A handyman's special finally finds its handyman. (Google Maps photo)
Nothing like a pile of bricks raining down from a building facade to wreck your city's comeback story, but the last "dangerous" building in the downtown area has been stabilized enough that it won't happen again, Louis Aguilar reports in The Detroit News.
Fingers crossed.
The building at 2001 Park Avenue, aka the Park Avenue Building, is slated for redevelopment into guess what?
"But look at these amazing views of the city from these great arched windows," said (Rino Soave), the owner and founder of Infinity Homes & Co. in Novi. "And these high ceilings; we're imagining two-story penthouses."
Sitting across the street from Grand Circus Park, it provides a prime location-location-location argument for redevelopment, not to mention the safety factor; it dumped a bunch of bricks and limestone onto the street as recently as April.
The Park Avenue was first declared a public threat by the city in 2002. That started a years-long legal battle with then-building owner Ralph Sachs. It was one of 40 downtown buildings the city targeted for legal action. That meant fines as high as $10,000 and, in some cases, lawsuits to get properties demolished or force owners to commit to extensive repairs.
...Brick and limestone weren't the only things that had the potential of falling off the exterior, the lawsuit charged. Portions of the fire escape were loose; shards of broken window glass fell on windy days. The ground floor had gaping holes that admitted looters and transients who further trashed the interior. Sachs did minimal repairs to stave off legal action, according to the city.
After Sachs died in January, his estate began to actively look for a buyer.
Even with all that, Soave's architect describes its condition as "average."
