Historic University Club comes down for liquor store or fast food in Detroit
City council refused to protect the building because of false beliefs that the social club was segregated.
City council refused to protect the building because of false beliefs that the social club was segregated.
Overlooking Belle Isle and the Detroit River, “the location is unrivaled in scenic beauty by any other apartment hotel in the world,” the Whittier boasted in the 1920s.
An effort to save the historic University Club would devolve into a discussion of slave institutions and the Holocaust.
The city is preparing to seize the Packard Plant because of unpaid taxes that the owner refuses to pay. He maintains he owes no taxes because the city won’t provide basic services to protect his property from arsonists, vandals and thieves.
In just one day last weekend, two men were brutally beaten, an explorer was attacked and his car stolen and a photographer was robbed by a gunman. Thieves have smashed so many car windows that the streets and parking lots bordering the 105-year-old plant are covered in blue-green bits of glass.
Part one of a continuing series on abandoned buildings. More than 60,000 vacant buildings are scattered across Detroit and Highland Park, driving down property values and attracting crime, rodents and fires. This is the story of one of those buildings. Neighbors tried their best. They circled the historic, sprawling school in Highland Park to keep out […]