The Wurlitzer Building on Broadway opened in 1926. (Photo via historicdetroit.org)
A new hotel apparently is coming to downtown Detroit.
A a New York developer, ASH NYC, is considering "a gut renovation of downtown Detroit's long-vacant and sometimes dangerous Wurlitzer Building to make it a 100-room hotel," JC Reindl of the Detroit Free Press reports.
The firm, ASH NYC, plans a $20-million makeover to the historic 14-story building at 1509 Broadway, vacant since 1982.
The project, which may include a street-level cafe and bar, could be done by fall 2016.
At historicdetroit.org, Detroit architecture and heritage buff Dan Austin presents extensive background on the landmark and 1853 immigrant Rudolph Wurlitzer. His essay begins:
In the decades before it sat silently decaying, the Wurlitzer Building was filled with music, home to one of the largest music stores in the world – and helped thrill thousands of theater-going Detroiters.
