Speaker Series Feb. 2 (Registration is Full)

Model D’s speaker series returns Friday, Feb. 2, with a look at the Westin Book-Cadillac developments. The event’s location will be announced soon. Watch the Model D web site.

Speakers include Chris Ferchill, project manager for the developers, Cleveland-based Ferchill Group, and Peter Zeiler of the Detroit Economic Growth Corp.

The series is co-sponsored by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority and LaSalle Bank.

Seating is limited, and an RSVP is required. Click here to sign up.

The free event starts with sign in and networking at 8 a.m. The speakers start at 8:30 a.m., and the program will last about an hour.

The Westin Book Cadillac

Detroit leaders hold up the Book Cadillac’s restoration as a triumph for the city.

Ferchill’s company is putting 67 condo units on floors 24-29 of the historic hotel, and bringing in a 4-star Westin Hotel and ground floor retail to the historic hotel building. The one- and two-bedroom condo units start at $280,000 and top out at $1.5 million for one of the six penthouses. Nearly all have been pre-sold.

Work has begun on the landmark project, which has had a “I’ll-believe-it-when-I-see-it” buzz around it for years, after previous restoration efforts floundered. The 33-story, 1923 building has a storied history. Having once housed celebrities like Babe Ruth and Katherine Hepburn, it’s been abandoned since the mid 1980s.

To bring it back, the Ferchill Group and city and state leaders worked out an extremely complex financing deal to fund the $163 million renovation plans.
 
For a look inside the hotel, check out this video clip from Model D TV: https://modeldmedia.com/booktv76