Just a couple weeks before Super Bowl XL in 2006, Atanas Ilitch, Olympia Development executives, and politicians like then-mayor Kwame Kilpatrick gathered at the Fox Theater to tell assembled media about Olympia's big preservation initiative. The first phase of their plan was restoration of the Detroit Life Building across the street from the Town Pump.
In a press scrum afterward, Kilpatrick explained that the Albert Kahn-design Donovan Building -- once home to Motown Records -- would be demolished in advance of the big game.
Seven years later, the former site of the Donovan Building remains the glorious gravel parking lot Kilpatrick envisioned while the Detroit Life Building still awaits renovation. That reality may change soon because Olympia is talking about restoring the Park Avenue skyscraper as part of its hockey arena plan.
Freep: The renovation is part of a larger $650-million project at the north end of downtown that was approved Wednesday by the Detroit Downtown Development Authority and is expected to take a couple of years to plan and build. Overall, the project includes a new, 18,000-seat arena for the Red Wings, as well as thousands of square feet of retail space.
“While plans are not finalized,” Hahn said in an e-mail to the Free Press, “the proposed renovation of the Detroit Life Building to include approximately 3,600 square feet of retail space and 35 residential units is an excellent example of how this catalyst development project will include a mix of residential, retail, office facilities and an events center in downtown Detroit.”
Maybe it'll happen this time for real.
