An old Detroit Fire Department fire house in downtown is about to become the new home to the University of Detroit-Mercy's law clinics.
The
university's law school purchased the nearly 100-year-old building on the corner of Larned and St. Antoine streets last year. The two-story structure and its 7,000-square-feet of space will allow UDM to consolidate its law school, which is kitty corner to the fire house and across the street from its school's parking lot.
"That building (the firehouse) doesn't have parking but we can use the parking we have," says Tamara Batcheller, associate vice president for facilities management at the
University of Detroit-Mercy. "It makes a lot of sense."
The firehouse had already been gutted out so the university will build out the entire interior of the structure. The law clinic's offices will be housed on the ground floor and it will use the second floor for research. The university will spend about $1 million to renovate the structure and work should be done by December.
"The most green thing we can do is rehab an existing building into something we need," Batcheller says.
The firehouse renovation is part of a larger renovation $4 million project to the university's law school downtown campus. Over the last year the university has been upgrading its main law school buildings with new bathrooms, classrooms and common areas.
Source: Tamara Batcheller, associate vice president for facilities management at the University of Detroit-Mercy
Writer: Jon Zemke
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