DETROIT, MICHIGAN | Friday, March 12th, 2010 | 2:44 AM | 113 articles and counting...
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Just over a year ago, the Book Tower was vacant and its then current owner was behind on utility payments.  So far, in fact, that electrical and water utilities had been disconnected.

A lot can change in a year.

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Critical Detroit has come a long way this past year especially since we switched to Wordpress. We’re closing in on 13,000 visitors for the year. It’s not much, but more than we’ve ever had in the past.

As the year winds down, let me share some things I’d love to get from you. Don’t worry, I’m not asking for donations.
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Detroit’s Olympic Bids

October 20, 2009 History
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Did you know that Detroit has submitted multiple bids to host the Summer Olympics?
They’ve actually submitted 7 bids in all.  They bid in 1944 (which was canceled due to the war) and then again in every year from 1952 thru 1972.  Many consider their bid for the 1968 Olympics their best chance at landing the [...]

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Vintage Advertising

September 25, 2009 History
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I had a great time looking through old exhibit catalogs from the Detroit Architectural Club and the Thumb Tack Club of Detroit.  I never put much thought into what went into publishing these books, but quickly realized that advertising was just as prevalent in the early 1900’s as it is today.
Each book had a few [...]

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Timeline Working Now – For Everyone

September 17, 2009 Critical Detroit News

Oops.  Apparently an errant comma was preventing the Timeline page from displaying correctly (or even displaying at all) in Internet Explorer, which over half of our visitors are using.
Everything is working now.

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Early Detroit Architecture Clubs

September 11, 2009 History

A couple of weeks ago I was confirming some dates for the Guardian building and ran across the following text:

(Excerpt from The Guardian Building: Cathedral of Finance By James W. Tottis)
I’ve never run across this name or organization before so I did some digging and discovered some very interesting things.

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Guardian Building Update

August 27, 2009 Awareness

This morning, the Wayne County Commission voted 8-7 to tentatively approve the new bond amount which will keep the renovation effort moving forward.
For those keeping track, Wayne County bought the building for $14 million and allocated $13 million for renovation.  Earlier this week, county officials asked for another $30 million, bringing the total project costs [...]

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Detroit Icons in Danger

August 26, 2009 Awareness
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Two extremely iconic buildings in Detroit are potentially a step closer to joining the recently publicized list of vacant Detroit buildings.  The Guardian Building and the Penobscot Building are both located in the heart of the central business district and would emotionally devastate the Detroit (or at least me)  if they become vacant.
Both towers were [...]

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A New Building for Detroits Pension Funds?

August 20, 2009 Awareness

Believe it or not Detroit’s pension funds want to build a new $7.4M headquarters building on the riverfront and relocate from the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center.
The proposed three-story headquarters, located between the UAW’s headquarters and the River Towers Apartments, would house the pension funds’ administrative, accounting and legal operations, with room for 100 parking [...]

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48 Vacant Buildings in the Detroit CBD

August 18, 2009 Awareness
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Louis Aguilar at the Detroit News has assembled an unofficial list of vacant buildings in Detroit’s central business district.  The list is not all inclusive, but based on the building having no signs of life (No tenants!), be 5 stories or taller, and contain 10,000 square feet or more.
The last two criteria are the threshold [...]

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