[animatedmartian]

Park Avenue Hotel, aka Harbor Lights, is currently in limbo.

New Red Wings arena plan raises preservation concerns



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The rezoning request on City Council's plate concerns a four-block area between Woodward Avenue and Cass Avenue that will include: the arena itself, two above-ground parking garages and mixed-use space connected to the arena.

The Hotel Park Avenue sits just within the northern boundary of the rezoning request. By notching out the building, the Ilitch-owned arena development company, Olympia Development of Michigan, doesn't have to explain to the city how it plans to use it.

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However, a contractor on the project recently told a city council committee that the Hotel Park Avenue was carved out of the rezoning because federal homeland security guidelines make redevelopment of the structure difficult.

"We're trying to figure some things out. I'll be very honest, we're not having a lot of good results," Olympia contractor Richard Heapes told the council committee on Nov. 6. "It's not so much the cost. But then, what do we put in there?"

Heapes said protective measures would have to be taken for any privately owned residential or office structures within a "required security zone" that forms a halo extending 100 feet around the arena's exterior. The halo directly intersects the Hotel Park Avenue. As a result, a three-foot-thick concrete wall would have to constructed to follow the homeland security guidelines, Heapes said. The wall would make at least one side of the building appear blank, with no window frames.

Heapes said "a federal homeland security guideline that the NHL has adopted and has been applied to all their other facilities" requires adherence to the security zone during the arena's design.

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Tim Boscarino, a zoning specialist for the city of Detroit, told the council committee at its Nov. 6 meeting that the regulations appear to be flexible.

Councilman Benson agreed: "It's a recommendation. It's not a law. It's not a requirement."

Benson said carving out the Hotel Park Avenue from the rezoning request "could be seen as an intent to create an argument for the demolition of the property in the future."

The fate of the Hotel Park Avenue and the Eddystone have been a point of intrigue since plans for the arena unfolded last year. The graffiti-covered buildings now stand as eyesores in an underdeveloped part of the Cass Corridor. Built in the 1920s, they are on the National Register of Historic Places, which qualifies them for redevelopment tax credits.

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Already, the City Council is taking steps to protect the Hotel Park Avenue. On Thursday, the planning and economic development committee unanimously supported a recommendation to include the Park Avenue in the arena rezoning request. The amendment would push Olympia to find a purpose for the building, or to come out and say they plan to tear it down.

"If it's not in the (rezoning), it doesn't support its future redevelopment. Being placed in puts it in a stronger footing," Benson said. "Right now, I don't support the demolition of the property."

Other pictures of the buildings.


Hotels No More by cman710, on Flickr


Photo 20131122. This is ZOMBIELAND. Park Avenue in Detroit, MI. by Vik Pahwa Photography, on Flickr



View from the 26th Floor of the Fisher Building. by raeann.canterbury, on Flickr


You can see Hotel Eddystone on the far right and it's pretty obvious how ill-advised it would be to demolish either of these two buildings. While the immediate blocks around them are currently no-mans land, it's right between two growing neighborhoods, Downtown and Midtown, plus whatever new development will be built by Olympia. It's pretty incomprehensible how they could argue for demolition.