A state agency's new video (below) shows the dramatic results from 21 months of work and $82.5 million spent on reviving the historic David Whitney Building in downtown Detroit.
A skylight crowns the four-story "grand rotunda."
The Michigan Economic Development Corp. showcases its role in helping restore the bronze trim, atrium skylight, four-story grand rotunda and other amenities for an Aloft Hotel, apartments and shops expected to open by early 2015.
The 18-story landmark that opened in 1915 on Woodward at Grand Circus Park "is one of only three surviving buildings in Detroit by the renowned architectural firm of Daniel H. Burnham & Co.," Dan Austin writes at his Historic Detroit. "Burnham is considered one of the most important American architects of all time. . . . The building’s atrium lobby is one of the most jaw-dropping in the city, a veritable terra cotta smorgasbord."
The two-minute video has comments from Brian Holdwick of the Detroit Economic Growth Corp. and project leader David Di Rita, co-owner of the Roxbury Group, a Detroit developer. He speaks of "the grandeur" visitors will see anew. A new entrance will connect directly to the remodeled People Mover stop at Grand Circus Park.
-- Alan Stamm
