(rshsdepot) Michigan Central Station in Detroit, MI

[CoolGuy127_@_aol.com]

I found this on another list and thought it  would be of interest to this 
group.
 
        Daniel Chazin
        Teaneck, NJ
Detroit wants blighted old train depot demolished
Chicago Tribune
 
 
 
DETROIT - The Michigan Central Depot -- a  17-story hulking reminder of 
Detroit's past grandeur and present failures --  could be approaching its end. 

The city council has passed a resolution  seeking emergency demolition of the 
mostly hollowed-out building just outside  the shadow of downtown, while 
Mayor Ken Cockrel Jr. has made it clear that he  wants federal stimulus money to 
bring it to rubble. 

Both want to force  the long-closed train station's owner, Manuel (Matty) 
Moroun, to pay the city  back. Moroun also owns the Ambassador Bridge, which is 
operated by his Detroit  International Bridge Co. 

Dan Stamper, company president, told The  Associated Press Tuesday afternoon 
the council's demolition plans are not that  simple. 


"The building is on the historical list," Stamper said. "But  for that, we 
would have torn it down some time ago. 

"I agree, the depot  is a visual icon to the decay of Detroit and we feel 
really bad about that, and  agree with everybody who says something needs to be 
done. Renovate it or get rid  of it." 

The nearly 100-year-old building dominates Detroit's southwest  skyline and 
in its heyday had been considered one of the city's most stately  structures. 

Built in 1913, the station was designed by the same  architects responsible 
for New York's Grand Central Terminal. It served  thousands of travelers each 
year, but its demise was set as rail service in  Detroit began to fall off. 

The building was sold in 1985, with passenger  carrier Amtrak pulling out 
three years later. 

Hundreds of pane-less  windows have left the depot open to the elements, 
birds and four-legged  varmints. Fencing, barbed wire and warning signs remind 
urban adventurers and  other upright walking trespassers to keep out. 

Moroun bought the  building in the mid- to late-1990s after one of the owners 
defaulted on a loan  to the Detroit area businessman, Stamper said. 

Moroun also has interests  in rail and trucking transport which led to him 
buying the depot, Stamper said.  

Depot "ownership really was by accident, and probably the most  criticized 
thing we could have done," he said. "We got into it because of the  railroad 
implications, and all the railroads converged there. It had been closed  and 
stripped long before we got involved." 

Stamper said they are looking  at opportunities to renovate the depot or 
start the demolition process. Past  bids have estimated demolition at a "couple of 
million" dollars, Stamper said.  

"We would like to see the building saved," he said. "We think the  process 
(the council) has gone through is not the right way. 

"The real  issue is there are about 600,000 square feet in the building. Is 
there a market  for all of that, or is there a market for part of it?" 

Stamper did not  directly address the possibility of Moroun being billed for 
demolition.  

A report on how to enforce demolition of the building is expected to be  
presented to the council later this month. But similar plans and cries to rehab  
or tear down the depot have been heard in prior years throughout City Hall.  

Ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick even pushed a short-lived $100 million to $130  
million plan to buy, renovate and convert the depot into a new police  
headquarters. 

"We did a lot of work, spent a lot of money on  engineering," Stamper said. 
"The city couldn't complete the deal."  

Meanwhile, Cockrel is seeking $3.64 million in federal stimulus funds to  
tear the dilapidated station down. Like the council, Cockrel wants Moroun to  
reimburse the city, mayoral spokesman Daniel Cherrin said. 

"We're  waiting to hear from Washington" on whether the funding will be 
approved,  Cherrin said Tuesday. "It's an eyesore. What once stood as the city's  
architectural treasure, now sits as a symbol of blight in the city." 

But  not all want to see it torn down. 

Timothy McKay, executive director of  the Greater Corktown Development Corp., 
envisions the old station as a "fabulous  ruin." 

"Why couldn't we have a ruin to celebrate like the Coliseum in  Rome?" McKay 
said. "It's an iconic piece of architecture that needs to be  regarded in a 
very good way. What is going to replace it is our big question."  

McKay's organization is a nonprofit housing and economic development  
corporation that works in the area surrounding the  depot

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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1870
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org