Photos: 50+ vacant Cass Corridor buildings whose fate likely will be determined in 2016

By Steve Neavling
Motor City Muckraker

No area of Detroit is changing as rapidly as the Cass Corridor.

The construction of a new Red Wings arena and entertainment district has attracted developers who are converting long-abandoned buildings into apartments, restaurants and retailers.

The arena is expected to be complete next year.

Here are more than 50 buildings in the Cass Corridor whose fate likely will be determined this year. Click on the address to learn more about the buildings via Loveland Technologies.

Address: 1oo Temple
Status: Recently painted and boarded up.
Owner: Hass Systems LLC
Background: Built in the late 19th century, the upscale, six-story Alhambra Apartments originally attracted wealthy residents, including Harvey Firestone, founder of Firestone Tire Company. The Romanesque Revival building is one of the last structures on the two-block stretch of Temple between Cass and Woodward. Two years ago, the adjacent Temple Hotel and three century-old homes were demolished.

Address: 145 Temple
Status: Red Wings representatives want to demolish the building.
Owner: TSD Solutions
Background: The Alden Apartments closed in 2008, and a year later a fire damaged some of the interior, chasing out squatters. Bricks were placed in the windows to prevent trespassing in 2009, and the building has been vacant since.

Address: 131 Temple
Status: Red Wings representatives want to demolish the building.
Owner: TSD Solutions
Background: Former Wil-Mar garage.

Address: 2753 Park
Status: Red Wings representatives want to demolish the building.
Owner: Smithwick Company LLC
Background: Less than a block from the stadium, the former Cole apartments is nearly a century old.

Address: 2900 Cass 
Status: Recently painted and boarded up.
Owner: Temple Commons LLC
Background: The vacant building next to the Temple Bar at Cass and Temple was once a drug store and food market with more than a dozen apartments. The LLC, which bought the vacant building about six years ago, has done little with it. The investor or investors have hidden their identity behind a corporation that also owns the vacant hotel and an abandoned lot across the street. No plans have been announced for any of the properties.

Address: 408 Temple
Status: Secured, but no plans announced.
Owner: Temple Commons LLC
Background: Built during the hotel boom of the 1920s, the former Hotel Fort Wayne shares the block with the historic Masonic Temple. The building was renamed the America Hotel and has been vacant for years. The owner has cleaned up graffiti and secured the first floor.

Address: 3107 Cass
Status: For sale
Owner: Bakers Corner
Background: The former Charlotte Lounge was open to trespass until last year. It is now secured and has been repainted.

Address: 81 Peterboro
Status: Plans to renovate
Owner: 81 Peterboro Limited Partnership
Background: The 139-year-old James Scott mansion has been abandoned since the 1970s, and a body was found in an outside stairwell in 2008. Owner Joel Landy, who also redeveloped the nearby Addison Building and Burton Theatre, plans to spend about $7 million to convert the crumbling building into lofts, just three blocks from the Red Wings arena. But his plans have stalled for unknown reasons.

Address: 110 Sproat
Status: To be renovated.
Owner: Euclid Enterprises
Background: Designed by famed architect Louis Kamper and operated as a hotel in what is now the shadow of the new Red Wings arena, hockey representatives plan to convert the historic building into mixed-income housing. The building’s neighbor, the Hotel Park Avenue, was demolished. 

Address: 3550 Cass
Status: Under renovation
Owner: Cass Plaza Apartments Limited
Background: The six-story Cass Plaza was built in 1924 in the Italian Renaissance style and housed 78 units. Originally the Naomi Apartments, Cass Plaza is being converted into 39 apartments and a coffee shop and is expected to open later this year. The apartments will be for lower-income people.

Address: 2952 Cass 
Status: For sale
Owner: Man-Sun Wong
Background: The former Stream in the Desert has been long abandoned in the former Chinatown neighborhood. The building was for sale last year for $375,000.

Address: 3175 Cass 
Status: Unknown
Owner: 3175 Cass LLC
Background: A former Chinese restaurant, the building has been deteriorating for years at the corner of Cass and Peterboro, the heart of former Chinatown. But across the street on Peterboro, a similar building has been converted into a beer retailer and a tattoo parlor, giving life to a long-abandoned area.

Address: 2930 Cass 
Status: For sale
Owner: Skyline Partners LLC
Background: The three-story brick building is for sale for $399,900 and includes indoor parking. “Make it your home or convert it into condos!” the advertisement boasts. The building appears to be secure and structurally sound, and graffiti was recently removed.

Address: 2949 Cass
Status: Unknown
Owner: Masonic Temple Association of Detroit
Background: This warehouse was for sale, but it was damaged by a fire last year, and the realty signs have been removed.

Address: 3113 Cass
Status: Unknown
Owner: Richard Ratkus
Background: These beautiful homes are in bad shape and have been abandoned for a long time.

Address: 3129 Cass
Status: Unknown
Owner: Urban Horticulture LLC
Background: The former Gold Dollar, a former rock venue, closed in 2001. The White Stripes was among the bands that played at this cozy dive. Before it served as a rock venue, the building served a predominately gay clientele. The once-graffiti strewn building has been painted over.

Address: 3143 Cass
Status: For lease 
Owner: Urban Horticulture LLC
Background: The building is owned by the same group that has the former Gold Dollar. The building has been painted and sealed off to trespassers.

Address: 475 Peterboro
Status: Being renovated.
Owner: Urban Horticulture LLC
Background: Built in 1914, the twin three-story apartment buildings, the Woodstock, are under renovation. The ornate apartment once attracted wealthy residents but has become vacant.

Address: 830 Peterboro
Status: Unknown
Owner: George McMahon
Background: Built in 1885, this multi-family house was once attracted affluent residents. It’s now boarded up and in fair but deteriorating condition.

Address: 201 Sibley & 2520 Cass
Status: Unknown
Owner: Gateway Gardens LLC
Background: Both buildings were painted gray last year and boarded up. They are less than a block from the new arena.

Address: 2700 Second
Status: Unknown
Owner: TSD Solutions
Background: TSD Solutions, which is linked to Red Wings representatives, purchased the vacant New Hope Baptist Center for $475,000 in 2014. The building is in the proposed Cass Park historic district.

Address: 479 Ledyard
Status: Unknown
Owner: Ledyard Enterprises
Background: The Michigan Chronicle building was purchased for $1.6 million in 2015. It’s in the proposed Cass Park historic district.

Address: 2560 Second
Status: Unknown
Owner: Stanne Consulting LLC
Background: The former nursing home, Heritage Senior Living, is now vacant. It’s in the proposed Cass Park historic district.

Address: 3475 Cass
Status: For lease
Owner: Ray Swann
Background: This former automative center has been painted and closed off to trespassers at the corner of Cass and Martin Luther King.

Address: 480 Myrtle
Status: Unknown
Owner: Calvin Bruning
Background: Volunteers boarded up the long-abandoned home in 2013. Behind the house is a drug and prostitution den that has been open to trespass for years.

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  Abandoned Buildings, arena, development, Investors, midtown, Photos, red wings, renovation