The Observation Deck

Here's a proposal to turn a Birdtown church into a nano-brewery. By itself, maybe a fine idea. I can't help but love the echoes of John Barleycorn's resurrection on the altar. But then again, commerce ... Bar commerce ... Would creep into a residential neighborhood. What do folks think?

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/local-news ... -postponed

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.475751,-81.776923,17z

I'm not a big fan of the bar based economy.

There was a plan to convert the property to residential use. As I recall there would have been two or three or so. One reason the deal fell through was the cost of asbestos abatement. If subsidies were available for that type of residential development in Lakewood the houses on that site would be built by now.

There are alternative choices on Detroit.

Of course I prefer apartments but it's hard to compete with the apartment subsidies offered to downtown developers and Crocker Park.

Can Birdtown be Tremont without the crime and pollution?

I appreciate a good bar, and even the way just about every second street corner in Lakewood seems to have one. I like the Plank Road at the top of my street quite a bit. When the same building was Panini at the Riviera, when it was ridiculously loud and had drunken people periodically taking a rest in my garage or on my front porch at 1 and 2 a.m., I didn't like it so much.

I like being close to commerce . . . but when it eats into the residential neighborhood, not so much.

Lots of folks know this has been an ongoing battle for me: the adjacent landlord, who owns a big chunk of Detroit, including buildings that house bars on my block, would love to demolish not just one, but two houses behind his property to make parking for the bars. WHich of course would be ten feet away from my kids' bedroom windows.

I'm very sympathetic to people in Birdtown who might not want a vacant church converted into a bar, even if it is a cool microbrewery concept, an interesting plan that preserves church architecture that defines a historic neighborhood.

Bill said, "Can Birdtown be Tremont without the crime and pollution?"

That's a good comparison. Two old, self-contained, working class neighborhoods with their own distinctive churches, busy parks, all mingled with commerce, and too little parking.

The developers who proposed the Birdtown church brewery also have had great success in Tremont, and have done great preservation work there. Including reconstructing a historic building brick by brick, which won a preservation award last year.

michael gill wrote:That's a good comparison. Two old, self-contained, working class neighborhoods with their own distinctive churches, busy parks, all mingled with commerce, and too little parking.

The developers who proposed the Birdtown church brewery also have had great success in Tremont, and have done great preservation work there. Including reconstructing a historic building brick by brick, which won a preservation award last year.

My wife and I were at Jammy Buggars last night sharing some wings with an old friend and his daughter and son-in-law.

The daughter and son in law live in Tremont. She will be having a baby in a few months so they are buying a house in Broadview Heights. They said they would never raise a child in Tremont.

A houses in Lakewood are selling quickly IF they are in great shape. Some are selling even before they are listed.

What does that tell us about the proper focus of development policy in Lakewood?

The microbrew could be a very good idea.

I'm happy to see that some of our former church properties are being successfully converted.
St. Hedwig is the religious statue museum, CVS took over the spot on Detroit, and the West Shore Church near my house is a financial office.

As a taxpayer, I especially like it when some of these properties become part of the tax base.