

I look around and feel that the 50's and 60's did a great disservice to Lakewood (or those on the Architectural Review Board) as some of the buildings in this town (business and apartments alike) are frankly just hideous.

[michael gill]

I agree, Myra.

The challenging thing is, this building at the corner is not significant or distinguished in any way. Never was, even in good condition.

So people don't get worked up about the loss of something like that.

But it's the parts that make the whole. And part by part, Lakewood loses the architecture and commercial density that defines it.

It's a rare land owner committed to something like Rosewood Place.