A suspicious fire early this morning ripped through an abandoned apartment building known for its bold Obama-for-President ad near Corktown in Detroit.
The fire gutted the Ramara Apartments building on Rosa Parks near Michigan and damaged the occupied Orena Apartments next door. As fire ripped through the building, the often-photographed brick wall facing I-75 began to crumble.
The message, painted in 2010, read: “OUT OF A JOB YET? – KEEP VOTING REPUBLICAN. BET $10,000. OBAMA & BIDEN.”
The building was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived shortly before 1 a.m. It wasn’t immediately clear whether anyone was injured.
The 104-year-old building was popular on Tumblr, Instagram and Facebook.
Some of the wall was still standing at 1:30 a.m., but the “OUT OF A JOB” section had fallen.
The fire rekindled at 4:54 a.m.
The owner of the 2628 Rosa Parks building is Rumzzy Mamodesene, who is three years delinquent on property taxes, according to Wayne County records.
Fire guts apartment building known for enormous Obama ad off I-75 in Detroit added by Steve Neavling on
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Steve Neavling
Steve Neavling lives and works in Detroit as an investigative journalist. His stories have uncovered corruption, led to arrests and reforms and prompted FBI investigations.
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