[Rizzo]

The pieces of the puzzle are really coming together nicely. It was only 10 years ago that downtown Detroit had a large collection of abandoned buildings with uncertain futures, but that number has now substantially diminished. The few that really need attention in the CBD and near surrounding areas are the Harbor Light, United Artists and Detroit Building which are coincidentally owned by you know who. Seems like all the other vacant buildings are ready for renovation. Still a shame we lost the Lafayette and Statler, but moving forward beyond the renovations into new construction, the downtown share of historic structures is still substantial and nearly comparable to that of older American downtowns.

It's great to think the day is close where I won't have to read another article of a major historic downtown structure getting demolished. At least I believe here on out, the trajectory of development should be positive and the architectural gains will start to out-pace the losses.