The Book Cadillac was a huge project and a great story of renovation for the city of Detroit. The National Trust for Historic Preservation recognized the Book and honored it with the 2009 National Preservation Honor Award.
Excerpt:
The Book Cadillac changed hands many times through the decades, with
each owner remodeling and adapting to stylistic demands of the time.
The building's decline began in the 1970s, and in 1984, the hotel was
closed. During the next two decades, the building's iconic copper roof
was stripped, and the resulting structural decay was so devastating it
reached the building's skeletal structure. In October of 2008, after a
3-year, $180 million meticulous restoration led by the Ferchill Group,
a developer from Cleveland, the Book Cadillac reopened. In a
complicated and exhaustive deal, The Ferchill Group assembled $180
million in financing from 22 different sources to renovate the building
and return it to its former grandeur. Exterior surfaces and materials
were inspected and restored and more than 2,000 historically
appropriate windows installed, while cherished public spaces have been
reclaimed from the wreckage.
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